- Microsoft has confirmed that Windows 11 25H2 is this year update
- The upgrade is now officially in tests
- It will be a more minor update delivered as an “activation package” and it is a good thing because we will probably see fewer bugs than with 24h2
Microsoft has confirmed that Windows 11 25H2 is the next update to its desktop operating system, arriving later this year.
This puts an end to the whispers that we could simply see the release of Windows 12 – or whatever the next embodiment of the operating system – later this year. However, the hope of this had already decreased to embers roughly by dying in all honesty.
The announcement came to a Microsoft IT Pro blog article that Tom’s material reported.
Microsoft said to us: “Today, Windows 11, the 25H2 version has become available for the Windows initiates community, before the wider availability scheduled for the second half of 2025.”
The Windows Insider community is the formal name of those who test Windows 11, performing preview versions of the operating system (in various channels, from the first constructions of the Canary channel to the version preview channel, which, as its name suggests, is a step of the version).
Thus, some of these testers now officially use Windows 11 25H2, and Microsoft has also confirmed another suspicion which was previously distributed on the next major update for the operating system – that this is called a “ activation package ‘or “ ekb’ ‘to make short.
This means that the move to 25h2 will be a quick upgrade for those on Windows 11 24H2, and as Microsoft says, the update will be “as simple as a quick restart”.
Update 25h2 should generally arrive in September or October, and I did not expect it earlier – I would not have excluded the possibility of a version of November. As always, it will be an in progress deployment, so it could take some time to reach your PC.
Analysis: fewer features, but fewer problems?
How does the activation package delivery method Microsoft use here help ensure fast and simple update? It is because 25h2 is built on the same “service branch” as 24h2, which means that they use the same code. They are, for all useful purposes, the same, except that 25h2, there are additional features added at the top – and as these versions of Windows 11 are the same code base, these features can actually be preloaded to the devices running 24H2.
This means that when it comes to applying the update, it is already in place and it must be activated. Hence the phrase “ activation package ”, and with a simple switch, it is turned to activate the 25H2 features when the update is sent live, it is essentially a quick restart and you have finished. At least in theory, in any case, unless there are problems.
However, this also means that there will be no major modifications with Windows 11:2 am. An activation package version is a quick and fast deployment, but does not change anything major with the Windows 11 code, as indicated, and we will probably obtain a fairly limited spoonful of new features with 25h2.
In short, do not commit for anything on the ground this year concerning Microsoft changes to Windows 11. However, the reverse is that without any major movement, there is much less likely than unpleasant bugs appear.
Windows 11 24H2 has brought a new underlying platform – Germanium – which has been a huge change, and my theory has been a long time since that is why we have seen more than the usual help of creatures that slip into the works of the operating system (and some very strange problems). In 2025, this should not happen, and I hope Microsoft will reproduce while ensuring that Windows 11 works more easily (hitting wood, crossed fingers, etc.).
