This week Microsoft announced the the General Availability of Hotpatching on Windows Server 2022 Datacenter: Azure Edition VMs with Desktop Experience. Back in March 2021 Hotpatch for Windows Server on Azure virtual machines were introduced for Windows Server Azure Edition Core server, now since this week you can also deploy and use hotpatching with Windows Server Azure Edition with Desktop Experience.
Hotpatching is a new way to install updates on new Windows Server Azure Edition virtual machines (VMs) that doesn’t require a reboot after installation and comes with the following benefits:
- Lower workload impact with less reboots
- Faster deployment of updates as the packages are smaller, install faster, and have easier patch orchestration with Azure Update Manager
- Better protection, as the Hotpatch update packages are scoped to Windows security updates that install faster without rebooting
To learn more about hotpatch check out my blog post about Hotpatch for Windows Server Azure virtual machines VMs and Microsoft Learn.
How to get started with Hotpatch for Windows Server Azure Virtual Machines
Now you can start using hotpatching for new Azure VMs running Windows Server 2022 Datacenter: Azure Edition Hotpach
Deploy a new Azure VM with hotpatch for Windows Server enabled
To use this feature you currently need to deploy a new Azure virtual machine running the Windows Server 2022 Datacenter: Azure Edition Hotpatch. You can find a link to the Windows Server 2022 Datacenter: Azure Edition image that supports hotpatch in the Azure gallery at: https://aka.ms/hotpatchondesktopnewimage
On the Management tab, make sure that enable hotpach and Azure-Orchestrated is selected (default).
Conclusion
Windows Server Azure Edition Hotpatching helps you to reduce reboots of your Windows Server, and with that reduce downtime. And at the same time, makes sure that your servers are patched. If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment below.
