Windows 10 Fall Creators Update in final rollout phase

Microsoft announced yesterday that the most recent update for Windows 10, the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update, reached its final rollout phase.

Microsoft released the Fall Creators Update on October 17, 2017 officially after months of testing on the Windows Insider channel.

Microsoft releases new versions of Windows in phases. This is not done primarily to ease the load on company servers but to gather feedback and react to new bugs and issues that come up on devices the operating system is deployed on.

Windows Update delivers new feature updates for Windows 10 to select devices only. If a device does not match the characteristics that Microsoft selected, it won’t get the update through Windows Update immediately. It is still possible to download and install Windows 10 updates manually though.

When a new feature update is released, we begin by targeting a select set of devices that we believe will have the best update experience based on device characteristics and testing done by us and our device partners.

Microsoft expands the list of devices and hardware configurations after the initial phase before distribution enters full availability, the final rollout phase.

All compatible devices running Windows 10 should get the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update offered to them through Windows Update as of yesterday. Tap on the Windows-key, type Windows Update and select the item from the list of results to open the updating interface on the Windows 10 machine.

Click on check for updates to run a manual check for updates. Windows Update should pick up the Fall Creators Update automatically. The update is downloaded and installed automatically on the machine then.

I suggest that you create a full system backup before you install the update.

Windows 10 users and administrators can download the update using the Update Assistant as well.

Side note: I — still — can’t update one machine running the Creators Update to the Fall Creators Update. The PC crashes with a blue screen when the update is applied.

John Cable, Director of Program Management, Windows Servicing and Delivery, revealed that the Fall Creators Update is the fastest release of Windows 10 to reach 100 million devices and that it achieved higher customer satisfaction ratings compared to previous updates.

The initial version of Windows 10 reached 100 million installs after less than two months, no doubt thanks to the free Windows 10 upgrade offer that Microsoft ran at that time. Users with Windows 7 or 8.1 product keys may still upgrade to Windows 10 for free.

Microsoft plans to release the next feature update for Windows 10, Windows 10 version 1803, around March/April of 2018.