Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22635.4515 (Beta Channel)

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Microsoft has released a new build to the Beta Channel for Windows 11 Insiders. Some users may not get everything as some of the new features are being rolled out gradually.

  • Many features in the Beta Channel are rolled out using Control Feature Rollout technology, starting with a subset of Insiders and ramping up over time as we monitor feedback to see how they land before pushing them out to everyone in this channel.

Microsoft Introduces Windows Resiliency Initiative

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With the still recent Crowdstrike and Microsoft Windows incident from July still fresh in our minds, Microsoft has introduced the Windows Resiliency Initiative. The initiative has four areas of focus designed to help keep Windows reliable and resilient.

Some of the changes include Quick Machine Recovery, which will allow IT administrators the ability to recover and execute fixes to a machine even if it is unable to completely boot into Windows, without the need for physical access to the device. This feature is set to be available to Windows Insiders in early 2025.

We are committed to ensuring that Windows remains the most reliable and resilient open platform for our customers. As part of this commitment, we are introducing the Windows Resiliency Initiative, covering four areas of focus:

  • Strengthen reliability based on learnings from the incident we saw in July.
  • Enabling more apps and users to run without admin privileges.
  • Stronger controls for what apps and drivers are allowed to run.
  • Improved identity protection to prevent phishing attacks.

 

Microsoft’s Hotpatch Comes To Windows 11 Enterprise

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Microsoft’s Windows Server platform has utilized the hotpatch update method for a couple years. Microsoft has announced they are bringing the feature to Windows 11 Enterprise editions.

What is hotpatching for Windows? I’ll let them explain:

The first month of each quarter of the calendar year (i.e. January, April, July, and October), devices install the standard monthly security update and restart. This cumulative update contains the latest security fixes, new features, and enhancements. The following two months, devices are offered hotpatch updates, which include only security updates and install without the need to restart. At the start of the next quarter, the cycle repeats.

That’s it. Devices stay secure and productive, and you reduce the number of required restarts for Windows updates from twelve to just four thanks to eight planned hotpatch updates each year!

While most environments aren’t using the latest and greatest using Windows 11, M365/Entra, Intune managed devices – a big Microsoft Entra stack, the requirements are pretty normal for a company that is using that Microsoft stack – a Windows environment using Windows 11 24H2, Microsoft 365, Intune, etc.:

To take advantage of the public preview, your organization will need the following to be eligible for hotpatching:

  • A Microsoft subscription that includes Windows Enterprise E3 or E5 (e.g. Microsoft 365 A3/A5 or Microsoft 365 F3); or a Windows 365 Enterprise subscription
  • Targeted devices running Windows 11 Enterprise, version 24H2 (Build 26100.2033 or later)
  • Microsoft Intune

You can enable hotpatch updates for eligible devices using a new Windows quality update policy in Intune and Windows Autopatch. Using those policies, you can opt devices in (or out) for automated hotpatch update deployment. And, good news, the quality update policy can auto-detect if your targeted devices are eligible for hotpatching. All other Windows 10 and Windows 11 devices will continue to receive the standard monthly security updates, ensuring that your ecosystem stays protected and productive.

All in all, if you’re all in with Microsoft, this is a great feature. Having less restarts due to Windows updates is always a great thing. They are noticeable in the workplace and can happen at the worst possible time (even with the nag screens and a timer when it’s forced). This will be a huge positive thing for the end user and the reputation of the IT department and keeping the security folks happy that everything is patched and protected.

Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 27754 (Canary Channel)

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Microsoft has released a new build for Windows 11 Insiders in the Canary Channel. Some good new features, some fixes, but as usual it’s still an early build so it does come with some caveats. If you’re good with them, it’s a great channel to be a part of. Either do regular backups or don’t do it on your main workstation, depending on how much of a risk taker you are. I’ve yet to have a single issue or had to restore a backup, but it’s there just in case!

Also, we’ve updated the side bar to show the latest Windows 11 Insider builds with links. They’ll be updated as soon as I can when notified of the new releases. I’ll be adding a link to an Insiders article soon, as well. Any feedback on the look or requested features for the site are welcome, just email me at dharper @ mstechpages. com (remove the obvious spaces).

  • The builds we release to the Canary Channel represent the latest platform changes early in the development cycle and should not be seen as matched to any specific release of Windowsand features and experiences included in these builds may never get released as we try out different concepts and get feedback. Features may change over time, be removed, or replaced and never get released beyond Windows Insiders. Some of these features and experiences could show up in future Windows releases when they’re ready.

Windows 365 Link – Cloud based Workstation

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Microsoft has announced the Windows 365 Link device, a thin client that will stream Windows and host all applications and data on the Azure platforms. This is not aimed for the home user, but for those enterprises that require high security, easy deployment, low costs, and easy manageability. With the lack of local storage, your data is always in your control.

Coming in at $349, it’s a low cost workstation using environmentally friendly design, high performance, fanless, and very small.

