Microsoft is tinkering with the way it plans to roll out monthly updates for Windows 11. Smaller, cumulative checkpoints are intended to ensure a smoother update process.

Windows 11 will now receive a monthly security update on the second Tuesday of every month, known in the Windows universe as “Patch Tuesday.” Microsoft doesn’t want to deviate from that tradition, but the way these updates are delivered to your PC may change. The software giant is tinkering with a new update system that it plans to implement with the upcoming 24H2 update.

Checkpoints

In a technical blog, Microsoft explains how it plans to set up a system of “cumulative checkpoints.” In short, each Windows 11 update will soon be registered as a “checkpoint.” When a new update is available, your PC will check the last checkpoint it went through.

The big advantage of working this way is that update files become smaller, which should make the installation process smoother. Now, Windows updates are cumulative, which means that new features from the previous update are added to the update file. Users who occasionally miss a month only need to install an update to catch up. The downside, however, is that a cumulative update file becomes increasingly larger.

The last Windows 11 update in July, for example, was a whopping 727MB. With the new system, the update only requires installing “incremental binary differences to the version of the binaries in the last checkpoint,” Microsoft said. If you have the latest update installed, the next update will be much easier.

There is a small but for IT administrators who manage multiple corporate PCs. They need to track checkpoints and subsequent updates and ensure they are deployed properly. Microsoft’s management tools are designed to help with that.

From Windows 11 24H2

Microsoft will initially test the cumulative checkpoint updates in the beta channel. Starting with the Windows 11 24H2 update, all should be migrated. If everything goes well, you won’t actually notice anything. Windows 11 24H2 is expected in the fall and is the most important feature update for this year. This adjustment is not relevant for Windows 10.