From today, organizations will no longer be able to select the Semi-Annual Enterprise Channel installation option for unmanaged devices in the Microsoft 365 Admin Center, the Redmond giant has confirmed. In a notice issued last month to the M365 Admin Center, it said existing devices will be unaffected, but new unmanaged devices cannot use this channel.
The company said that it is making this change to streamline the installation choices and help organizations move toward “more predictable, secure, and up-to-date” release channels. If you previously assigned a device to the Semi-Annual Enterprise Channel, they will remain on it, you just can’t pick it as an option in the future.
Microsoft said this will rollout to Worldwide and GCC tenants from today (April 6) and complete by April 11. Admins do not need to take any action, however, you can review your installation channel selection for unmanaged devices and evaluate alternative update management options such as Cloud Update, Microsoft Intune, and Configuration Manager.
Coinciding with that announcement (MC1249428), Microsoft also said that the Semi-Annual Enterprise Channel option will be retired from the Office Customization Tool and Configuration Manager between today and April 11. Similarly, existing configurations won’t be affected, but new deployments will have to use the Current Channel or Monthly Enterprise Channel.
Microsoft gave the same reason for this change: that it wants to simplify the update channel management to ensure customers get the most up-to-date experience. You can find out more about this specific change on the M365 Admin Center under Message ID MC1249427.
In either case, if you are already on the Semi-Annual Enterprise Channel and wish to remain on it, do not change to another channel because you won’t be able to go back.