Sep 10, 2026 · 25 min · 15 segments
Microsoft is shaking up how Windows 11 26H2 rolls out, flipping the script with new features, interface tweaks, and a surprise delivery method that has even longtime watchers raising eyebrows. Find…
Paul ThurrottHost
I'm Paul Thrott, and this week we're going to look at the next version of Windows 11, 26H2, which arguably we've been kind of looking at all year.
I was going to do this roundup anyway because as I record this, it's what's typically week D, in this case for August 2026, which is normally when Microsoft releases a preview update of the next patch Tuesday.
And I figured that this was going to be the thing that Microsoft will call 26H2, but it didn't happen.
And so just coincidentally today, I was gonna record this episode anyway, but Microsoft announced how they're going to, or at least part of how they're gonna deliver And they're doing it differently than they've ever done it before because they have to keep everybody on their toes, I guess.
And so what they did today, instead of releasing it to Windows Update to everybody as a preview update, they released it to the release preview channel of the Windows Insider program.
So again, this is not the way things usually go, but this also corresponds to the schedule as I sort of expected it to go anyway.
which was that in September, we'll most likely get that preview update of 26H2, which you'll get if you have Windows 11 versus 24H2 or 25H2.
And then in October, we'll probably get the general stable release or whatever.
I'm Paul Thrott, and this week we're going to look at the next version of Windows 11, 26H2, which arguably we've been kind of looking at all year.
I was going to do this roundup anyway because as I record this, it's what's typically week D, in this case for August 2026, which is normally when Microsoft releases a preview update of the next patch Tuesday.
And I figured that this was going to be the thing that Microsoft will call 26H2, but it didn't happen.
And so just coincidentally today, I was gonna record this episode anyway, but Microsoft announced how they're going to, or at least part of how they're gonna deliver And they're doing it differently than they've ever done it before because they have to keep everybody on their toes, I guess.
And so what they did today, instead of releasing it to Windows Update to everybody as a preview update, they released it to the release preview channel of the Windows Insider program.
So again, this is not the way things usually go, but this also corresponds to the schedule as I sort of expected it to go anyway.
which was that in September, we'll most likely get that preview update of 26H2, which you'll get if you have Windows 11 versus 24H2 or 25H2.
And then in October, we'll probably get the general stable release or whatever.
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