Windows 10’s next annual update is available now – just don’t wait too long

The Windows 11 22H2 update is rolling out through the Microsoft Windows Insider testing channels and we expect it to start rolling out to Windows 11 PCs at some point in the next few weeks or months. But Microsoft hasn’t said much about Windows 10’s next major update other than the fact that the operating system will receive annual updates for the foreseeable future.

And the Windows 10 22H2 update is actually already available for those who know how to install it. Neowin has published a list of commands that can be entered into the command prompt or Windows Terminal to turn a fully updated Windows 10 21H2 installation into a 22H2 installation. The commands use the Microsoft Deployment Image Servicing and Management (DISM) tool to make changes to your Windows installation and require the optional KB5014666 update for Windows 10 to be installed first.

The catch is that turning on Windows 10 22H2 doesn’t really do much other than increase the version number on the About Windows screen.

The Windows 10 21H2 update was released shortly after the release of Windows 11 late last year, and while it contained a few user-visible improvements, it updated the Windows Subsystem for Linux and added some Wi-Fi networking capabilities using WPA3 encryption. improvements and backported features may be hiding under the calm surface of Windows 10 22H2, but if so, Microsoft hasn’t said anything about them yet.

It may seem strange that with the flick of a switch, you can “upgrade”Windows 10 21H2 to version 22H2, but this is not unprecedented. The Windows 10 1909 update was released with a similar “support package “that increased the version number and included several new features and tweaks that were dormant in Windows 10 1903.

New features or not, you will need to install Windows 10 22H2 at some point in order to continue receiving software updates as Microsoft’s end of service dates reset with each annual release of Windows. Version 21H2 will be updated until mid-2023 or mid-2024, depending on whether you’re on the Home/Pro or Enterprise versions, while Microsoft plans to update at least one version of Windows 10 before October 2025.

These updates will be important to PC hardware that can run Windows 10 for years, but they don’t meet the security requirements of Windows 11. Windows 11 can be run on these systems unofficially, although Microsoft has threatened to disable security updates for unsupported PCs in which – a moment in the future.