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Microsoft Issues Separate .NET Framework Fixes for Newer Windows Systems
According to a Wednesday announcement, Microsoft plans to implement a modified .NET Framework monthly patch distribution schema for new Windows systems, which could begin next month.
Currently, Microsoft releases its .NET Framework hotfixes with Windows hotfixes each month, the "Tuesday update", or the second Tuesday of each month. With the new approach, .NET Framework patches will come separately from Windows patches when updating Tuesdays.
The fixes will be "cumulative updates", which means that they contain past updates, as well as new ones. Microsoft will not offer separate cumulative security and quality updates with the new separate .NET Framework hotfix schema, although it does offer this approach with Windows 10 hotfixes.
Microsoft did not specify the exact date that this new .NET Framework patching strategy for Windows fixes would take effect, but it indicated that it would begin when the "October 10, 2018 Update" is released. Microsoft offers major updates to the features of Windows 10 twice a year, in the spring and fall, and they usually arrive on Tuesday, so it's likely that the new strategy will kick off on October 9, even though Microsoft has not specified this date.
Microsoft has made this change in strategy to give organizations greater flexibility in patching.
"This new approach will give you more flexibility when installing .NET Framework updates," said the announcement, adding that it can help IT professionals more selectively test business applications before to deploy them widely.
However, the new strategy will not provide more flexibility to organizations using older versions of Windows. It is only taking effect for organizations using Windows 10 October 2018 Update (version 1809) and newer versions, as well as the upcoming Windows Server 2019 product.
Organizations using Windows 10 version 1803 and earlier will still receive the same .NET Framework and Windows fixes combined each month. Microsoft has not described what happens to older versions of Windows Server, but it is likely that the patches received will be the same. Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 users will still get "several .NET Framework updates, per Windows version," said Microsoft's announcement.
This approach where Windows and .NET Framework patches are separate will be primarily noticeable by organizations that use patch management systems to control when updates are installed on devices. Microsoft specifically mentioned that Windows Server Update Services users will see separate .NET Framework patches. Windows 10 users who use the Windows Update service to install updates automatically will probably not notice it, according to Microsoft's announcement.
IT professionals who access the Microsoft Update Catalog to download patches will be able to find these separate .NET Framework patches. They will be listed by their KB article numbers, explained the Microsoft release.
Restarts are necessary in most cases after installing the .NET Framework cumulative updates. However, the announcement suggested that the new approach with separate patches would not necessarily result in a system reboot for businesses, depending on the IT actions. Here is how Microsoft expressed this point:
Windows Update will organize to ensure that the updates provided simultaneously are processed together and require only one restart. The recommendation for WSUS / IT administrators is to continue to ensure that updates are bundled and deployed together to prevent any future reboots.
The new policy change will likely be welcomed by IT professionals for the reasons described by Microsoft. This is the latest change, in addition to Microsoft's latest explanation of its Windows 10 patching process last August.
Separate .NET Framework patches can also help organizations when Microsoft releases defective patches. For example, some Microsoft July 10 fixes included updates to Windows 10, but some were specifically .NET Framework fixes, which were fixed in August.
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