Major Windows 10 updates will come twice a year, Microsoft promises

Microsoft has confirmed that the next major Windows 10 update, codenamed “Redstone 3,” is slated to land this September. In the same blog post making the announcement, the firm promised to release major Windows 10 updates every March and September from here on out.

Citing strong consumer feedback regarding the want for more predictability and stability from Microsoft’s Windows update model, Windows Commercial Marketing GM Bernardo Caldas stated that Microsoft is aligning its Windows 10 update schedule with that of its Office 365 ProPlus and System Center Configuration Manager products.

 The news comes after a general lack of clarity surrounding when previous major Windows 10 updates would drop, much less when they would hit a given customer’s device. While this won’t change anything about the latter issue, at least the regularity will be a welcome change.

Caldas went on to write that Microsoft will support each of these major updates with security patches for 18 months after their deployment, which isn’t necessarily news, but a reminder in light of this announcement.

What does this mean for you? Not a ton, frankly, other than you can more readily count on seeing big Windows 10 updates in March and September, starting this year.

We’ll be sure to check back come September (and next March) to see whether Microsoft makes good on its word.

Joe Osborne

Joe Osborne is the Senior Technology Editor at Insider Inc. His role is to leads the technology coverage team for the Business Insider Shopping team, facilitating expert reviews, comprehensive buying guides, snap deals news and more. Previously, Joe was TechRadar's US computing editor, leading reviews of everything from gaming PCs to internal components and accessories. In his spare time, Joe is a renowned Dungeons and Dragons dungeon master – and arguably the nicest man in tech.