What's new this month? We're recapping recent events, launching an episode of our video series Behind the ccreens with Windows Autopatch" about device registration (and more), and highlighting updates to the service, including the new tenant management blade, regional data centers, Azure Virtual Desktops support, and expanded SKU availability.
Recap: Microsoft Ignite and Technical Takeoff
We're grateful to everyone who participated in Microsoft Ignite and Technical Takeoff events: thanks to your feedback and enthusiasm for the service, the Windows Autopatch team is on a roll.
Autopatch was a big story at Microsoft Ignite this year! Satya Nadella's keynote, the session Windows: Building what matters most for your business, and the breakout Secure your workforce with Windows + Intune all highlighted the ways in which Autopatch helps improve security and productivity.
Our "Ask Microsoft Anything" session at Microsoft Technical Takeoff was full of great questions and answers – catch up on everything we covered in this recording.
If you missed our Microsoft Ignite sessions, don't worry – we created a special episode of Behind the screens with Windows Autopatch to help you find all the news about Autopatch in one place.
New episode: Behind the screens with Windows Autopatch
We're also pleased to announce a new episode that takes a deep dive into the device registration flow is now live:
Our "Behind the screens" series will continue to introduce you to our product team and provide insights into how the service works – and if there are any topics that interest you, be sure to let us know about them, or any other questions you have about Autopatch on our Tech Community.
New resource: click-through demos
We're also launching our interactive demos for IT admins who want to get a detailed look at the service before adding a single device. Visit aka.ms/AutopatchDemo to experience tenant enrollment, device management, release management and support, and reporting.
New feature: Tenant management blade
You'll notice a new selection available in the Windows Autopatch Tenant Administration area of Intune: Tenant management.
This new feature will centralize any actions customers may be required to take at the tenant level. For those who enrolled in Windows Autopatch before July 11, 2022, the blade will display an action 'Tenant access' that will remove the conditional access policy, service accounts, and groups that were required before Autopatch went to an "app-only" authorization model. (There's more on that in the new "Behind The Screens" episode, and you can read about the specific changes for those early adopters here: What's New in Windows Autopatch - New Feature: Tenant Management Blade)
Important announcements regarding Tenant management actions will also be displayed as a banner on the Device Management > Windows Autopatch > Devices blade.
New feature: global data storage
By mid-November, the Autopatch data of customers located in the European Union (EU) will be stored in an EU data center. Plans to regionalize more data are in the works, so subscribe to this newsletter if this is a topic of interest, and for more information regarding Windows Autopatch data storage, check out Windows Autopatch data process and storage
Editor’s note: This section was updated after publishing to correct the availability date for EU data storage.
New feature – Azure Virtual Desktop support
The versatility and power of Azure Virtual Desktop make them a favorite of IT pros – and, as of next month, the ability to update Azure Virtual Desktops with Autopatch will be generally available. Adding Azure Virtual Desktops to Autopatch is as simple as nesting your devices' Azure AD group into the Windows Autopatch device registration group.
New update: SKU list
The list of products that include Windows Autopatch will be expanded in Mid-November to include additional Windows E3/5 SKUs. The complete list of qualifying licenses for the Windows Autopatch product can be found here, Windows Autopatch prerequisites. Whether or when Autopatch may be available to Education (A), Frontline worker (F), or Government SKUs is still under consideration.
That's what's new for November. Look for the next installment of "What's new" to drop in January, when we'll have some exciting new capabilities to announce.
Until then, continue the conversation and send your feedback by participating in the Autopatch Tech Community.
Stay informed. For the latest updates on new releases, tools, and resources, stay tuned to this blog and follow us @MSWindowsITPro on Twitter.
For more frequent updates, please make sure to connect with me on LinkedIn and @Bela Lior on Twitter.