How to get the Windows 10 October 2020 Update (version 20H2)

Availability of Windows 10 October 2020 update has been announced. This was first announced in June and its first preview build was made available in Windows Insider Program. Then a preview build was released to commercial customers in August. The Windows team continued to make improvements based on the feedback it received. And now the Windows 10 October 2020 Update is announced and is available for download.

With this release and future releases, the Windows 10 release nomenclature is changing from a year and month pattern (YYMM) to a year and half-year pattern (YYH1, YYH2). 

So the Windows 10 October 2020 Update will be called Windows 10, version 20H2. Windows 10, version 20H2 will be serviced for 30 months from the release date for devices running Windows 10 Enterprise or Windows 10 Education editions.

Measured and phased approach on update availability and rollout: 

Windows 10, version 20H2 will be rolled out in a measured and phased approach. The Windows team will be taking a measured seeker-based rollout approach to the October 2020 Update.

"We are throttling availability over the coming weeks to ensure a reliable download experience, so the update may not be offered to you right away. Additionally, some devices might have a compatibility issue for which a safeguard hold is in place, so we will not offer the update until we are confident that you will have a good update experience."

 How to get the Windows 10 October 2020 Update:

Starting today (20 Oct.) the October 2020 Update is available initially for users of select devices running Windows 10, version 1903 or later who are interested in experiencing the latest feature updates and are ready to install this release on their device.  

If you would like to install the new release, open your Windows Update settings (Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update) and select Check for updates. If the update appears, and you are running Windows 10, version 1903 or later, you can simply select Download and install to get started.

Once the download is complete and the update is ready to install, You'll benotified so that you can pick the right time to finish the installation and reboot your device, ensuring that the update does not disrupt your activities. People running the May 2020 Update (ver 2004) will have a faster overall update experience because the update will install like a monthly update.

Keep in mind that you may not see the "Download and install" option on your device, as availability is being slowly throttling up over the coming weeks. In addition, your device might have a compatibility issue for which a safeguard will be applied to hold it until we are confident that you will have a good update experience.

For various features in this Update, please check my next post. 

For more info on how to get this Update, check this video. 

For more info for commercial customers and Windows Server version 20H2, please check this Windows Blog post.