And why some are getting the update before others

May 30, 2019 12:00 GMT  ·  By

The debut of Windows 10 May 2019 Update marks not only the launch of a new feature update for Windows 10, but also the introduction of a more advanced rollout system that’s supposed to prevent issues and eventually provide users with seamless updates.

Phased rollouts of Windows 10 feature updates aren’t entirely new, and Microsoft has been using this approach for several releases already.

The idea is as easy as it could be, albeit it’s based on a system that’s more complex than it seems at first.

Basically, what Microsoft does is release a Windows 10 feature update to a limited number of devices. The company then analyzes feedback received from these devices to determine if the experience with the feature update is flawless or not. At this point, there are two ways to go.

If Microsoft receives evidence that the update experiences issues on a specific configuration, the company then starts investigating to eventually set an upgrade block on that specific configuration. For example, if there’s a specific driver that causes the update to crash after installation, Microsoft can block the feature update from being offered to devices running that driver.

On the other hand, if the company isn’t aware of any problem on the devices where it shipped the feature update, it can move forward with the rollout, making it available to more devices. This is the point where Microsoft begins evaluating the performance of the update on the new systems to make sure no problems are encountered.

In other words, in case you haven't received the update just yet, it's because it hasn't been validated for your configuration, so waiting is pretty much the only option if you're waiting for the Windows Update release.

The May 2019 Update expands this release model with new label criteria, which means Microsoft’s automated systems can now detect a wider range of problems, including those related to display or audio.

And because the rollout is based on machine learning (ML), Microsoft has trained its systems to help predict issues before they actually happen.

“We have implemented an ensemble approach that enables the model to predict the individual label criteria (e.g., rollback, operating system crash, application issues, etc.) related to the update experience as well as the full collection of criteria to improve our ability to accurately predict and troubleshoot issues,” Microsoft explains.

Detecting a potential bug during the phased rollout, however, isn’t just an automated process, but also involves feedback from users.

Once a user submits feedback to the company, it’s placed in a queue and then enters the triage process. Microsoft says it receives some 20,000 pieces of feedback every day, so it improved its systems to alert of high-severity issues and problems that could become widespread.

But at the same time, the system has also been improved to highlight high-severity bugs that aren’t necessarily reported by a big number of users. This way, the company wants to prevent blunders like the one in late 2018 when the October 2018 Update shipped with a data removal bug hitting only a small subset of devices. Once the feedback is prioritized and the high-severity issues are flagged, engineers can begin their investigation and determine whether an upgrade block is necessary for certain devices. The phased rollout thus allows Microsoft to prevent these high-severity glitches from hitting more computers.

The first stage of the phased rollout comes down to shipping feature updates to devices whose reliability has already been tested with the help of what Microsoft calls ecosystem partners, like OEMs and independent software vendors (ISVs).

These partners deploy feature updates internally for additional testing, while Microsoft can collect more feedback as part of the Windows Insider program.

This means the company gradually increases the number of devices getting a feature update, but the rollout starts slowly on internal systems allowing for closer investigation should any problem be detected.

In the meantime, Microsoft also enables users to download feature updates by skipping the automatic rollout on Windows Update. Media Creation Tool allows for manual downloads of feature update, albeit this is a method aimed mostly at power users.