Windows 10 Version 21H1 is Now Available

UPDATE: Microsoft has announced the release now. –Paul

“Today marks the beginning of Windows 10 version 21H1 availability,” Microsoft’s John Cable says. “As I noted when we first announced [Windows 10 version 21H1] in February, we grounded this update on the needs expressed by you, our customers, over the past year of continued remote work, learning and play. [It] is purposely scoped to deliver important features that improve security, remote access and quality—and engineered to provide a fast update experience. We have released and evaluated preview builds through the Windows Insider Program over the past months and, based on the feedback gathered from our Insider community, we are now ready to begin a phased rollout.”

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There’s no official announcement yet, but Microsoft has released Windows 10 version 21H1 to its Download Windows 10 website.

The site offers two major ways to acquire this release. You can download and run the Update Assistant to upgrade your existing Windows 10 install to the new version. Or, you can create Windows 10 installation media on USB or DVD and install the release from there.

Thanks to Michael Reinders for the tip.

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Conversation 18 comments

  • Thomas Parkison

    18 May, 2021 - 2:07 pm

    <p>Betanews says that you should be able to update to it seamlessly via Windows Update, but it doesn’t seem to be available to me.</p>

    • wright_is

      Premium Member
      19 May, 2021 - 2:20 am

      <p>Hardware and software restrictions might apply…</p><p><br></p><p>I downloaded the update tool. </p><p><br></p><p>It is also showing up in WSUS, so I’ve created a new test-group to roll it out to a set of PCs and VMs used for testing such things.</p>

    • Paul Thurrott

      Premium Member
      19 May, 2021 - 9:31 am

      It doesn’t go to all PCs simultaneously. I did get it yesterday on a ThinkPad X1 Nano I’m reviewing.

  • navarac

    18 May, 2021 - 2:46 pm

    <p>Please save us from Microsoft Corporate speak (aka gobbledegook). "Grounded the update and purposely scoped it." John Cable issues another paragraph of pure waffle. Most Insiders never saw new features because of A/B Testing, so their feedback was not forthcoming anyway. Certainly, I didn’t. </p>

  • will

    Premium Member
    18 May, 2021 - 2:49 pm

    <p>I am not really sure what is new in this update…</p>

  • will

    Premium Member
    18 May, 2021 - 3:02 pm

    <p>So I just checked and 21H1 was listed as an option update in Windows Update and it happened so fast I thought it did not work. It downloaded, installed, and rebooted in less than 2 minutes. The build number looks to be the same as just before the update but it now says 21H1 as the version number. </p><p><br></p><p>So if you are current with Windows 20H2, and do this update, it is a VERY minor update.</p>

    • epguy40

      18 May, 2021 - 4:33 pm

      <p>21H1 is also a minor update to 2004/20H1 users as well</p>

    • wright_is

      Premium Member
      19 May, 2021 - 2:23 am

      <p>It has been rebooting for 22 minutes and is at 22% on my Ryzen 7 desktop…</p>

  • bls

    Premium Member
    18 May, 2021 - 3:29 pm

    <p>WU didn’t find it, but I was able to download the ISO (with some agent spoofing) and starting the upgrade grind, however small it is. </p>

  • yb

    Premium Member
    18 May, 2021 - 3:44 pm

    <p>21H1 is now available via windows update- that’s how I got it 15 minutes ago.</p>

    • bls

      Premium Member
      18 May, 2021 - 4:03 pm

      <p>Indeed. Did my 2nd system via WU and it finished before the first system which was done from an ISO. </p>

      • wright_is

        Premium Member
        19 May, 2021 - 2:26 am

        <p>Yes, I had to update my main PC from the migration tool. It took a while to install (from 20h2) and is now rebooting, progress seems to be 1% per minute.</p>

      • wright_is

        Premium Member
        19 May, 2021 - 2:39 am

        <p>I used WSUS for my work test VM, that took less than 5 seconds to install and under 2 minutes to reboot.</p><p><br></p><p>The desktop has just finished, in total 40 minutes to reboot – from Migration tool update.</p>

  • mattbg

    Premium Member
    18 May, 2021 - 4:08 pm

    <p>I installed it with the Upgrade Advisor. My PC still works ?</p>

  • epguy40

    18 May, 2021 - 4:35 pm

    <p>there are also 21H1 ISO downloads available as well (with build 19043.928), Paul</p>

  • bleeman

    Premium Member
    18 May, 2021 - 5:08 pm

    <p>I checked Windows Update and it was there waiting for me. Downloaded and rebooted without a hitch. Don’t notice anything different.</p>

    • Paul Thurrott

      Premium Member
      19 May, 2021 - 9:22 am

      Mission accomplished. 🙂

  • wright_is

    Premium Member
    19 May, 2021 - 2:51 am

    <p>It is interesting, my VM is showing the last feature update is 2004 (20h2 was installed and it is now on 21h1) in Updates, but on the System Info view, it is showing as 21h1.</p><p><br></p><p>My desktop is showing no feature updates (originally 1709, has been updated with each update through 21h1) and System Info is showing 21h1.</p>

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