Windows 10: Deploying Windows 10 servicing stack updates (SSUs) just got easier

Brink · Sep 10, 2020

We have heard your feedback and are taking action to provide a more seamless experience for those managing monthly updates on-premises.

To keep devices up to date, IT administrators who manage devices using on-premises methods must select and deploy the correct servicing stack update (SSU) with the latest cumulative update (LCU). In some cases, a specific version of the SSU must already be installed in order to install the latest LCU. If the device in question does not have the required SSU already installed, the LCU will fail to install.

This scenario can be confusing for two reasons. First, it doesn't occur every month. Second, the error message that the LCU failure can produce, "update isn't applicable," doesn't make the root cause immediately apparent. As a result, having an LCU fail to install can be confusing and frustrating for the end user and IT admin alike, but can also hurt security compliance.

With the Windows Update experience where the SSU and LCU are deployed together to the device. The update stack automatically orchestrates the installation, so both are applied correctly.

Our goal is for all IT administrators, whether managing devices on-premises or from the cloud, to experience the simplicity of having a single cumulative monthly update to deploy that includes the monthâs cumulative fixes and the appropriate servicing stack updates for that month, if applicable.

Our upcoming changes will ensure that the SSU and LCU are provided together under a single payload to both Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) and Microsoft Catalog.

If you use management tools backed by WSUS, such as the Configuration Manager, you will have to select and deploy the monthly cumulative update. The latest SSU will automatically be applied correctly. If you acquire and apply Dynamic Update packages to existing Windows 10 images prior to deployment, the latest SSU will no longer be available as a separate package in the Microsoft Catalog. If your process requires the SSU, youâll simply use the new combined SSU and LCU package.

Things you will no longer need to worry about

Searching for both the SSU and LCU KB articles. All release notes and file information for monthly cumulative updates, including those related to the servicing stack, will be in a single KB article!

Determining if this month's LCU has a dependency on a specific SSU version or newer and ensuring that the right SSU and LCU are deployed and installed in the correct order. The SSU and LCU will be packaged together, and the client will orchestrate the installation. Select the monthly cumulative update you want to deploy, and we will take care of the rest!

End users confused at seeing multiple servicing releases in a month. The Window Update Settings and History pages will now look the same as it does for those who update from the cloud today!

How to take advantage of these innovations

To move forward with receiving a single monthly cumulative update package containing the SSU and LCU, you will first need to broadly deploy the September 2020 SSU or any later SSU on all Windows 10, version 2004 devices in your organization.

While these changes are not yet live for any in-market version of Windows, we hope you are excited about what is coming. This announcement gives you plenty of time to prepare for the upcoming changes and deploy the September 2020 SSU and LCU broadly across your organization.

Keep an eye out over the next few months as we release more information!
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Source: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/...s/ba-p/1646039

See also: https://portal.msrc.microsoft.com/en...sory/ADV990001

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D.I.V. · Sep 10, 2020

November 2019 servicing stack update (SSU) error "You need to provide Administrator permission" [KB4524445]

With regard to the two enumerated errors:

The recommendation to install SSU's before any other updates is because the SSU is designed to update
the updating software itself. However, experience with the July, September & October SSU's suggests that it is usually not detrimental to install an SSU after other regular updates that (it was later realised) are generally
recommended to have been installed after the SSU.

Do not bother to uninstall any regular updates before installing the SSU:
if the other, regular updates were already correctly installed, then reinstalling them again after the SSU has been installed should not produce a different effect.

It may be that specific 'regular' updates that actually do
require the SSU are not released (or not recommended to be installed by the Windows Update client) until a few weeks after the relevant SSU is released (and recommended to be installed), as in the case of

KB4284880 (released 2018-06-12), which
requiredthe SSU that was released about four weeks prior (KB4132216, released on 2018-05-17).

Based on experience with the July, September & October SSU's, although installation with the usual Windows Update tool doesn't work the way it's supposed to, installation should still be possible using the
Microsoft Update Catalog — in which case the user must be careful to manually select the appropriate download for their Windows version.

Some additional
documentation on Servicing Stack Updates has recently been published by Microsoft. A couple of interesting remarks are:

it's unnecessary to go back and install old SSU's that you skipped (just install the newest SSU for your system); and

after a particular servicing stack update is installed, "it cannot be removed or uninstalled" [although it can be updated by subsequent SSU's, which effectively replaces the entire servicing stack].

