If most of your employees are working from home, upgrading to Windows 10 functionality update will be a difficult task. These computers will not be physically around the IT staff to resolve the issues. In this unique situation, you need a strategy that can help you deploy Windows 10 updates smoothly.
Microsoft has proposed a strategy that companies can follow to deploy Windows 10 Update v2004 from May 2004. In fact, it can be tracked for any functionality update if time requires. Let’s take a look at Microsoft’s suggested plan for rolling out the Windows 10 feature update remotely.
Remotely plan Windows 10 feature update deployment
Spread in three phases –Plan, prepare and deploy—Corporate IT can follow to deploy Windows Update securely over the Internet. It is rather obvious that you will have to use Configuration Manager or Windows Update for Business to complete this. The calendar below shows a potential calendar for deploying Windows 10, version 2004, across the organization. Note that it is aligned with the release cycles of Microsoft 365 Apps and Configuration Manager.
Phase 1: Plan (June)
Planning has four parts …Modernization, compatibility, deployment and capacity.
The modernization must guarantee that Windows can be deployed in complete security, the configuration changes VPN, Desktop Analytics, co-management will be necessary with Windows Update for Business. Next is compatibility planning where IT will need to list the applications used by remote workers, and determine which are essential to test with the feature update, and which will work very well.
Next is deployment planning, where the team must be ready with all the minimum requirements for deployment. This includes the latest version of Configuration Manager, InTune and Windows Update for Business. You will also need to update administrative templates, security baselines, etc.
The last part of this phase is capacity planning, where everyone should be aware of all the new features released with the latest update and should be able to modify it using Group Policy, register and even PowerShell commands.
Phase 2: Preparation (July / August)
It is divided into three parts of preparation …Compatibility, deployment and capacity. All of these are extensions of what was planned in the first phase.
Starting with the preparation of compatibility, it is advisable to test all the applications listed, in particular those which are essential for operation. The main idea is to understand how to test and how to extend the tests to a pilot group. This is where Desktop Analytics will give you information and prepare fixes and perform more tests. There can be several testing approaches, including using Desktop Analytics to create a pilot group of devices to validate applications and drivers.
The preparation for deployment is next to which the focus is on upgrading the infrastructure (if necessary) and configuring it to support the new Windows 10 feature update and remote workers. It is strongly recommended that you test the pilot to clearly understand how the process will take shape at the start of the deployment. The steps to follow are updating Configuration Manager, applying a new configuration to the pilot devices, delaying the creation of the Windows 10 base image, and then preparing Windows Update for Business.
The last section of this phase concerns the preparation of the Cabapility. Here you can map new functionality to work roles and provide communications to pilot users to introduce known new functionality.
Phase 3: deployment (August / September)
There are only two phases here …Pilot and large deployment. What is interesting here is the deployment approach. It does not use any red buttons to push updates to all devices. Instead, it is a pull approach to prevent the update from automatically advancing to the next ring.
It is recommended to start the pilot phase in August, depending on the configuration and infrastructure prepared during the preparation phase. Using Windows Update for Business, updates are sent in the smallest update package size and the lowest latency. That’s why VPN configuration was necessary, and a more cloud-based approach was suggested instead of locking these computers on the corporate network.
The pilot phase is critical and it is recommended to closely monitor the pilot devices by collecting comments and data from the analysis tool. If things turn south, Windows 10 Rollback can be used immediately.
The last part is where you are going for an extended deployment, depending on the success of the pilot deployment. You can use deployment rings and Windows Update for Business will continue to send updates. To speed up deployment, Microsoft recommends expanding configuration and policies, enforcing the compliance timeline for the update, creating broad deployment plans, keeping a tab on support requests, creating ‘a basic image, the autopilot to deploy new devices on remote jobs and document the experience.
Deploying the Windows 10 feature update is a different ball game for business. There are many factors that need to be taken into account and carefully planned to ensure that there is no massive breakdown. It is essential that IT administrators document everything, so it helps the next time you have to do it again.
Be sure to go through the official site for more details on this process.
