Microsoft has released a new Windows 11 preview build, which offers improvements in updating for IT administrators as well as fixes to app crashes.

With today’s update, we’re focusing on the ability to make system restarts after Windows updates are installed more predictable for admins.

While guarantees of uninterrupted restarts are unheard of in the tech world, it’s part of a successful update strategy. Microsoft’s Amanda Lord and Brandon LeBlanc have made it their goal to protect customers from outages and update failures.

Microsoft made changes to the Update Stack Orchestrator in order to achieve this goal. They specifically decided to allow admins to manually set the days before feature and quality update install automatically.

A pattern for a rewitten sentence

Downloads of Windows updates happen without custom restart deadlines around the clock. Updates can, however, only happen outside of active hours.

Once the deadline is reached, the system will restart automatically to complete the installation process regardless of your setting. The user will not be able to reschedule the update, so don’t worry- it’s done!

However, admins can set a grace period for the restart times to give users time to manage the updates. They can also specify an active hour range or force a restart outside these hours if the system reboots aren’t rescheduled.

Microsoft has added two new Group Policy settings to manage system restarts after updates.

Specify deadlines for automatic updates, which would output quality updates at a consistent time without additional care.

Set up automations and restarts to automatically update or restart your feature when they’re complete.

Feature update deadline policy

Microsoft does not allow feature updates to be released with a limited amount of time. Instead, features must be completed with a certain amount of time before they are released to the public.

#

If you’re on Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel, and have a build of Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 25227 installed, these improvements will soon be available to you.

We’re really excited to share that our latest update has fixed multiple app crashes.

A new build of Windows 11 fixes some minor issues related to crashes, File Explorer, the Start Menu, and online gaming services.

The complete list of crash fixes includes the following:

• Address bus errors
• Fix a dangling pointer error
• Display an ANSI colour sequence

Explorer.exe no longer crashes while trying to switch between apps on the tablet-optimized taskbar.

Broken links are now fixed on your browser. You’re free to drag and drop icons as usual.

We’ve fixed an issue where dragging content across an open Start menu folder could cause a crash.

Fixed a couple of issues causing certain apps to crash in recent builds. We are continuing to investigate feedback in this space.

Windows 10’s Dev Channel was focused on enabling compatibility for games you had been playing and may not have been experiencing any significant problems. But, if you were having crashes in the previous Dev Channel flight, please check to see if you are now able to play your favorite games and try updating your Microsoft Store purchase. It should be resolved now.