History of Windows Update in Timeline

Windows Update is a Microsoft service that automates the downloading and installation of software updates for Windows operating systems and other Microsoft products. It ensures systems are up-to-date with the latest features, security patches, and bug fixes. Microsoft Update extends the service to cover other Microsoft products like Office. For business environments, Windows Update Client Policies provide management capabilities, allowing enterprises to control and delay updates. This enables organizations to manage the rollout of updates, ensuring compatibility and stability across their systems.

December 1998: Windows 98 Year 2000 problem fix

In December 1998, fixes to Windows 98 to resolve the Year 2000 problem were distributed using Windows Update.

1999: Microsoft promotes Windows Update tool.

Throughout 1999, Microsoft continued to promote the Windows Update tool.

2000: Microsoft Update support added for Microsoft Office 2003, Exchange 2003, and SQL Server 2000

As of 2000, Microsoft Update supports Microsoft Office 2003, Exchange 2003, and SQL Server 2000, running on Windows 2000, XP, and Server 2003.

2000: Office Update Service Decommissioned

As of 2000, Microsoft decommissioned the Office Update service, merging it with Microsoft Update. Microsoft Update supports all versions of Microsoft Office as of Office XP, while Office 2000 is not supported.

2000: Old updates available on the Microsoft Update Catalog.

As of 2000, the old updates for Windows 2000 through Vista are still available on the Microsoft Update Catalog.

2000: Third-party services for older Windows versions

As of 2000, third-party services exist for obtaining updates from Windows Update for older Windows versions.

2000: Automatic Updates Release

In 2000, Automatic Updates, the successor to the Critical Update Notification Utility, was released along with Windows Me. It also supported Windows 2000 SP3.

2000: Office Update Supports Office 2000, Office XP, Office 2003, and Office 2007

In 2000, Office Update supported Office 2000, Office XP, Office 2003, and Office 2007.

2000: Background Intelligent Transfer Service inclusion

In 2000, Windows XP and Windows 2000 SP3 included Background Intelligent Transfer Service, a Windows service for transferring files in the background without user interaction. The Automatic Updates client was updated to use this service.

2000: Windows 2000 includes Windows Update tool

In 2000, initial releases of Windows 2000 shipped with the Windows Update tool. The tool did not support Windows 95 and Windows NT 4.0.

2001: Windows Update v4 release

In 2001, Windows Update v4 was released in conjunction with Windows XP. This version inventoried system hardware and Microsoft software, sending the data to Microsoft servers.

March 2003: Windows Update list size issue

In March 2003, it was noted that the size of the Windows Update list had exceeded 400 KB, which caused delays for dial-up users.

2003: Microsoft Update support added for Microsoft Office 2003, Exchange 2003, and SQL Server 2000

As of 2003, Microsoft Update supports Microsoft Office 2003, Exchange 2003, and SQL Server 2000, running on Windows 2000, XP, and Server 2003.

2003: Old updates available on the Microsoft Update Catalog.

As of 2003, the old updates for Windows 2000 through Vista are still available on the Microsoft Update Catalog.

2003: Office Update Supports Office 2000, Office XP, Office 2003, and Office 2007

In 2003, Office Update supported Office 2000, Office XP, Office 2003, and Office 2007.

February 2005: Microsoft Update Beta Announcement

At the February 2005 RSA Conference, Microsoft announced the first beta of Microsoft Update, an optional replacement for Windows Update.

June 2005: Microsoft Update initial release

The initial release of Microsoft Update in June 2005 provided support for Microsoft Office 2003, Exchange 2003, and SQL Server 2000, running on Windows 2000, XP, and Server 2003.

2005: Windows Update User Statistics

At the beginning of 2005, Windows Update was being accessed by about 150 million people, with about 112 million of those using Automatic Updates.

2007: Office Update Supports Office 2000, Office XP, Office 2003, and Office 2007

In 2007, Office Update supported Office 2000, Office XP, Office 2003, and Office 2007.

2008: Windows Update Client Statistics

As of 2008, Windows Update had about 500 million clients, processed about 350 million unique scans per day, and maintained an average of 1.5 million simultaneous connections to client machines.

2008: Updating Windows 7 and Server 2008 affected.

In 2008, updating Windows 7 and Server 2008 via the Windows Update service was also affected; however, Microsoft has provided SHA-2 patches that allowed Windows 7 and Server 2008 to continue receiving updates.

August 2009: Office Update Service Decommissioned

On August 2009, Microsoft decommissioned the Office Update service, merging it with Microsoft Update. Microsoft Update supports all versions of Microsoft Office as of Office XP, while Office 2000 is not supported.

2011: Update service decommissioned for Windows 98, 98 SE, Me and NT 4.0

In 2011, the Windows Update service was decommissioned for Windows 98, 98 SE, Me and NT 4.0 and the old updates for those systems were removed from its servers.

May 2013: Automatic Updates CPU Usage Issue

In May 2013, reports surfaced in Microsoft TechNet forums regarding Automatic Updates (wuauclt.exe) and Service Host (svchost.exe) in Windows XP claiming 100% of a computer's CPU capacity.

September 2013: Microsoft receives numerous complaints about CPU usage

In September 2013, Microsoft received a large number of complaints regarding the high CPU usage issue caused by Automatic Updates (wuauclt.exe) and Service Host (svchost.exe) in Windows XP.

November 2015: Features added in Windows 10 version 1511

In November 2015, with Windows 10 version 1511 (November 2015 Update) features were added for large organizations to logically group computers for gradual deployment.

August 2016: Cumulative Patches Announcement

On 15 August 2016, Microsoft announced that effective October 2016, all future patches to Windows 7 and 8.1 would become cumulative as with Windows 10.

October 2016: Cumulative Patches Effective

Effective October 2016, all future patches to Windows 7 and 8.1 became cumulative, similar to Windows 10. The ability to download and install individual updates was removed.

October 2017: Download size decreased for Windows 7

In October 2017, an analysis determined that the download size for Windows 7 x64 cumulative updates had decreased from 119.4MB in October 2016 to 20.3MB.

2019: Updates available via Microsoft Update Catalog

As of 2019, update packages distributed via the Windows Update service can be individually downloaded from the Microsoft Update Catalog.

August 3, 2020: Update service decommissioned for Windows 2000, XP, Server 2003 and Vista

On August 3, 2020, the update service was decommissioned for Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003 and Windows Vista due to Microsoft discontinuing SHA-1 updates.