Microsoft shares helpful PSA to clarify how Windows Autopatch really works

Back in April, Microsoft, alongside several other announcements, introduced its new Windows Autopatch service. This new service is meant for businesses who wish to opt for a more automatic update scenario.

However, ever since the news of Autopatch's announcement, there has been a lot of confusion in the media and in the community surrounding a certain use of phrase in the announcement blog post. The Tech community blog post, penned by Microsoft's Lior Bela said:

For organizations who select this option, the second Tuesday of every month will be 'just another Tuesday'.

Due to the denotation of the second Tuesday, which is generally referred to as Patch Tuesday or Update Tuesday, as "just another Tuesday", many took it as an indication that it could mean the end of Patch Tuesday as we know it.

However, Microsoft recently confirmed that such is not the case at all, quashing all such rumors, reiterating that Patch Tuesday will continue to co-exist and Autopatch is basically a free of cost automated approach for those companies who prefer automatic update deployments.

Earlier today, Jeremy Chapman, Director at Microsoft, also shared a helpful PSA explaining though a flowchart graphic showing how the Autopatch service will work in tandem with Microsoft's Endpoint Manager and Windows Update for Business to deploy automatic updates.

Graphic showing how Windows Autopatch works

To describe it in words, here's how the Autopatch service will deploy Windows Updates:

Windows updates

The General Availability Channel is the source for Windows updates through Windows Autopatch. Polices for quality and feature updates can be set independently to meet your needs.

Admins will be able to see what updates have been applied through the Windows Autopatch message center in Endpoint Manager and will learn about what updates to expect. The familiar cadence of monthly Windows security and quality updates, also referred to as "B" releases, will continue and out-of-band updates will be applied as needed.

The service is currently in Public Preview and is slated to be available this month.

Source: Jeremy Chapman (Twitter)