[German]One more small piece of information for Windows Server administrators. Since April 2022 Windows Server supports monthly updates for .NET (.NET Core) via Windows Update. Administrators can opt for this feature, but nothing will be switched automatically. Possibly this is known – it slipped through my fingers, although this was announced on April 12, 2022.
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I stumbled across a corresponding post by accident on the patchmanagement.org mailing list. Dated 4/14/2022, someone wrote:
Windows Server now supports automatic .NET updates – "…once you opt-in, it will add .NET Core 3.1, .NET 5.0, and .NET 6.0 to the Automatic Updates"
However, the whole thing did not cause any enthusiasm storms, since there are probably more frequent problems with .NET updates. Then, doing an Internet search, I found the article .NET Automatic Updates for Server Operating Systems, dated April 12, 2022, in which Microsoft announces the whole thing. Microsoft will provide monthly updates for modern .NET (.NET Core) for server operating systems via Microsoft Update (MU) on an opt-in basis starting April 2022.
There will be no changes for Windwos client operating systems. They will continue to receive updates via automatic updates, WSUS and the MU catalog as before.
The details
Administrators who don't want their servers to be automatically updated regarding .NET runtime packages don't need to take any action, according to Microsoft. Currently, updates for supported versions of .NET Core 3.1, .NET 5.0 and .NET 6.0 for server operating systems are offered through Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) and Microsoft Update Catalog. Distribution via Windows Update (AU) is not automatically provided.
Administrators who want to change this and receive .NET updates via automatic updates must actively set this on the relevant Windows server. The opt-in is done by corresponding DWORD entries AllowAUOnServerOS in subkeys (of the individual .NET versions) of the following registry branch:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft.NET
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The details can be found in the article .NET Automatic Updates for Server Operating Systems. Final question: Will you have .NET updates automatically installed on your Windows Server installations in the future?
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