According to separate reports from The Verge and Windows Central, Windows 11’s first major update, also called Windows 11 22H2, is due to be released to the public on September 20th.
The update has been available in near-final form on the Microsoft Windows Insider Preview channels since May, and we’ve already covered most of its major changes – Windows 11 22H2 will include several new security features (and new default settings for existing features), a redesigned Manager tasks, new touch screen gestures and window management features, and tweaks to the Start menu and taskbar, among other things. It also continues to replace older parts of the Windows 8 and 10 era UI (such as brightness and volume indicators) with rounded Windows 11-style versions, bringing more visual consistency to Windows PCs.
Like all major Windows updates, it will most likely not be offered to all current Windows 11 users on September 20th. Microsoft typically pushes the update to a small number of PCs first and gradually expands availability until it is installed on all Windows 11 PCs. Users can manually install new updates by downloading the ISO image or by using the Windows 11 Setup Assistant from this page.
Microsoft’s update plans for Windows have changed a lot over the past year, and they are reportedly still in flux. The company said last year that Windows 11 would receive major updates once a year and that Windows 10 would move from its two-yearly update model to the same once-a-year schedule. But even though the pace of major updates has officially slowed down, Microsoft has also made some changes to its development and release practices that allow it to roll out small and medium changes at shorter intervals. In the 10 months since the release of Windows 11, we’ve received a long list of UI tweaks, updates to a number of pre-installed third-party apps, and Android app support. Reportedly
For Windows 10 users who can’t or don’t want to install Windows 11, Windows 10 is getting its own 22H2 update. Microsoft released a preview build for it late last month, but the company isn’t talking about what the update actually does. It is unlikely that it will include many significant improvements for users.