A statement from Microsoft about Windows 10 PCs with “Pro” and “Pro Workstation” business licenses has unsettled many administrators. It said that PCs with sufficient hardware will be shown upgrade offers to Windows 11 23H2 from April – provided the computers are not “managed”. Users should be able to initiate these themselves. The explosive detail in this announcement was the definition of the term “managed.” According to Microsoft's definition, certain tools were required for computers to be considered managed. Managing a PC by joining a Windows domain alone is not administration. Now Microsoft is backtracking a bit: Not only paid offers like Microsoft Intune get around this, but WSUS, for example, was quietly added to the list.
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Microsoft is quietly changing the requirements
Initially it said: “Managed devices are those that you manage using Microsoft Intune, Configuration Manager, or other third-party management tools. Other devices are considered unmanaged.”
Now the company has expanded the list a little without any further information.
The management software listing now also includes Windows Update for Business (for cloud environments) and Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) (for on-premise ADs). Both can also use cloud or domain admins at no additional cost.
It is still counterintuitive to consider systems managed in an Active Directory as unmanaged and to take control of them away from IT managers. At least there is now update management software that can be installed at no additional cost to prevent the worst: users can initiate operating system upgrades from Windows 10 to 11 as they see fit.
Microsoft has still not issued an official statement in response to our request. At least the company has reacted and is providing a solution that does not incur any additional costs, at least in terms of software. However, there may be increased administration effort involved in operating a WSUS server.
(dmk)