Those rollups only contained non-security updates, so you could still choose which security patches to apply, which to avoid, and when to apply them.
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In other words, users of these earlier versions of Windows can wave goodbye to the traditional “patch Tuesday”, and say hello to a “monthly rollup” patch which has, well, all of the latest updates – plus previous ones – rolled up into a single package.
Microsoft is changing patching for Windows 7/8.1 so instead of fixes and updates arriving in dribs and drabs, they’ll pitch up in one cumulative update, as is the case with Windows 10. That will reduce the chance that an update fails because it’s got a dependency on a prior update (which, as Microsoft’s Nathan Mercer writes in the announcement, can often mean hunting for a file that’s hard to find).
Downloads of the.Net Framework Monthly Rollup, which will be about 60MB, can be accessed through Windows Update, Windows Server Update, or Microsoft Update Catalog.
Servicing Stack and Adobe Flash won’t be included in the rollups.
“Individual patches will no longer be available”.
Microsoft is making changes to how it delivers updates to Windows 7 SP1 and Windows 8.1, and also Windows Server 2008 R2 and 2012 and the impact will be felt by every IT Pro. “Our goal is eventually to include all of the patches we have shipped in the past since the last baseline, so that the Monthly Rollup becomes fully cumulative and you need only to install the latest single rollup to be up to date”, Microsoft explains. The Monthly Rollup will be published to Windows Update (WU), WSUS, SCCM, and the Microsoft Update Catalog. The security patches will not be like the regular rollup, in there won’t be a cumulative build up of all previous security patches.
The new rollup model gives you fewer updates to manage, greater predictability, and higher quality updates.
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What’s your take on this latest change: a good move, or another example of Microsoft wrestling back control from its users?
