Microsoft: Slow death blow for WSUS
Microsoft's cloud strategy claims its next victim: WSUS becomes scrap metal. However, the functions will remain for some time to come.
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Microsoft keeps the notice short and sweet: Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) are deprecated. This means that no further development of the software will take place.
In a short message in Microsoft's tech community, the Redmond-based company communicates the serious change. "As part of our vision for simplified Windows management from the cloud, Microsoft is announcing the "deprecated" status for WSUS", wrote an employee there. This means that investments in new capabilities will no longer be made, and new feature requests for WSUS will no longer be accepted.
WSUS end: light in the darkness
However, the current functions will remain and Microsoft will continue to distribute updates through the WSUS channel. Content that has already been published will also continue to receive support.
"Deprecation", i.e. the transfer to "obsolete" status, represents the last step in the product lifecycle when a function or service is no longer in active development, Microsoft explains. The new WSUS status has no impact on current capabilities or support for Microsoft Configuration Manager. Importantly, WSUS will remain available in Windows Server 2025. With extended support for the server software, this should ensure that WSUS remains usable until 2034.
Nevertheless, Microsoft recommends that organizations consider moving to cloud tools, such as Windows Autopatch or Microsoft Intune for client update management or Azure Update Manager for server patch management.
The announcement also contains an interesting link to functions that will no longer be developed or even removed from Windows Server 2025 onwards. IT managers should slowly familiarize themselves with the list to evaluate the switch to successor services or alternatives.
At the beginning of July, Microsoft announced that the company would no longer offer driver updates via WSUS in future. From April 28, 2025, it will no longer be possible to import or distribute drivers via WSUS. Here, too, Microsoft is naming Intune as the successor service.
(dmk)