Deferring 'feature' updates - What happens at end of support?

I'm on 1803 still. Support runs out in November, after which MS push an updated build on me. I'm wondering if that is going to to be 1903/1909, or 1809. Needless to say, I'd rather stay on the lowest supported build, 1809.

Will they push the latest feature update on me in November, or will I be updated to the oldest supported version?

In can anyone wonders why I don't want the latest build, I've had far too many legacy issues, among other things, when keeping with the current build. In my opinion, the regular consumer branch is open beta, and the more conservative business branch is stable.

ralphus said:

I'm on 1803 still. Support runs out in November, after which MS push an updated build on me...

That depends, are you on Home or Pro? In Pro you have the option to defer a Feature Update for up to 365 days. That count starts from the release date of the Feature Update, so that would make your machine eligible for 1809 in October 2019 and 1903 in May 2020.

In Home you have no such option. While 1809 and 1803 now make Feature Updates optional (in both Home and Pro) with the new 'Download and install now' option, you can only ignore it for so long. A 'few months' before end of support it will be installed automatically.

If you are on Home and don't wan't 1903 until it is 'business ready', then I suggest you manually upgrade to 1809 now. That way you can ignore 1903's 'Download and install now' until May 2020.

You can still get an ISO for 1809 direct from Microsoft using Option Three in this tutorial.

Download Windows 10 ISO File

Thanks. I'm on Pro. I was on the 'business' branch for years before they changed the name of it to Semi-annual (not targeted). I'm still not sure if the update that will be pushed to me in November (if I haven't updated manually to 1809 by then) will be the latest open beta (I guess 1909 by then), or 1809. I'll just take care of it before then.

ralphus said:

Thanks. I'm still not sure if the update that will be pushed to me in November (if I haven't updated manually to 1809 by then) will be the latest open beta (I guess 1909 by then), or 1809. I'll just take care of it before then.

If you are still on 1803 then the update that will be pushed on you will be the latest available at the time. That is 1903 at present. You may not have until November, the key phrase is 'at or near end of service'. Apparently 'near' in Microsoft's books means any time from now onwards...

Microsoft said:

Based on the large number of devices running the April 2018 Update, that will reach the end of 18 months of service on November 12, 2019, we are starting the update process now for Home and Pro editions to help ensure adequate time for a smooth update process.

Microsoft now auto updating Windows 10 version 1803 and older to 1903

...though I haven't (yet) seen or heard of any 1803 machines being automatically updated to 1903. As November approaches the chances of unexpectedly being upgraded can only increase.

ralphus said:

Thanks. I'm on Pro. I was on the 'business' branch for years before they changed the name of it to Semi-annual (not targeted). I'm still not sure if the update that will be pushed to me in November (if I haven't updated manually to 1809 by then) will be the latest open beta (I guess 1909 by then), or 1809. I'll just take care of it before then.

If you set Defer Feature Updates to 365 days, then come November only the 1809 update will qualify. That would be the one you get as an auto-update.

1903 would only have been released for six months. so would not yet meet the deferral settings.

Great, that's what I was wondering. Thanks again!