Support for all supported OS Versions

M-D-X 

This will likely not happen.  Server 2016 is an LTS release and out of mainstream support by now.  Another improvement that never made it to Server 2016 was a vast improvement to how OS patches get installed.  See this blog for what was improved and the comments for what didn't make it to Server 2016 OS. 
https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/windows-it-pro-blog/how-to-improve-windows-cumulative-update-installation-times/ba-p/2147161  

Thankfully, my org's server admin is actively upgrading as many installations as he can to Server 2022.

Hi Ian,

Thanks for your feedback. And just to confirm - your comment works as feedback. I'd also recommend reaching out to your TAM or other account executive, if you have a Microsoft support contract that provides those kinds of contacts.

Our take on this is no different than the thousands of other feature updates, non-security bugs, and similar code changes that have been fixed in 2019 and 2022 but will not backported to 2016.

The Windows lifecycle is fairly clear on this point. Server 2016 has been out of mainstream support for almost two years, since January 2022. At that point, we stop backporting new features and only provide resolutions to security vulnerabilities via Windows Updates. There is also an existing feature that works for this purpose, Microsoft/Legacy LAPS, so we are not leaving anybody in an unprotected state.

To speak to your business case - I completely understand & appreciate your passion on this topic. I was an admin for many years before coming to Microsoft. We ALL do live in and come from the real world... and the reality is that most software companies do not support many more than n-1 or n-2 versions of their software. Microsoft still provides security updates for 14 different OS versions in 2023 and we provide extended support for these OSes due to the reality of how customers upgrade. But we must draw the line somewhere, and that tends to be n-1 or n-2 when it comes to feature backports of this nature and scope. (I'd also ask for you to not make assumptions about the ease of backport or the codebase differences; the codebase is significantly different between every major OS release, and LAPS is a very large feature from a code perspective. Those are just a few of the factors that go into the backport decision.)

At the end of the day, we want people on the latest OSes - this should be no surprise to anybody who has supported Microsoft products for most of their career. That is why our focus is on the most recent OS versions. Server 2016 was released over 7 years ago now, and given the changes coming in Windows and particularly in Active Directory in Server vNext and beyond, we'd strongly recommend that you upgrade to a version of Windows Server in mainstream support.