Windows Update

Windows Update is a utility in the Settings app that keeps your PC up-to-date with security and bug fixes, version upgrades, driver updates, and other updates. The rate at which these updates arrive has increased dramatically in recent years, and Microsoft now reserves the right to update Windows 11 at any time.

You can find Windows Update by opening the Settings app and navigating to > Windows Update.

Use Windows Update to keep Windows up-to-date
Windows Update is configured to run automatically in the background and it will prompt you if a pending update requires you to reboot your PC to complete the installation.

When you visit Windows Update in Settings, you will see different types of updates.

Among them are:

Feature updates. These updates are version upgrades that install a new version of Windows 11. Features updates include new features and bug and security fixes. Microsoft releases one feature update each year, in the second half of the year. The initial release of Windows 11 was known as Windows 11 version 21H2 (representing "the second half of 2021"), while the latest release is Windows 11 version 22H2. All feature updates require you to reboot the PC.

Quality updates. Consisting of both bug and security fixes, this type of update is delivered at least once a month and as often as every week. The main quality update release occurs on the second Tuesday of every month, which is known in Microsoft circles as "Patch Tuesday." Many quality updates, including those released on Patch Tuesday, require you to reboot your PC.

Servicing stack updates. This special kind of quality update is required when Windows Update itself needs to be updated.

Firmware and driver updates. Microsoft and your PC maker can use Windows Update to issue firmware and driver updates to fix security issues and bugs with your hardware drivers or to add new features. Firmware updates require you to reboot your PC, as do some driver updates.

Security intelligence updates for Microsoft Defender. These small updates update the antivirus and anti-malware capabilities of Windows Defender, a security utility that is included with Windows 11. They are automatically downloaded almost every day, often several times per day.

Microsoft product updates. These optional updates can keep other Microsoft software on your PC up-to-date using Windows Update. This capability is disabled by default.

As noted, Windows Update will automatically install any pending updates for you. But you can, of course, click the "Check for updates" button if you wish to manually check for updates.

Pause updates
As suggested by its name, the "Pause updates" option lets you pause all updates for 7 days. You can select this item repeatedly to add more time to the update pausing in one-week increments, up to 5 weeks total.

To reverse this change, select the "Resume updates" button that appears in place of "Check for updates."
View your update history
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