Windows Server systems can now update .NET and .NET Core via Microsoft Update

As of this month, Windows Server server operating system administrators can automatically update .NET and .NET Core through Microsoft Update, according to a support bulletin from Microsoft.

This change does not affect client operating systems such as Windows, but only the server system. Administrators who need it can configure and enable automatic updates, and subsequent updates do not need to be manually obtained and deployed.

Before that, Windows Server could only get .NET and .NET Core updates through Windows Server Update Services and Microsoft Update Catalog. This update method was a little cumbersome, so Microsoft decided to provide a more convenient update method.

Enterprise IT admins need to make changes to Group Policy and Registry as per Microsoft support documentation to complete the configuration. The supported ones include .NET Core 3.1, .NET 5.0, .NET 6.0, etc.

Microsoft said that while a large number of customers use managed environments and tools to control updates to servers, some customers require Microsoft to perform automatic updates similar to client computers, which are relatively more convenient without the use of deployment management tools.