Today, as users take advantage of virtualization offerings delivered on an array of devices, they can face complex sign-in processes, peripheral incompatibility, and latency issues. Windows 365 Link helps address these issues, particularly in shared workspace scenarios. It’s compact, lightweight, and designed to maximize productivity with its highly responsive performance. It takes seconds to boot and instantly wakes from sleep, allowing users to quickly get started or pick up where they left off on their Cloud PC. With dual 4K monitor support, four USB ports, an Ethernet port, Wi-Fi 6E, and Bluetooth 5.3, Windows 365 Link offers seamless connectivity with both wired and wireless peripherals.

Licensing is the typical Microsoft licensing, coming in close to $60 a month.

  • You must have an Intune license to use Intune to manage the devices.

  • Windows 365 Enterprise: Users must have licenses for Windows E3, Intune, Microsoft Entra ID P1, and Windows 365 to use their Cloud PC.

  • Windows 365 Frontline: Users must

    • Have licenses for Windows E3, Intune, Microsoft Entra ID P1.

    • Be added to the Microsoft Entra security group in the provisioning policy to use their Cloud PC.

Windows 10 Support Countdown – 1 year to go

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With around 1 year to go for support for Windows 10, it’s getting to the time where many people, businesses, and enterprises are looking to migrate away from the older operating system, with it’s latest and final update 22H2 to the newer Windows 11. The support is ending for all editions of Windows 10, from Home to Enterprise, aside from the LTSB. 

What does this mean for users? On October 14th, 2025, you will no longer receive Windows security or stability updates and it will leave your computer with a security risk based on the future unpatched vulnerabilities of the OS. However, it will still continue to function, your antivirus software will continue to function, etc.. It will not just stop working. It just will not be supported by Microsoft any longer. The best upgrade path would be to move to Windows 11 if your current PC supports it. If not, a new PC may be needed. Windows 11 does have some new hardware requirements that older PC’s may not meet.

As usual with these end of life dates, there will be a lot of doom and gloom as the time eventually comes and goes. Those most impacted will be enterprises and businesses who will be upgrading to comply with security policies. Home users will need to be aware of the end of updates and what it means, but it’s more of a personal decision to upgrade rather than a business requirement.

I’m sure there will be a lot more news and articles as the October 14, 2025 date approaches.

As documented on the Windows 10 Enterprise and Education and Windows 10 Home and Pro lifecycle pages, Windows 10 will reach end of support on October 14, 2025. The current version, 22H2, will be the final version of Windows 10. The following editions will remain in support with monthly security update releases through that date:

  • Home
  • Pro
  • Pro Education
  • Pro for Workstations
  • Education
  • Enterprise
  • Enterprise multi-session

Existing LTSC releases will continue to receive updates beyond that date based on their specific lifecycles.

10 Years Of Windows Insider Program

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Today marks the 10 year anniversary of the Windows Insider Program from Microsoft. As someone that’s been there since day 1, it’s been a wild ride. Sometimes, it really feels like it was just yesterday when it released.

You can still join the program and sign up for whatever channel you’d like to participate in, depending on how you want things to work (latest and greatest but maybe not fully functional or more stable and a little closer to the final release). As always, be sure to submit your feedback. They really do read it!

Thank you to the Windows Insider team at Microsoft for a great 10 years, and here’s to another great 10 years! Cheers!

Microsoft Certification Pricing Updates

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Microsoft will be adjusting their pricing on their certification exams. For those in the US, the Fundamentals will be $99 and the Advanced Role Based will be $165. They are crediting the recent market conditions as the reasoning for the pricing change. You can check the post for more information and what the pricing may be in your region.

Remember, if the price is going up where you are at, you can schedule an exam before October 31st at the lower price if needed and reschedule it to a later date to keep that price available. This is a good way to save money if you’re planning on taking an exam soon but not before the end of October.

If you’re planning to take a Microsoft Certification exam, you can register for and take the exam at the current price until October 31, 2024. If you register to take the exam on or after November 1, 2024, you’ll pay the updated price. Remember, in many countries and regions, the retail price is not changing and might even be decreasing. For more information on how to register and pay for your exam, go to the Microsoft Certification exam policies and FAQs.

New PowerToys Feature – Workspaces

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Microsoft released a new update for their PowerToys feature called Workspaces, available here. This allows you to select a group of applications on your desktop, including multiple monitors, and be able to restore them at the push of a button. For both maximized and minimized application and the application location on screen. The only caveat is that if the application is running as Administrator, it will not recall the position on screen.

The description from Microsoft:

PowerToys Workspaces is a desktop manager utility for launching a set of applications to custom positions and configurations with one-click, getting you into your ideal desktop state for any project or activity faster. You can capture your desktop state as a new workspace using the editor, add arguments to apps to configure their state on launch, and pin the workspace as a desktop shortcut for quick-launching. Launching the workspace will launch all apps to their assigned positions.

There are some third party addons that can do similar things but having an official Microsoft version as part of their PowerToys suite can be easier for a corporate IT department to approve as well as a little smaller footprint.