We are excited to share the new capabilities that make it easier to validate your applications against Windows 11 in a Microsoft-managed test environment. These capabilities benefit application validation for all organizations, but particularly benefit IT professionals who need to validate business critical applications as they plan for a Windows 11 deployment.
As an Azure service that facilitates intelligent data-driven testing of applications, Test Base reduces the hassle, time commitment, and expenditure of setting up and maintaining complex test environments for software vendors who want to validate their apps. It also enables IT professionals to test their applications through integration with Microsoft Intune.
Thanks to the feedback we've received from IT professionals, developers, and the Test Base community, the following new features are coming to public preview in the coming weeks:
Test your applications on Windows 11, version 22H2
Support for Windows 11, version 22H2 and the Windows Insider Beta Channel
As announced in July, Windows Insiders in the Beta Channel receive updates according to their inclusion in one of two groups:
- One group of Insiders in the Beta Channel will receive updates that have new features rolled out or turned on via an enablement package.
- The second group of Insiders in the Beta Channel will have new features turned off by default.
Test Base now provides you with the opportunity to test updates on both groups through the Feature Update function.
An initial validation run will be executed against the latest updates on your selected channel and, based on your selection, you will be able to test against all upcoming feature updates for that channel.
You may also select your base operating system (OS) from the OS baseline for Insight dropdown. This will provide you with test insights and regression analysis of your test results between your base OS environment and the latest target OS.
Windows 11, version 22H2 security updates now available on Test Base
Windows 11, version 22H2—also referred to as the Windows 11 2022 Update—is now available on Test Base.
By signing up for Test Base security updates, your applications will be automatically validated against all upcoming monthly security updates for Windows 11, version 22H2.
By default, you'll be able to test against all in-market "B" releases, beginning with the October 11, 2022 update. If you're a Full Access customer, your applications will be tested against pre-release versions and allow you to gain more time to take proactive steps in resolving issues in advance of the final market release. (Want to become a Full Access customer? See Request to change access level.)
Support for testing Microsoft 365 Apps
We're excited to announce that we support interoperability testing with Microsoft 365 Apps, including Outlook, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint! In addition to validating your business-critical apps against monthly Windows updates, you can now test your apps against Microsoft 365 Apps updates in the Monthly Enterprise Channel. This feature will be available by the end of October 2022.
This can help assure IT professionals managing line-of-business (LOB) apps with add-ons or direct dependencies on Microsoft 365 Apps of application compatibility with each monthly update. This automated pre-release Microsoft 365 pre-installed environment can also help organizations that are considering migrating to Microsoft 365 Apps by enabling them to conduct self-service testing to fully assess the impact of the monthly update.
We plan to extend support to other Microsoft 365 products in the future. Stay tuned to this blog for more details!
Expanded testing to support Windows 11 upgrade readiness
We have expanded our testing matrix by adding the option to test Windows 11 upgrade readiness via either a clean installation or in-place upgrade. The in-place upgrade option simulates the real upgrade experience when moving from Windows 10 to Windows 11 so you can ensure that apps are working as expected after the upgrade.
With this option, you can also set your current OS and target OS and receive a side-by-side comparison of your upgrade (or update) readiness for Windows 11. This feature will be available for preview by the end of November 2022.
Refreshing the "what's new" experience
We heard feedback that you wanted an intuitive way to track the newest features on the Test Base portal, so we revamped the What's New experience on the Overview page to provide informational messages that guide and help you try out newly released features more efficiently. We've added feature cards with clickable buttons to help you check documentation and blogs related to the specific feature. You can also find shortcuts for the Test Base GitHub Community and Documentation at the top of the main menu bar.
Enhanced CI/CD Integration with support for Jenkins and Azure DevOps
To continue improving our developer experience, we are enhancing our integration with Azure DevOps and Jenkins to make it easier to integrate Test Base into your CI/CD pipeline. We're also adding support for Graph API to continue extending programmatic access to our features.
Join the Test Base community
We continue to rapidly innovate and invest in application validation. We look forward to sharing more with you in the coming months. In the meantime, visit our Test Base documentation to learn more. There, you'll find quick start guides to help you create your Test Base account, upload applications to test, and interpret the data.
We are also eager to continue to engage with developers and IT pros like you to add more value to the service and address additional use cases. Sign up for Test Base today or get in touch with us directly. We would also like to invite you to come join us at the Test Base for Microsoft 365 community on Tech Community to share your experiences and connect with others using the service.