Tomorrow, on October 5th Microsoft will make Windows 11 Generally Available. Many of my customers already asked if this will have any impact on their existing deployment rings. Here is what I know so far.

Microsoft released the following documentation: Plan for Windows 11 and Prepare for Windows 11. On the page they mention the following related to Windows Update for Business (WUfB)

If you use Windows Update for Business policies, you will need to use the Target Version capability (either through policy or the Windows Update for Business deployment service) rather than using feature update deferrals alone to upgrade from Windows 10 to Windows 11. Feature update deferrals are great to move to newer versions of your current product (for example, Windows 10, version 20H2 to 21H1), but won’t automatically devices move between products (Windows 10 to Windows 11).

And

If you aren’t ready to move to Windows 11, keep the feature update version set at the version you are currently on. When you are ready to start upgrading devices, change the feature update deployment setting to specify Windows 11.

I already explained the concept of Feature Update Deployments in my article: Configuring Windows Update for Business settings for your Microsoft Endpoint Manager managed Modern Workplace

Configuring Windows Update for Business settings for your Microsoft Endpoint Manager managed Modern Workplace

When looking at the options currently available within the feature update deployment settings, I just noticed that Windows 11 is now in the list. So, you if you want to start testing Windows 11 on your WUfB managed devices tomorrow, you can create a test group and target the feature update deployment to this group of devices.

Conclusion

Don’t worry, your Windows 10 devices configured for Windows Update for Business will not automagically start updating to Windows 11, you need to explicitly set this configuration using a feature update deployment setting. You can also use this setting to start your testing though, so it might come in handy.

Microsoft also released a very nice article on the available rollout options of Windows 11, which you can find here: Endpoint Manager simplifies upgrades to Windows 11 – Microsoft Tech Community