Deployment
The latest Deployment coverage — news, analysis, and updates from the WindowsNews.AI desk.
Windows 11 Autopilot Devices Now Get Quality Updates During OOBE
Microsoft has begun rolling out a significant change to Windows 11 provisioning: eligible devices can now receive the latest quality and security updates during the out-of-box experience (OOBE),...
Windows 11 OOBE Now Installs Updates for Managed Devices: Prepare for Longer Setup Times This September
Starting in September 2025, Windows 11’s out-of-box experience (OOBE) will gain a new step for managed devices: automatically downloading and installing the latest quality updates before the first...
Emergency Windows Updates Fix 0x8007007F Upgrade Failures and Broken Recovery Tools
Microsoft shipped three out-of-band cumulative updates on August 19, 2025, targeting a pair of serious regressions that had broken in-place Windows upgrades and made built-in recovery tools unusable....
Microsoft 365 Companion Apps for Windows 11: Productivity Promise Meets IT Governance Reality
Microsoft's late October 2025 deadline for automatic installation of three new Microsoft 365 companion apps into the Windows 11 taskbar has sent a clear signal: the company is betting that shaving...
Microsoft to End Office Store Updates: October 2025 Feature Freeze, December 2026 Security Cutoff
Microsoft has delivered a clear but widely misunderstood message: the Microsoft Store installation type for Microsoft 365 Apps is being retired. Feature updates will stop in October 2025, and...
PowerShell 2.0 Engine Finally Stripped from Windows 11 24H2, Server 2025 in August
Microsoft is killing off a 16-year-old Windows component next month: PowerShell 2.0 will vanish from clean installations of Windows 11 version 24H2 starting in August 2025, followed by Windows Server...
PowerShell 2.0 Out: Microsoft Forces Windows 11 24H2 and Server 2025 Users to Modernize by August 2025
Microsoft will excise PowerShell 2.0 from Windows 11 version 24H2 starting August 2025 and from Windows Server 2025 in September, retiring a 14-year-old runtime that predates critical security...
Microsoft 365 Companions Auto-Install on Windows 11: What IT Must Do Before the Rollout Hits
Microsoft has begun rolling out a trio of taskbar-integrated apps called Microsoft 365 companions for Windows 11 enterprise users, and they will install automatically on eligible devices unless IT...
Microsoft’s August Patch Bundles SSU with Windows 11 23H2/22H2 Security Update and Warns of 2026 Secure Boot Crunch
Microsoft shipped the August 2025 cumulative security update for older Windows 11 branches—KB5063875—on August 12, rolling out a combined latest cumulative update (LCU) and servicing stack update...
KB5064010 Delivers Arm64 Hotpatching to Windows 11 Enterprise LTSC 2024—But CHPE Must Be Disabled
Microsoft pushed out a routine-looking but strategically pivotal hotpatch on August 12, 2025, for Windows 11 Enterprise LTSC 2024. KB5064010 bumps the operating system build to 26100.4851, bundles...
Microsoft Begins Silent Rollout of 365 Companion Apps to Windows 11 Taskbars
Starting in late October 2025, Microsoft began automatically installing three new companion apps onto the Windows 11 taskbar for devices that already have Microsoft 365 Apps. Dubbed Calendar, File...
KB5065503 Brings Silent Phi Silica AI Refinements to Qualcomm Copilot+ PCs
In mid-August, Microsoft seeded a low-key but important update for its youngest PC platform. KB5065503 rolled out automatically to Qualcomm-powered Copilot+ PCs running Windows 11 version 24H2,...