Piece by piece, The arrival of Windows 11 24H2 is approaching, another major Windows update that is already well advanced in development. So much so that after very preliminary versions that went through the less stable channels, we told you last week that it has already landed on the preview channel, which means that the pre-final versions (RC and RTM) are no longer going to be polished.

Still, we’ll have to wait until fall. for Microsoft to begin deployment, according to the calendar it has used for several years for the second half (H2) of its operating system releases, a model that has been maintained even after the demise (H1) of two major updates , which the operating system received, more specifically Windows 10.

We already know what awaits us as part of the news in Windows 11 24H2, namely Microsoft still has a few months to focus on testing the update, to make it as stable and reliable as possible. Much of this work falls to insiders, volunteers who donate (their) time and (their) resources to Microsoft in exchange for testing the latest before anyone else, arguably one of the most successful participatory testing programs in the world. .

Still, we can expect some problems to occur, and at least in this case we should be grateful to know this far in advance. And as we can read in How to Geek, Windows 11 24H2 will not be compatible with some NAS storage drives, so they will no longer be accessible remotely via SMB. And yes, in this case it is important to clarify that we are not talking about failure, but about a conscious and permanent decision.

Newer devices such as the Sinology DiskStation DS224+ and DS124 will not be affected by Windows Update.

Because? Because, Until now, Microsoft allowed unsigned SMB connections in Windows, although this security feature has been present in the operating system for many years. As we can read in the technical document from Redmond «SMB signing (also known as security signatures) is a security mechanism in the SMB protocol. SMB signing means that every SMB message contains a signature that is generated using a session key. The client places a hash of the entire message in the signature field of the SMB header.»

The change that comes with Windows 11 24H2 is that for security reasons Only signed SMB connections will now be allowedbut there are NAS storage drives, especially older ones, that do not support this security feature, so with a Windows update, unless their manufacturers release updates for this purpose (which in some cases seems highly unlikely), the connection between the OS and the device can no longer be established .

In the same way as it happened with the technical requirements of Windows 11, we are once again faced with the decision of Microsoft that in many cases may cause device obsolescence. And of course I understand and appreciate Microsoft’s concern for security very positively, but ultimately it’s something that should ultimately be left up to the user, not unilaterally decided by them.