Campus Annual Windows 10 Upgrades
Each summer, the OIT central SCCM admins plan an upgrade the campus Windows 10 environment to the latest semi-annual build of Windows 10. We do this to stay on a current, supported build of the Windows desktop operating system thru to next summer. The earlier fall version we upgraded to “last year” will reach Microsoft’s “end of service” before the end of the upcoming fall/spring academic year cycle, and it is in the campus’ best interest to stay on a supported build of the Windows desktop operating system.
The annual upgrade will upgrade to the “H2” builds due to the longer servicing timeline versus the “H1” builds; 30 months from release versus 18 months.
We will typically target an upgrade window during the summer with a deadline before the fall semester starts. Campus colleges and departments are enabled to upgrade on their own schedule before the deadline, and we encourage them to do so. However, if the local department does not proactively upgrade their desktops, the upgrade will become mandatory at the deadline, and will install without user intervention. Announcements will be made once the upgrade is scheduled, and departments can upgrade when most appropriate for them.
The upgrade process does check for various system requirements. For up-to-date patched systems, the enablement package method will be used, and require minimal disk space. For Windows systems that are not current on patching, the task sequence method might be required. This, and other system requirements may change over time.