Windows 10 21H2 (November 2021 Update) ISO

[German]Microsoft has provided an ISO installation file of the upcoming Windows 10 Fall Update (version 21H2) for Windows Insiders this week and also revealed the name.

I have been asked here on the blog more often when the Windows 10 Fall Update (version 21H2) will come. Generally, it was expected for October 2021, but the month is nearly over.

Windows 10 November 2021 Update

It was a short information Preparing the Windows 10 November 2021 Update for Release in the Windows blog that now provides clarity. Microsoft announced there on October 21, 2021 that they were preparing the Windows 10 November 2021 Update. With this, the name November 2021 Update for the upcoming 21H2 was announced.

ISO download and further updates

Microsoft assumes that the build 19044.1288 is the final version for the Windows 10 November 2021 Update (21H2). At the same time, they are making an ISO installation file available for download for Windows Insiders. However, Microsoft wants to fix bugs in the build in question via Windows Update as usual.

Microsoft is now offering the Windows 10 November 2021 Update to all Windows Insiders in the Release Preview Channel. If you are an Insider in Windows 10 and go to the "Search" function in Windows Update (in the Settings page) and are currently running Windows 10, version 21H1 (or lower) in the Release Preview Channel, you should be offered the upgrade. The update can be found under Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update. Triggering the search should download and install Windows 10, version 21H2.

Once an Insider has upgraded their PC to Windows 10, version 21H2, they will continue to automatically receive new service updates via Windows Update (the typical monthly update process).

General rollout in November 2021

From this announcement, we can conclude that the next fall update for the general public will not come until November 2021. That will either be on patchday (9.11.) or a week later.

Windows 10 21H2 will then be rolled out via enablement update for machines running Windows 10 version 2004 or later. Only machines with Windows 10 version 1909 or earlier would have to receive a full feature update. But these machines have since fallen out of support.

Background: Enablement updates

For blog readers who are not so into the matter, some more explanations. Microsoft releases two feature updates every year, one in spring, one in fall. In the past, these releases were released as feature updates for a long time – with the result that a fat, several gigabyte large package had to be downloaded from the Microsoft servers and installed. In the process, Windows 10 is completely replaced.

Since 2019, however, Microsoft has been trying to roll out the fall update for Windows 10 as a 'small update'. For the first time, this was practiced with the 190x versions of Windows 10. The spring update (Windows 10 version 1903) came – in the old familiar manner – as a full-fledged feature update. But the fall update (Windows 10 version 1909) was implemented as a 'minor feature update'. The code for Windows 10 versions 1903 and 1909 is the same – they even use common updates. Instead of downloading gigabytes of code for a feature update, Windows 10 versions 1909 was deployed as a so-called 'enablement update'. A small, approximately 500 kByte update package simply switches versions.

This approach has been practiced since Windows 10 version 2004 with all feature updates (2004, 20H2, 21H1). So the update virtually only releases the features already included in the Windows 10 version via update.

The exciting point will then be the question of whether there will be further function updates until the end of Windows 10 support in October 2025. So far, nothing is known in this regard. And in December 2021, the support for Windows 10 version 2004 will expire as scheduled.