Microsoft Launches New On-Premises Unified Update Platform To Manage Windows Updates

Windows 365

Microsoft has launched a new Unified Update Platform (UUP) that brings on-premises update management capabilities for commercial customers. UUP on premises is designed to streamline Windows 11 upgrades for organizations that manage employee devices with management tools such as WSUS and Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager.

The Redmond giant first started testing the Unified Update Platform (UUP) technology in Windows 10 back in 2016. It aimed to make new feature updates to reduce the size of Windows 10 feature updates by around 35 percent.

Microsoft highlights that the new on-premises UUP service helps IT admins to manage both feature and quality updates on Windows devices. The UUP capabilities are currently in private preview for businesses. Starting in early 2023, all new Windows 11 updates delivered through WSUS and Configuration Manager will be available in the UPP format.

“The Unified Update Platform (UUP) is a single publishing, hosting, scan, and download model for OS quality and feature updates for all Windows-based operating systems. It offers improved delivery technologies in response to IT admin requests for more seamless updates, more control over installation time, more battery life, and lighter download size,” the company explained.

Microsoft Announces On-Premises Unified Update Platform To Manage Windows Updates

Unified Update Platform simplifies Windows 11 upgrades

Microsoft notes that UUP on-premises helps to reduce some additional work previously required for maintaining Windows 10 and Windows 11 devices. It’s now possible to upgrade the operating system with one reboot. Additionally, IT admins no longer need to use “media-based task sequences” for Windows upgrades. Windows 10 PCs will retain features on demand (FOD) and language pack (LP) installations while upgrading to Windows 11.

The Unified Update Platform (UUP) also enhances the deployment process of quality updates on Windows 11 machines. These include automatic corruption repair capabilities, smaller download sizes, as well as LPs and FODs offline downloads.

If you’re interested, you can sign up for the private preview of UUP on-premises on this page. The service supports all versions of Windows Server Update Services (WSUS). However, organizations will need to be running Configuration Manager version 2111 or later to test UUP on-premises.