Section 1: General Group Policy changes between Win10 and Win11.
This will probably be my last contribution to Windows Update guidance. I have been running an Insider Preview in a Parallels VM on my MacMini but none of my computers (even my 3-year-old iMac4K with a Kaby Lake i7, 32GB RAM, and Radon Pro graphics) qualify for Win11 or the Win11 Insider Program.
There are many changes to Group Policy, and the resulting Registry settings, coming with Win11. And it is my guess they will also be similar changes in Win10 beginning with v20H2.
For those using Group Policy to control Windows Update in Win11, these are a few of the changes:
In Win11 Group Policy,the “Windows Update” folder contains four new folders – “Legacy Policies,” “Manage end user experience,'” Manage updates offered from Windows Server Update Service” (WSUS), and “Manage updates offered from Windows Update.” There is no longer a “Windows Update for Business” under “Windows Update”
1. “Legacy Policies” include settings for installation, restarts, and notifications, and what the user can see.
2. “Manage end user experience” – contains more about installs and restarts around active hours, what settings the user can see, and “Configure Automatic Updates” with the “2” setting for (notify download/install.
3. “Manage updates offered from Windows Server Update Service” (WSUS) is settings for bussiness use of WSUS.
4. “Manage updates offered from Windows Update” is much of what used to be” Windows Update for Business” including deferrals and pauses for Quality/Feature Updates and Preview Builds as well as the settings for TRV.
For illustration purposes, I will post screenshots of Win10 and Win11 main “Windows Update” Group Policy settings to demonstrate the differences. Below are the individual settings for Win11. For the differences in the individual settings in Group Policy and the corresponding Registry settings for Win10, please refer to AKB2000016 posts #2177509, #2177791, #2275038, #2275043 and #2286499.
Windows 10 Group Policy “Windows Update:”.
Windows 10 Group Policy “Windows Update for Business:”.
Windows 11 Group Policy “Windows Update:”.
There is no longer “Windows update for Business” in Win11.