Good news for Windows users, and for once there’s not a hint of sarcasm here: Microsoft has started rolling out Windows Hotpatch to the client versions of Windows. This feature, which comes from the server versions of Windows, allows the operating system to install patches to in-memory processes, removing the need for a number of restarts. Obviously, this is hugely beneficial for users, as they won’t have to deal with constant reboots whenever a new bunch of Windows updates are pushed.
There are some limitations and other things you should know. First, the way the system works is that every quarter, installations with Hotpatch enabled will receive a quarterly baseline update that requires a reboot, followed by two months of hotpatches which do not require a reboot. Hotpatches can only be security updates; new features and enhancements are rolled up into the quarterly baseline updates. In other words, while this will not completely eliminate reboots, it will cut the number of reboots per year down from twelve to just four, which is substantial, and very welcome in especially corporate environments.
The biggest limitation, however, is that Windows Hotpatch will only make it to one client version of Windows, Enterprise version 24H2, so users of the Home or Professional version are out of luck for now. On top of that, you’re going to need a Microsoft subscription, use Microsoft Intune, and an Intel/AMD-based system (Hotpatch will come to ARM later). I hope it’ll make its way to Windows 11 Home and Professional, too, because I’m fairly sure quite a few of you using Windows would love to set this up on your own machines.
I don’t use Windows, but can’t you just do the updates whenever you want like on a GNU/Linux distro? This statement seems strange, “it will cut the number of reboots per year down from twelve to just four”. Can’t the user just do one per year, or none, or whatever they want? Use it for years without an update if they want? If you don’t want to update and reboot right away then just simply wait until later when you have time.
But how will MS restore the edge shortcut on my desktop and make it the default browser every month, despite my obvious choice to the contrary?
andyprough,
There was a time when that was true, but the answer today is no. Windows 10 made updates non-optional. While you can find some tricks to block updates, microsoft’s intention to make them (and the associated reboots) mandatory. This can cause data loss for some people who leave software open 24×7. Microsoft’s solution was to offer update schedules and a delay. But even then updates can still be forced at very inopportune times. Microsoft are kind of assholes about it. I don’t remember exactly when this change happened, but both “reboot” and “shutdown” have been replaced with “Update then shutdown”. This is especially obnoxious when you have to quickly pack up a laptop. I’ve learned that these options can be bypassed, but the UI makes no indication of this. Once it happened to me right before a flight and I had no choice but to perform a forced shutdown during an update that was 100% microsoft’s fault.
https://www.intowindows.com/how-to-shutdown-or-restart-windows-10-11-without-updating/
Microsoft’s entitlement on my machine is so damn annoying. Many people put up with it but for me I’m glad I have linux on my personal computers. I admit experiencing problems with linux, but hey at least disrespecting my authority is not one of them.
I see. So the constant need for security kind of benefits Microsoft in a way, giving them plenty of reason to require consistent access to users’ systems. Kind of like the way Google treats Chrome browser users. “You, the user, must give us, the company, consistent access to make changes to whatever binary code you are running, or otherwise you will be INSECURE and the bad people will take your data and your money.”
andyprough,
One the one hand people are willing to give MS the benefit of doubt in the name of security. But on the other hand some of microsoft’s updates have added ads, overriden the user’s browser selection, and things of this nature which are user-hostile. I don’t know of a way to permit the “good updates” while blocking the harmful ones. You used to have more control over which updates you got, but microsoft has determined that it’s not our choice to make.
I always try to disable ads/popups/etc whenever they appear, so thankfully I don’t see them at least until they push out new ad updates. However it’s pretty clear to me that microsoft’s vision for windows isn’t one that serves users, but one that embraces tracking and advertising. They saw cable TV and said let’s do that to computers. And just like cable TV, I think it’s going to keep getting incrementally worse little by little.
Can’t you just install some minimal server edition or something like that? Something that gives you the ability to run your important programs but doesn’t have all the unnecessary stuff?
I guess I can see why so many people refuse to stop using un-maintained older versions like Windows 7.
andyprough,
The corporate edition gives companies more control than the pro edition, but it’s also much less accessible for normal users. Since you bring it up though, there is an IOT edition. I’m not familiar with it but a quick search shows that updates can be disabled on IOT enterprise edition. This makes sense, otherwise it would be unfit for purpose.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/iot/iot-enterprise/os-features/updates
However I see some weird terms in the license and it seems like microsoft don’t want people using windows IOT as a normal desktop.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/iot/iot-enterprise/eula/license_en-us_english_united_states.pdf
That said, I guess it could work. Maybe somebody could comment on whether IOT edition works as a desktop.
At some point Microsoft decided forced updates were better than dealing with bot nets. Probably because they run Azure now and have to combat ddos attacks.
Oh, by Windows Update, you mean Windows Enshittification
Is there a way to uninstall specific updates and hotfixes like it used to be the way in the past, or the cross-dependencies would be overwhelming to track?