Windows 11 updates will no longer require a restart by default on office PCs

Back in May earlier this year, Microsoft released the first hotpatch update for Windows 11 devices. Around the same time, the company added hotpatching capabilities to Windows Autopatch.

If you are not familiar, Autopatch is a Microsoft cloud service that helps automate Windows, Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise, Microsoft Edge, and Microsoft Teams updates by configuring various update deployment policies.

During that announcement, Microsoft had said that hotpatching via Autopatch would be coming in June. As such, this week, the tech giant has released some more details about it as the service is now starting to be available via Microsoft Intune MDM (Mobile Device Management).

In a recent entry on the Microsoft 365 Admin Center website, Microsoft has confirmed that going forward, new policies will have hotpatching enabled by default for Windows quality updates. It has explained when the rollout of this change starts and how enterprise and organizations can benefit:

Newly created Windows quality update policies will have hotpatch updates enabled by default to streamline policy creation.

Hotpatch updates will be automatically enabled for new policies starting on June 23, 2025 or soon after.

Organizations using Windows Autopatch will benefit from faster security compliance and reduced downtime for devices running supported Windows editions.

Meanwhile, for already existing policies, Microsoft has also provided detailed steps through which IT admins and system admins will be able to make hotpatching default for Windows quality updates. It involves navigating to the Intune admin center Settings and toggling the "Automatic update deployment" policy. It writes:

To enable hotpatch updates on your existing policies:

1. Go to the Microsoft Intune admin center.
2. Navigate to Devices > Windows updates > Quality updates.
3. Select the quality update policy you wish to modify. A new screen with its properties will appear.
4. Select Edit in the “Settings” section.Under “Automatic update deployment” settings, locate the option "When available, apply without restarting the device ("hotpatch")."
5. Toggle it to Allow.

Those who have access to the Microsoft 365 Admin Center can view the entry under the message ID MC1101876.