First 23H2 Update is Now Available for the Windows 11 Field Guide E-Book

With Microsoft releasing Windows 11 version 23H2 today, I thought it was only fitting that I release the first 23H2 update for the Windows 11 Field Guide e-book as well.

This update includes all the updates I’ve released to the web version of the Windows 11 Field Guide here on Thurrott.com to date. In PDF form, it encompasses about 160 pages of new and updated content, and with rare exceptions, all the screenshots are brand new too. The e-book is now over 950 pages long and is comprised of over 150,000 words.

New chapters include:

• Copilot (in the Desktop section)
• Windows Backup (in Files)

Existing chapters that were updated for 23H2 include:

• What’s New and Familiar in Windows 11 Version 23H2
• What’s Missing in Windows 11 Version 23H2
• Windows 11 Version 23H2 Hardware Requirements and Recommendations
• Upgrade from Windows 10 to Windows 11 Version 23H2
• Upgrade to Windows 11 Version 23H2 on Unsupported Hardware
• Create Windows 11 Version 23H2 Install Media
• Step-by-Step: Windows Setup First-Boot Experience (Previously called Clean Install Windows 11)
• Step-By-Step: Windows Setup Out-of-Box Experience (OOBE)
• Overcome Windows 11 Setup Annoyances
• OneDrive

When I announced that I would completely update the book for 23H2 about a month ago, it wasn’t clear when Microsoft would ship the actual product update and my best guess was that it would be on or after November 14. This would have given me plenty of time to prep the first e-book update, as I wanted it to include as much new content as possible and for the foundational beginning chapters to be completely updated at the very least. But this has been an unprecedented year of chaos, change, and uncertainty when it comes to Windows 11 updates, and it is absolutely perfect that Microsoft chose Halloween for this release. Of course it did.

It’s OK, I was mostly ready: As I noted last week (before Microsoft told me about the 23H2 launch date), I wanted this first e-book release to at least include the new Copilot and Windows Backup chapters, and I was able to accomplish that, even on a tighter than expected schedule. So I feel pretty good about this.

Going forward, I will update existing chapters and add new chapters simultaneously to the e-book and web versions of the Windows 11 Field Guide. I may go in some order or move around randomly as the mood strikes, we’ll see. But if you are interested in these updates, this site is the place to look: I’ll only email the e-book buyers about coming updates occasionally.

Thanks for reading!

Paul