Windows 10: Cumulative Updates (LCUs) now integrates SSUs

[German]Brief information for administrators and power users in the Windows 10 environment. It was announced for a long time, but now it seems the time has come: Redmond has now started to integrate SSUs into Update for Windows 10 for the first time.


Advertising

Some background

Microsoft has been regularly releasing so-called Servicing Stack Updates (SSU) for Windows for quite some time. The purpose of installing a servicing stack update is to improve the installation process of the operating system, including the installation of the update program. Servicing Stack Updates (SSUs) must always be applied to the machine separately from (and before installing) Latest Cumulative Update (LCU) for Windows 10. I had pointed this out several times in various blog posts about Windows 10 updates. If this is ignored, installation errors can occur with the cumulative updates. SSUs are not uninstallable. I had shed some light on this in the 2018 in the article Windows 10 Service Stack Update (SSU) internal explained.

It's just that Microsoft didn't make it work in the update client to follow this order for automatic installation of updates. Last year, there were numerous cases where people reported installation errors for updates that suddenly ran through after a reboot and subsequent automatic installation of the SSU.

Keeping the sequence only works if administrators can control it manually in WSUS or via Windows Update. During the automatic update installation there were and still are 'accidents', because the LCU is installed before the SSU. The installation of the LCU then fails with an error. A user had addressed the issue of update installation problems under Windows 10 due to 'missing' current Servicing Stack Update (SSU) in the SCCM UserVoice in summer 2019 (see Windows 10: SSU issue addressed in SCCM UserVoice).

Microsoft intended to integrate SSUs into LCUs

I reported it back in September 2020 in the blog post Microsoft integrates Servicing Stack Updates (SSU) in cumulative Updates (LCU). There was an article in the tech community Simplifying on-premises deployment of servicing stack updates. This article had the tenor "we heard the feedback from the user community" and it read like the SSUs were integrated into the cumulative updates immediately. Only we were surprised that this was not the case so far.

First Update (LCU) with integrated SSU

I had mentioned it in the blog post Windows 10 2004/20H2: Preview Update KB4601382 (Feb. 24, 2021). With the release of the cumulative preview update KB4601382, that Microsoft has started to integrate the required Servicing Stack Update (SSU). The support article for KB4601382 states that:


Advertising

starting with this release, Microsoft will combine the latest servicing stack update (SSU) for your operating system with the latest cumulative update (LCU). To utilize this improvement, install the most recent standalone SSU (KB4598481) before installing this LCU. If you install this LCU before installing KB4598481, you might encounter error 0x800f0823 – CBS_E_NEW_SERVICING_STACK_REQUIRED. Close the error message and install the recommended SSU.

Similar articles:
Microsoft Office Patchday (February 2, 2021)
Microsoft Security Update Summary (February 9, 2021)
Patchday: Windows 10-Updates (February 9, 2021)
Patchday: Updates for Windows 7/Server 2008 R2 (February 9, 2021)
Patchday: Windows 8.1/Server 2012 Updates (February 9, 2021)
Patchday Microsoft Office Updates (February 9, 2021)
Windows 10 Preview Updates (Feb. 16, 2021)
Windows 10 2004/20H2: Preview Update KB4601382 (Feb. 24, 2021)


Cookies helps to fund this blog: Cookie settings
Advertising


##1

This entry was posted in Update, Windows and tagged , . Bookmark the permalink.

3 Responses to Windows 10: Cumulative Updates (LCUs) now integrates SSUs

  1. EP says:

    guenni

    recent CUs integrate recent SSUs only with recent Win10 versions from 2004 & greater.

    MS is still releasing CUs and SSUs separately for those using Win10 v1909 and older, meaning the SSUs are NOT integrated into the CUs for 1909 and earlier

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *