Windows 11 25H2 is mostly 24H2 with bits bolted on or ripped out
- Reference: 1759334468
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2025/10/01/windows_11_25h2/
- Source link:
The update was quietly [1]heralded by John Cable, VP of product management for Windows servicing and delivery. As well it might – Windows 11 25H2 is little more than Windows 11 24H2 with some new features turned on and some legacy functionality removed. Both operating systems share the same codebase and servicing branch.
And the same problems. The known issues list shows that Windows 11 25H2 has picked up a couple that will be familiar to Windows 11 24H2 users. There's the [2]issue with digital TV and Blu-ray/DVD applications (now partially mitigated, although "some applications using DRM for digital audio might continue to experience problems") and Windows Update Standalone Installer (WUSA) [3]woes also live on.
[4]
That said, there is some new functionality that will please administrators. Wi-Fi 7 support is included, and it is also possible to remove some pre-installed Microsoft Store apps via Intune or Group Policy. Less welcome is the removal of PowerShell 2.0 and the Windows Management Instrumentation command line (WMIC). However, both are comparatively long in the tooth, and [5]plenty of notice was given regarding their fate. Deprecation of PowerShell 2.0 was announced in 2017.
[6]Healthcare lags in Windows 11 upgrades – and lives may depend on it
[7]Legacy Update updated – so your old Windows can be, too
[8]Microsoft digs up Vista-era animated wallpaper for Windows 11. Here's how to get it
[9]Microsoft agrees to 11th hour Win 10 end of life concessions
With what we hope was unintended irony, Microsoft called this iteration of Windows part of its "Secure Future Initiative." This, in Microsoft's [10]words , is about "security above all else."
According to Charlie Bell, security EVP at the corporation, "Microsoft runs on trust, and trust must be earned and maintained. Our pledge to our customers and our community is to prioritize your cybersafety above all else."
[11]
In less than two weeks, Microsoft will be halting free security updates for many versions of Windows 10, leaving hundreds of millions of customers potentially vulnerable to cyberattacks. For many, upgrading to Windows 11 requires buying new hardware thanks to Microsoft's requirements.
Perhaps that "security above all else" slogan needs a rider: "Unless we can squeeze a few extra dollars out of you for new hardware or extended security updates." ®
Get our [12]Tech Resources
[1] https://blogs.windows.com/windowsexperience/2025/09/30/how-to-get-the-windows-11-2025-update/
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2025/09/22/windows_11_bluray_stuttering/
[3] https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/release-health/status-windows-11-25H2#3674msgdesc
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aN2kd9Xouu2muyyuX6xMEAAAAUo&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2025/07/04/microsoft_finally_bids_farewell_to/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2025/09/30/windows_11_healthcare/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2025/09/29/legacy_updated_updated/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2025/09/26/microsoft_animated_wallpaper_windows11/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2025/09/26/not_in_eu_and_want/
[10] https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/trust-center/security/secure-future-initiative
[11] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aN2kd9Xouu2muyyuX6xMEAAAAUo&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[12] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: Sorry, probably stupid question
Nobody can explain their version chaos. That includes Microsoft themselves.
Re: Sorry, probably stupid question
You are correct about the genealogy, but it has long been the case that Windows Update will happily sit there saying "You're up to date!" when there are year-old updates not being offered.
I, too, had a machine last week on 23H2 with no blocking issues or registry restraints and yet WU refused to offer 24H2. (We can force the update by whacking Windows over the head with an ISO but ... why do we have too?)
Re: Sorry, probably stupid question
I think there was a fowl-up of sorts that stopped various installations getting the update beyond 23H2 automagically. Some of mine had the same problem and had to be ISO whacked.
In fact, I recall that the only Windows 11 machine of mine that smoothly upgraded to 24H2 was the one that doesn't have a TPM and Windows 11 only installed on it at all because I turned on a lot of the options in Rufus. Why that machine upgraded cleanly and the "legit compatible hardware" ones did not, I don't know.
To dive down a rabbit hole - I was pretty impressed with Windows 11's tolerance of abuse. I tried installing a Rufus'ed installation with everything ticked on a really quite primitive machine. The installation worked, but the first boot was a nope (the CPU was missing an opcode MS have decided to put into Win11). On reboot, the installation wound itself all the way back to the pre-existing Windows 10 installation, which was seemingly utterly unscathed or altered by the near-death experience. So it's a pretty robust installer in some ways, and strangely fickle in others.
Re: Sorry, probably stupid question
Of course, it could be that Rufus just fixed all the installer problems along with working other small miracles....
wmic.exe gone is news to me...
I will miss
set X=
for /f "skip=1 delims=" %%x in ('wmic os get localdatetime') do if not defined X set X=%%x
set DATE.YEAR=%X:~0,4%
set DATE.MONTH=%X:~4,2%
set DATE.DAY=%X:~6,2%
set DATE.HOUR=%X:~8,2%
set DATE.MINUTE=%X:~10,2%
set DATE.SECOND=%X:~12,2%
set DATE.FRACTIONS=%X:~15,6%
set DATE.OFFSET=%X:~21,4%
Well, not really, I've switched to powershell quite a while ago. But there are a considerable number of scripts out there (including quite a number from me!) using this way, cause "date /t" formats the date dependent on your system settings, and time does the same - which makes those commands useless as soon as you go multinational.
Excuse Me?
If you're still convinced AI doesn't hallucinate then
"Microsoft runs on trust, and trust must be earned and maintained. Our pledge to our customers and our community is to prioritize your cybersafety above all else"
That is some made up AI bullshit right there!
Re: Excuse Me?
At least we know where Reacher Gilt ended up!
Re: Excuse Me?
That's standard marketing boilerplate, which the better LLMs (remember, AI does not exist as of yet, and anybody who tells you it does is lying) are often suitable to do with some light editing.
Trust, my arse
Microsoft has discovered, nay weaponised, the fact that security above all else can be implemented by removing functionality.
Less functionality = more security
Unless as the author says, they can squeeze more money out of us.
And if security above all else is important, then why, for example, do we not have full control over MFA with 365 unless we pay for the more expensive "premium" licences?
"Less welcome is the removal of PowerShell 2.0 and ..."
Is that less welcome? Is there really a body of Powershell scripts out there that don't work on the current version?
The more I read about problems and issues with Windows 11 and company, the happier I am that I switched to Debian 13.
"security above all else"
And that includes the ability to boot into a working OS.
Sorry, probably stupid question
> Windows 11 25H2 is little more than Windows 11 24H2 [...]. Both operating systems share the same codebase and servicing branch.
Sorry, not a Windows user anymore, but aren't those just update levels? I was under the (naive) impression that "23H2" would eventually (in 2024) be updated to become "24H1", six months later "24H2", and another six months later "25H1" (followed later by "25H2").
Apparently it's way more convoluted (I should had known...). Could somebody please be so kind explain what the difference actually is? How do you pass from 2nH2 to 2n+1H1? Apparently not through Windows Update, because after reading this I checked the residual Win 11 partition on my laptop and, although pretending to be up to date, it's still "23H2". WTF?