Publishing pre-release Windows 10 feature updates to WSUS
Published Sep 24 2019 12:17 PM 63.1K Views
Microsoft

Today, in response to your feedback, we will begin making pre-release Windows 10 feature updates available to IT administrators using Windows Server Update Service (WSUS). This is the next step in our efforts to provide your organization with the ability to validate line-of-business (LOB) applications, business-critical functionality, and policies, as well as evaluate new business features, prior to an update's official release.

Over the past two years, the Windows Insider Program for Business team has focused on enabling IT administrators to view and provide feedback on upcoming security, management, and productivity features ahead of release. To this end, we have:

  • Communicated information on new and/or improved business-specific features in upcoming feature releases.
  • Continued to gather, and work to address, customer feedback to improve our features and services.
  • Enabled customers using Microsoft Intune, System Center Configuration Manager, or Group Policy to enroll devices in the Windows Insider Program while maintaining management of third-party software with WSUS utilizing Dual Scan.
  • Provided support to those managing pre-release Window 10 feature updates with the latest version of Configuration Manager.
  • Improved the overall quality of the Windows 10 Insider Preview builds for the Slow Ring.

By empowering you to effectively manage pre-release builds of upcoming feature updates, our goal is to help you accelerate your organizations deployment of a Windows 10 feature update and, ultimately, give your devices more time on any given release.

If you would like to join our group of IT administrators exploring and validating their environments on pre-release builds, here is how you can deploy pre-release feature updates via Configuration Manager starting today:

  1. In the Products tab of Software Update Point Component Properties, select the box next to Windows Insider Pre-Release. (Note: While this option will be visible on every version of Configuration Manager, you must be running Configuration Manager, version 1906 or newer to select it.)

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  2. If you already manage your organization’s deployments using Configuration Manager, use the same procedure you currently use to deploy any other Windows 10 feature update (Software Library > Overview > Windows 10 Servicing > All Windows 10 Updates). Once you reach the list of All Windows 10 Updates, you will see an option for “Windows Insider Pre-release Feature Update to Windows 10 Version 1909” as shown below:

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  3. Deploy the release the same way as any other feature update.

Beginning with Windows 10, version 1909, we will aim to release pre-release builds to Configuration Manager on a monthly cadence. Beyond that release, we will aim to release these types of builds in line with the Windows Insider Program Slow Ring builds.

Note: If you manage your organization's feature updates with a different software update management tool, check out these walkthroughs for guidance on how to deploy feature updates via Windows Update for Business.

We recommend that you take advantage of this new functionality to validate upcoming feature updates and explore new commercial features prior to release—and look forward to continuing to make improvements based on your feedback.

13 Comments

You have to have config manager though, it's not just for *just* users of WSUS.

Brass Contributor

Anyway to get the update names changed so they reflect consumer vs business editions? Otherwise you see two all but identical updates with no easy way to see which is applicable.

Thanks for the update

Brass Contributor

This is awesome!

Copper Contributor

... hooray !!!
On behalf of Microsoft, Intel, Nvidia, Google fraternity and Yandex friendship ...

I'm so glad

Brass Contributor

The title of the article should be modified because the procedure covered applies to Configuration Manager and not WSUS. If the admins are using only WSUS to manage updates, then the correct link to enable Insider pre-release updates is here - https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-insider/at-work-pro/wip-4-biz-manage#install-builds-via-win...

Copper Contributor

Is the 1909 update released to WSUS yet? I am not seeing pop up in my WSUS or SCCM interfaces yet.

Copper Contributor

@Don_Duvall 
see "Upgrades"!!

@Don_Duvall it currently only shows up to the seekers, meaning only users who manually click on "check for updates" in Windows updates, will see that.

 

however, the media creation tool in here is updated to download the 1909:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

Copper Contributor

Hi, @Aria Carley  just testing this feature out and can see it is still limited to Release Preview ring releases (1909 being the last release on this ring).

 

You state "Beyond that release, we will aim to release these types of builds in line with the Windows Insider Program Slow Ring builds."

 

Does this mean that Release Preview ring releases will start to get released earlier in the pre-release life-cycle of a Windows release so we can test earlier, using SCCM? Any idea when that might happen for 20H1?

 

(I assume for this to happen will mean the point in which new features stop getting added to a Slow Ring build will be earlier in the pre-release lifecycle, so it can branch off into Release Preview ring earlier (and then just be serviced with cumulative updates)...)

 

Many thanks

Microsoft

@gonchuk74 20H1 was just released to the Windows Insider Pre-release category in Windows Server Update Service on Tuesday 2/25/2020.

You should now be able to start deploying it with SCCM. :)

Iron Contributor

As I understand this applies to installing pre-release feature updates. What if I need to patch pre-release versions of windows? I have some pilot machines running release preview ring of 20H1/2004 and need them to get patched via SCCM/WSUS. This regards only security and reliability updates, as I use task sequence for feature updates. Thanks, Ruslan

Microsoft

Hello RNalivaika, 2004 was released on 5/27/2020 so you should now be able to deploy released patches. For when the update is pre-release, we do release security updates for SCCM/WSUS that apply to the pre-release version. You deploy these like all other quality updates from SCCM/WSUS. Best,

Aria 

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‎Sep 25 2019 11:02 AM
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