Last week, a significant incident unfolded concerning a server upgrade when Microsoft’s Windows 11 KB5044284 update was inadvertently deployed to Windows Server 2019 and Server 2022 systems. The third-party application management solution (AMM) provider, Heimdal, pointed fingers at Microsoft for the oversight.
Later that same day, Microsoft acknowledged the error, confirming that the latest server version had indeed been released as an optional update for Windows Server 2022 and 2019. While no immediate explanation was provided, speculation arose that the misclassification of the client operating system update as a server update may have led to this confusion.
Clarification from Microsoft
In a recent update on its Windows health dashboard, Microsoft detailed the circumstances surrounding the mishap. The company emphasized that future feature updates should be regarded as “optional” rather than “recommended.” The specifics of the situation were laid out as follows:
Windows Server 2025 is intended to be offered as an Optional upgrade in Windows Update settings for devices running Windows Server 2019 and Windows Server 2022. Two scenarios were observed in certain environments:
- Some devices upgraded automatically to Windows Server 2025 (KB5044284). This was particularly noted in environments utilizing third-party products for client and server update management. It is advisable to check whether third-party update software in your environment is configured to avoid deploying feature updates. This scenario has since been mitigated.
- An upgrade to Windows Server 2025 was presented through a banner message on the device’s Windows Update page, located under Settings. This notification was designed for organizations wishing to perform an in-place upgrade. This scenario has already been resolved.
The Windows Server 2025 feature update was released as an Optional update under the Upgrade Classification: “DeploymentAction=OptionalInstallation”. Feature update metadata must be interpreted as Optional and not Recommended by patch management tools.
In addition to addressing the recent upgrade issues, Microsoft has outlined proactive measures to avert similar occurrences in the future. The tech giant is collaborating with third-party AMMs and introducing a new group policy “hold” setting for selecting the target feature update version.
Next steps: Microsoft is working with third-party providers to streamline best practices and recommended procedures. The visibility of the feature update offer banner can be controlled by setting the target version to “hold” in the Group Policy “Select the target Feature Update version”. We will update this documentation in the coming days with additional information about this group policy once it is available.
Note: The Windows Server 2025 feature update was made generally available on November 1, 2024, as KB5044284, which was the same KB number used for Windows 11, version 24H2. This was the KB numbering for both these client and server Windows updates available at that time. Future updates released for Windows Server 2025 and Windows 11, version 24H2 will share the same KB numbers but will have different release note sites and links.
For further details on the issue, you can refer to Microsoft’s official Windows health dashboard website.
