Today we begin the rollout of Windows release health to the Microsoft 365 admin center. Windows and Microsoft 365 IT admins now have easy, integrated access to essential information about monthly quality and feature updates, the latest features and enhancements for IT, servicing milestones, and lifecycle updates. The Windows release health experience on the admin center also offers insights into known issues, workarounds, and resolutions related to Windows updates. This will be a phased rollout and we expect this information experience to be available to all applicable customers by the end of April.
As we announced at Microsoft Ignite 2021, our goal is inform you about known issues and give you the information you need to roll out Windows feature updates and monthly quality updates effectively and without end user disruption. We also want to ensure that you have early awareness of policy changes, new resources, deprecations, and advisories.
In order to access Windows release health in the admin center, you will need an applicable Microsoft 365[1] or Windows[2] licensing subscription, and to have the role of Service support admin for your tenant.
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Note: If you are not currently a Service support admin for your tenant, a Global Administrator or User Administrator will need to assign you this role. For detailed guidance, please see Assign admin roles for Microsoft 365 admin center. |
To find Windows release health in the Microsoft 365 admin center, visit https://admin.microsoft.com, log in, and scroll down to Health in the navigation menu. Windows release health will be listed underneath the existing Service health menu option.
In addition, you can also see Windows-related notifications in the Message center and customize your notification preferences just as you would for any other product or service in the Microsoft 365 admin center. If you do not automatically see these messages once Windows release health appears in your Health menu, select Message center and then Preferences. Once in the Preferences pane, select Microsoft Windows in the Custom View tab.
You can also opt in to receive a weekly digest via email for Windows-related updates posted to the Message center by selecting the Email tab in Preferences. Select the box for Microsoft Windows and the box for Send me a weekly digest about services I select. You can enter up to two additional email addresses to receive those notifications. For more information about how to use the Message center, see Manage messages in Message center.
What does Windows release health in the admin center provide?
For IT admins managing complex Windows environments, the public Windows release health hub and known issues pages (example) provide an authoritative place to check for known issues, safeguard holds, servicing announcements, and important reminders.
At this point, you might be asking: Will the Windows release health content published on the Microsoft 365 admin center be different? The answer is yes. Because the admin center is specifically designed for IT admins, you will find greater technical detail about known issues, earlier reminders about important milestones like end of service, and more resources to help you plan for and deploy Windows updates. Our goal is to help you diagnose issues in your environment fast, provide steps to mitigate them quickly, and provide a root cause analysis for better support.
For further guidance on how to navigate Windows release health on Microsoft 365 admin center, see How to check Windows release health.
If you are not familiar with the Microsoft 365 admin center, and its ability to make it easier for you to manage applications, services, data, devices, and users across your Microsoft 365 services, see About Microsoft 365 admin center.
[1] Requires Microsoft 365 Enterprise E3/A3/F3 or Microsoft 365 Enterprise E5/A5
[2] Requires Windows 10 Enterprise E3/A3 or Windows 10 Enterprise E5/A5