D.I.V. · Sep 10, 2020

July 2020 servicing stack update (SSU) error "You need to provide Administrator permission" [KB4566425]

With regard to the two enumerated errors:

The recommendation to install SSU's before any other updates is because the SSU is designed to update
the updating software itself. However, experience with the previous 2019 & 2020 SSU's suggests that it is generally not detrimental to install an SSU after other regular updates that the Windows Update Client recommended to be installed before it
advised of that SSU's availability.

Do not bother to uninstall any regular updates before installing the SSU:
if the other, regular updates were already correctly installed, then reinstalling them again after the SSU has been installed should not produce a different effect.

It may be that specific 'regular' updates that actually do
require the SSU are not released (or not recommended to be installed by the Windows Update client) until a few weeks after the relevant SSU is released (and recommended to be installed).

Based on experience with the 2019 & 2020 SSU's, although installation with the usual Windows Update tool doesn't work the way it's supposed to, installation should still be possible using the

Microsoft Update Catalog — in which case the user must be careful to manually select the appropriate download for their Windows version.

Some additional
documentation on Servicing Stack Updates has been published by Microsoft. A couple of interesting remarks are:

it's unnecessary to go back and install old SSU's that you skipped (just install the newest SSU for your system); and

after a particular servicing stack update is installed, "it cannot be removed or uninstalled" [although it can be updated by subsequent SSU's, which effectively replaces the entire servicing stack].

Finally, Microsoft also has a
short FAQ on Servicing Stack Updates. There are a couple of interesting points there:

Failure to install an SSU before installing a 'regular' update to Windows (LCU, Monthly Rollup, or Security-Only update) could potentially cause Windows to fail to start or continue to restart!

The FAQ provides advice on what action to take to remedy this, if it has happened to you.

Although the Windows Update client's strange notification sequence means that an SSU will often be installed after some particular 'regular' updates, that
doesn't mean it's safe to never install the SSU while continuing to install all future 'regular' updates.

The latest SSU for your device can be found in ADV990001 | Latest Servicing Stack Updates.

D.I.V. · Sep 10, 2020

June 2020 servicing stack update (SSU) error "You need to provide Administrator permission" [KB4562253]

With regard to the two enumerated errors:

The recommendation to install SSU's before any other updates is because the SSU is designed to update
the updating software itself. However, experience with the 2019 SSU's suggests that it is generally not detrimental to install an SSU after other regular updates that the Windows Update Client recommended to be installed before it advised of that
SSU's availability.

Do not bother to uninstall any regular updates before installing the SSU:
if the other, regular updates were already correctly installed, then reinstalling them again after the SSU has been installed should not produce a different effect.

It may be that specific 'regular' updates that actually do
require the SSU are not released (or not recommended to be installed by the Windows Update client) until a few weeks after the relevant SSU is released (and recommended to be installed).

Based on experience with the 2019 SSU's, although installation with the usual Windows Update tool doesn't work the way it's supposed to, installation should still be possible using the

Microsoft Update Catalog — in which case the user must be careful to manually select the appropriate download for their Windows version.

Some additional
documentation on Servicing Stack Updates has been published by Microsoft. A couple of interesting remarks are:

it's unnecessary to go back and install old SSU's that you skipped (just install the newest SSU for your system); and

after a particular servicing stack update is installed, "it cannot be removed or uninstalled" [although it can be updated by subsequent SSU's, which effectively replaces the entire servicing stack].

Finally, Microsoft also has a
short FAQ on Servicing Stack Updates. There are a couple of interesting points there:

Failure to install an SSU before installing a 'regular' update to Windows (LCU, Monthly Rollup, or Security-Only update) could potentially cause Windows to fail to start or continue to restart!

The FAQ provides advice on what action to take to remedy this, if it has happened to you.

Although the Windows Update client's strange notification sequence means that an SSU will often be installed after some particular 'regular' updates, that
doesn't mean it's safe to never install the SSU while continuing to install all future 'regular' updates.

The latest SSU for your device can be found in ADV990001 | Latest Servicing Stack Updates.

Windows 10: Deploying Windows 10 servicing stack updates (SSUs) just got easier

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