Microsoft is rolling out a new email alert feature to help IT administrators plan and deploy Windows feature and quality updates, with emails about known issues documented in the Windows release health section of the Microsoft 365 admin center.
IT admins with a Windows or Microsoft 365 tenant, a subscription with access to Windows release health in the Microsoft 365 admin center, and an eligible admin role will be able to access the feature.
As some updates can cause more issues than they fix and break certain functions, this helps give IT admins advanced warning about those issues so they can make informed decisions about pushing updates out in their organization.
How the Windows email alert feature works
When admins sign up, they’ll receive emails about new issues for the Windows versions they support, as well as updates to other issues, including changes in issue status, workarounds and issue resolution.
IT admins first need to log in to the Microsoft 365 admin center and locate Windows release health. If they don’t see this option or don’t have access to the admin center, they need to contact the organization’s global admin and request access and an admin role in the tenant, Microsoft says.
Windows release health in the Microsoft 365 admin center is available to those with an admin role for an organization/tenant with an eligible Windows or Microsoft 365 for Business subscription, Microsoft says in a blog.
How to enroll
Specifically, admins’ organization will need to have one of these subscriptions: Microsoft 365 Enterprise E3/A3/F3, Microsoft 365 Enterprise E5/A5, Windows 10 Enterprise E3/A3, Windows 10 Enterprise E5/A5, Windows 11 Enterprise E3/A3, or Windows 11 Enterprise E5/A5.
By default, the person who purchased the organization’s Microsoft business subscription is the global admin.
To subscribe to Windows release health emails, visit the Windows release health in the Microsoft 365 admin center and navigate to Preferences > Email and select Send me email notifications about Windows release heath.
From there, admins can enter up to two email addresses per admin account to receive notifications. Addresses can also include distribution lists so IT can keep colleagues informed of issues even if they don’t have access to the admin center.
Admins can also select which versions of Windows thy want to be notified about. However, if one known issue affects multiple versions of Windows, admins will only see one email.
The notification body will include the full content published about the issue in the Windows release health section of the Microsoft 365 admin center. Admins will see the status, versions affected, and links to view the message in the admin center.
When available, the text will include links to resources with additional information, along with associated KB articles that can address or resolve an issue.
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