Windows 10 2004 update expected in May

“May 2020 Update” or “May 2020 Update”. This is the name given Thursday by Microsoft to the future Windows 10 update, another way to confirm that its release will take place next month. Several articles, including that of our colleagues from Computerworld, had argued that Microsoft would be better served, and would serve customers better, by postponing the release of Windows 10 2004 by several months, the name used until then by the publisher to designate the New version. The Covid-19 pandemic and its impact on businesses, in particular the massive adoption of working from home, has required a considerable mobilization of IT resources, and the deployment of a Windows update in this context could cause outages , or even a catastrophic failure of critical business tools. If Microsoft was able, at some point, to consider a postponement, the idea was clearly rejected. “We are now preparing for the Windows 10 May 2020 Update (20H1),” wrote Brandon LeBlanc, a senior program manager on the Windows Insider team, in an April 16 post on the company blog. “We believe Build 19041.207 is the final release, and we will continue to improve the overall May 2020 Update experience on customer PCs on our regular schedule.”

Microsoft has started shipping build 19041.207 to a few participants in Windows Insider’s Release Preview ring, the channel that provides testers with the most stable code. Other Windows Insider Program participants will receive Build 19041.207 over time. Insiders can also manually update to this build. Mr. LeBlanc did not give a specific availability date for the final and completely polished code of this Windows 10 “May 2020 Update”. The date of May 12, which corresponds to the delivery date of Patch Tuesday for the month of May, seems the most obvious. Of the last three Windows 10 updates, two were delivered on Tuesday of the month.

Code name, short name, long name

Like all Windows 10 feature updates, Microsoft has given this release three interchangeable names. Some are sometimes more suitable than others. The denomination 20H1 used by Brandon LeBlanc corresponds to the code name defined by Microsoft to designate the feature upgrade of the first half (H1) of the year (2020), probably one of the two updates, if the it is assumed that the publisher will maintain the rhythm of 2019. The most recent denomination, “Windows 10 May 2020 Update”, corresponds to a format used by Microsoft since 2018, when the publisher began to use the month and l year, in full, instead of offering nicknames like Fall Creators Update in 2017 or Anniversary Update in 2016. These denominations are however among the most precise, Microsoft having waited to be very advanced in the development of these versions for their assign a name. Finally, previously, Microsoft had chosen the year/month format, therefore 2004, for this version, different from the usual year/03 format that should have been used to designate the spring 2020 feature update, because the Redmond firm feared confusion with Windows Server 2003, long retired.

Free support for business customers

To entice – perhaps – more commercial customers to participate in the Windows Insider program, more precisely the spin-off Windows Insider for Business, Microsoft also said that it would provide support to customers who use the Release Preview ring or the Slow ring for builds. Support is free and limited to “business use cases” for customers running Windows 10 Pro or Windows 10 Enterprise. The latter can file a request for assistance by filling out this form. (Mr. LeBlanc’s message details how to complete and submit the form). “If you have a serious issue that prevents you or other users in your business from using a device or that compromises security or personal data, you can use our online form to request assistance directly to Microsoft Support,” LeBlanc explained in his post.