With a significant number of users worldwide still clinging tenaciously to their installations of Windows 7 – and smaller number holding onto the markedly less popular Windows 8.x variants – Microsoft’s dream of a smooth and global transition to its latest desktop and network operating systems has yet to become a reality.
But improvements and new features continue to be added, and updates or upgrades (the two words are used interchangeably, in a Microsoft context) continue to be issued for Windows 10.
For many Windows 10 users, the manner in which these updates are being made available is a source of some confusion and concern. So in this article, we’ll be looking to clarify some issues surrounding Windows 10 updates, and the concept of “rings”.
Intentions & Implications of Windows 10 Update Strategy
Microsoft’s strategy for delivering upgrades for Windows 10 builds on the conceptual model used for enterprise deployments in previous versions of their operating platform. In the past, organizations using Windows were required to categorize their users into distinct sets, so that updates could be rolled out in phases.
Users such as “Windows Insiders” (the scheme for early adopters of new Microsoft operating systems and software, who are fast-tracked into their installations) or company IT staff (who would be more likely to have a good understanding of a new system) would be earmarked as eligible for the first wave, or “ring” of upgrade software.
Upgrades would then be issued on a descending scale, in rings depending on the level of technical understanding of the user, or the level to which an operating system change might negatively impact their work.
This general idea remains for Windows 10, but the creation and management of the upgrade groups or rings is handled differently. Users in those categories likely to be negatively impacted by an upgrade are also given the option of bypassing certain upgrade schedules and holding their position in a particular ring, for a longer period – perhaps till a later upgrade cycle, which might have preferable features.
With the rings concept making a number of alternate upgrade paths and time-frames available to users, it’s been argued that this approach may lead to a fracturing or fragmentation of the Windows 10 operating system. But Microsoft and many analysts have played down the negative effect of delays which certain upgrade rings might impose on enterprise users, in favor of the overall stability and uniformity of a common ecosystem – once Windows 10 becomes the predominant force in the enterprise market.
That’s yet to happen, but in anticipation Microsoft has charted a provisional time-frame with major upgrades appearing at intervals of roughly four months. The company has also set out a proprietary structure for those updates, and the channels through which they’re delivered – as described in the following sections.
Update Branches
In Microsoft parlance, “branches” are a general term denoting a category of user for whom a particular mode and time-frame for update delivery has been allocated.
For example, the initial upgrade on Microsoft’s consumer time-table
was scheduled mainly for devices running Windows 10 Home, and upgrading via the Windows Update service.
Update Rings
Each branch on the Microsoft upgrade map is further segmented into “rings” – again determined by the upgrade path and time-frame allotted to each.
It’s within the ring system that customers can proactively pace their own upgrade paths, by opting for a slow or fast ring release.
Semi-Annual Channel (Targeted), or CB
The “Current Branch” (or CB) update track was the initial upgrade path offered to Windows 10 Home consumers, and to those users of Windows 10 Pro who opted in for that upgrade package.
As the Windows 10 upgrade ecosystem evolved, CB was superseded by its new classification as a Semi-Annual Channel (Targeted) update path, for the consumer market.
Semi-Annual Channel, or CBB
The Current Branch for Business (or CBB) upgrade path followed the consumer-level Current Branch (CB). This delay was claimed by Microsoft as an opportunity for the company to iron out more bugs in its operating system before releasing it to its most important customer base – the business market.
Like CB, Microsoft’s Current Branch for Business has since received a new classification, and is now simply known as the Semi-Annual Channel.
Windows Server Update Services (WSUS)
Users of Windows 10 Pro and Windows 10 Enterprise can manage their updates using Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) – a Windows Server role, available in the various versions of the Windows Server operating system. Consumers may also accomplish the same end by using a third-party patch management program.
For business users, WSUS largely supersedes the previous platform, Windows Update for Business (WUB). Within a commercial organization, WSUS enables companies to defer updates until a later time, to selectively approve individual updates, to choose when updates are delivered, and to specify which particular devices or groups of devices receive specific updates. All of this may be managed from a single centralized hub.
WSUS provides an extended set of controls over Windows Update for Business, but lacks the scheduling options and deployment flexibility of System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM).
To use WSUS for the management and deployment of Windows 10 feature updates, WSUS 4.0 (available in Windows Server 2012 R2 and Windows Server 2012 operating systems) must be installed, along with the KB3095113 and KB3159706 Windows patches on the WSUS server.
Express Installation Files
Express Installation Files is a feature of WSUS aimed at reducing the bandwidth consumption of upgrade operations.
Working on the assumption that current updates often feature most of the same files as previous versions (at least in binary terms), Express Installation Files analyzes the difference between the new files associated with an update, and existing files on the client system. It then authorizes the download of only those files which have actually been altered.
Configuring Automatic Updates & Update Service Location
For system managers, it’s a good practice to prepare for upgrade cycles by configuring the Configure Automatic Updates and Intranet Microsoft Update Service Location Group Policy settings for your particular environment. This forces all of your affected Windows client devices to contact the WSUS server, so that it can manage their updates.
Creating Computer Groups
As we’ve seen conceptually, it’s possible to use computer groups or “deployment rings” to target a subset of your devices which have specific qualities, so that they can receive tailor-made feature updates. Deployment rings in Windows 10 allow machines to be separated into their own upgrade time-lines, and reduce the risk of issues arising from feature deployment upgrades affecting the entire organization at once.
In practice, these deployment rings can be created and controlled via WSUS. Groups may be populated by hand from the WSUS Administration Console, or automatically via Group Policy. The process of adding computers to computer groups in the WSUS Administration Console is known as server-side targeting.
Long-term Servicing Branch, or LTSB
We’ll end with a legacy term which you may still see displayed on some Microsoft products.
The Long-term Servicing Branch or LTSB is/was a feature of Windows 10 Enterprise, an OS exclusively available to organizations with a volume licensing agreement tied to the Microsoft’s Software Assurance (SA) program.
Systems on the LTSB only received security patches and critical bug-fixes. A new LTSB build was scheduled to be issued every two to three years, integrating some or all of the feature changes introduced via CB or CBB in the intervening years.
All of these upgrade paths have since evolved, and been superseded by Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) and its associated tools.
Des Nnorchiri
Des Nnochiri has a Master’s Degree (MEng) in Civil Engineering with Architecture, and spent several years at the Architectural Association, in London. He views technology with a designer’s eye, and is very keen on software and solutions which put a new wrinkle on established ideas and practices. He now writes for markITwrite across the full spectrum of corporate tech and design. In previous lives, he has served as a Web designer, and an IT consultant to The Learning Paper, a UK-based charity extending educational resources to underprivileged youngsters in West Africa. A film buff and crime fiction aficionado, Des moonlights as a novelist and screenwriter. His short thriller, “Trick” was filmed in 2011 by Shooting Incident Productions, who do location work on “Emmerdale”.