Admins using Windows Server Update Services up in arms as Microsoft deprecates feature
- Reference: 1727098152
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2024/09/23/microsoft_wsus_deprecation/
- Source link:
Windows Server 2025 remains in preview, but Microsoft [1]has been busy letting users know what is set for removal and what will be deprecated in the release. WSUS fits into the latter category – still there for now, but no longer under active development.
This is a big deal for many administrators who rely on the feature to deploy and manage the distribution of updates and features in an enterprise environment. It'll even work on a network disconnected from the internet – download the patches to a connected computer, stick them on some removable media, import the patches to a WSUS server on the disconnected network, and away you go.
[2]
A tame administrator told El Reg : "We are migrating to Intune. It's a lot more complicated than WSUS, and it takes a lot longer to get set up."
[3]
[4]
"Such is progress!" he sighed.
Microsoft's advice is, unsurprisingly, to migrate to cloud tools. As well as the aforementioned Intune, there is also Windows Autopatch for client update management or Azure Update Manager for server update management. And there are plenty of third-party tools out there too, such as [5]Ansible .
[6]AI to power the corporate Windows 11 refresh? Nobody's buying that
[7]Microsoft cash to help reignite Three Mile Island atomic plant
[8]Microsoft on a roll for terrible rebranding with Windows App
[9]Dutch watchdog wants more powers after EU drops Microsoft Inflection probe
Microsoft's announcement has attracted comment. One user [10]said : "Congratulations, you just made centralized automated patching subject to internal politics and budget constraints.
"I survived the era of Melissa, SQL Slammer, and other things that were solved when we no longer had to choose between paid patch management or trusting admins of every server to do the right thing. For those of you that did not live through that, buckle up!"
[11]
To be clear, being deprecated does not mean the feature is being removed. While features such as the IIS 6 Management Console, SMTP email server, and WordPad will be removed in Windows Server 2025 (any admins using WordPad for professional work should probably do some soul searching), Microsoft is simply confirming that WSUS "is no longer being actively developed."
However, the confirmation highlights the need for administrators still using WSUS to start thinking about a migration sooner rather than later. ®
Get our [12]Tech Resources
[1] https://learn.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows-server/get-started/removed-deprecated-features-windows-server-2025
[2] 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=2ZvGQpCu0Mj0NeJ0zC-XApAAAAEU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] 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=44ZvGQpCu0Mj0NeJ0zC-XApAAAAEU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZvGQpCu0Mj0NeJ0zC-XApAAAAEU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://www.ansible.com/how-ansible-works/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2024/09/23/windows_11_ai_opinion/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2024/09/20/three_mile_island_nuclear_plant_microsoft_ai/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2024/09/20/microsoft_windows_app/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2024/09/19/netherlands_acm_microsoft_inflection/
[10] https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/windows-it-pro-blog/windows-server-update-services-wsus-deprecation/bc-p/4251529/highlight/true#M7918
[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=44ZvGQpCu0Mj0NeJ0zC-XApAAAAEU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[12] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Not a surprise
Microsoft hasn't added any features to WSUS in *years*. Azure Patch Manager is getting all the juicy enhancements. Nobody should have been caught off-guard by this. Even then, it will be quite a few years before WSUS is gone, since they are supporting it in Windows Server 2025.
I know a few sites that won't be upgrading because the sole purpose of those servers is providing SMTP mail.
I wonder how many people are migrating....
...away from Microsoft. Not a switch to Linux but a switch to early retirement. It's not just Japanese farmers that are getting older, and dealing with an endless amount of Microshit gimmicks, fails, and downgrades is no way to spend the last decade before your dribbly, leaky dotage. Are enough eager, starry-eyed youngsters desperate to defend systems from the combined abuse of users, hackers and MS? It would be interesting to see some demographics on this.
In an ideal world (perhaps in the cancelled Metaverse?), MS would be learning from its mistakes and making its software more user/admin friendly. Instead it repeats its mistakes and makes its software worse with each passing year. Are people walking away, or just getting on with it?
Do not use the cloud nor Windows
Use Linux/OpenBSD in a private, encrypted setup.
BRICS countries should do that.
MS seems to have lost it... big time
WSUS is (or should be was) one of the most useful things about Windows Server. It allows us to mask the failings of the normal windows update system which are well known and have been for getting on for 20 years (or more)
They are running around like headless chickens with one leg cut off as they frantically search for the the 'next big thing'.
Sorry MS... All you are doing is pissing off the people who make a living from running your shit.
Time to get off the platform, it is DOA.
Yay
Once again, Borkzilla is the best advocate of moving to Linux that there is.