Users can try out December updates in advance

Nov 16, 2016 12:25 GMT  ·  By

​Microsoft has rolled out new update rollup previews for Windows 7 and 8.1 to provide users with early access to next month’s patching cycle as per the company’s new approach that came into effect in October.

Specifically, Microsoft is no longer releasing individual patches, but rollups that include all updates for every month, and the company is giving users the chance to try out the next month's updates with so-called Security Monthly Quality Rollups available as optional.

Basically, these updates are only aimed at users who want to test in advance the company’s latest patches, but also for IT admins who need to prepare for the next Patch Tuesday cycle in their organizations. These updates are released on the third Tuesday of each month and can be downloaded from Microsoft’s Update Catalog.

A few hours ago, the company pushed this month’s preview for Windows 7 and 8.1 systems, and if you’re planning to install them, KB3197869 and KB3197875, respectively, are the ones you should be looking for.

What’s in these updates?

Individually, KB3197869 is called November 2016 Preview of Monthly Quality Rollup for Windows 7 SP1 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 and comes with improvements and bug fixes for the operating system and some of the built-in features - you can check out the full changelog in the box after the jump.

Additionally, KB3197875 is the November 2016 Preview of Monthly Quality Rollup for Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2 and includes many more changes, all of which are detailed below.

According to the official KB page, “this update includes improvements and fixes that were a part of Monthly Rollup KB3197874 (released November 8, 2016). This update also includes these new quality improvements and is a preview of the next Monthly Rollup update.”

You can download these updates using the Microsoft Update Catalog, and the direct links are available on the KB page of each of the two patches listed above.

KB3197869 And KB3197875