Windows 11 22H2 is out, so why isn’t your PC getting it?

Windows 11 22H2, released two weeks ago, is another step closer to being an acceptable upgrade to Windows 10. But many Windows users aren't yet being offered it for download.

It's important to understand that we're in the “seeker” era for Windows 11 22H2. Microsoft still has a variety of hardware and third-party issues to work through, which is why you might not get offered 22H2 right away. But there is a mechanism you can use to review any hard blocks on your system.

(If you want to get 22H2 sooner rather than later, you could opt into the Insider release track, which ensures you get the beta versions of Windows 11 — but that also exposes your hardware to possible bugs, side effects, and other issues.)

Courtesy of Adam Gross, you can use a GitHub script to determine exactly why your system is not being offered 22H2. You can either download the PowerShell script from the Github site or follow these commands to determine what might be blocking Windows 11 22H@ from showing up on your hardware..

First, search for PowerShell and then right-mouse click and run as administrator.

In an administrator PowerShell session, type in the following:

Install-Module FU.WhyAmIBlocked -Scope CurrentUser

If you do not have the NuGet repository installed, it will prompt you to do so. Depending on your system, you may need to adjust the script policy on your computer. Type in:

Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted

And type in Y to approve the change. Next, type in:

Import-Module FU.WhyAmIBlocked

Finally, type in:

Get-FUBlocks

It should then provide the results in the FeatureUpdateBlocks folder on your computer. In my case, I have a Surface Pro 7 plus that had Windows 11 21H2 installed. But I wasn’t being offered 22H2. After running the script from GitHub, I found out I had a block on my machine because of how I had installed a printer in my home network.

Sure enough, this has recently been announced as a block to those who check for 22H2 via Windows Update. In the Microsoft Health release dashboard, the company documents the issue:

“Microsoft has found an issue when an installed printer uses Microsoft IPP Class Driver or Universal Print Class Driver and is installed on a Windows device with connectivity issues to the printer. Windows needs connectivity to the printer to identify all the features of the printer. Without connectivity, the printer is set up with default settings and in some scenarios might not get updated once connectivity to the printer is restored. You might be affected by this issue if your printer is unable to use printer specific features such as color, two-sided/duplex printing, paper size or type settings, or resolutions higher than 300x300dpi. Currently, installed printers in this state will carry this issue forward when upgraded to Windows 11, version 22H2.”

Microsoft has therefore put a block on my machine (and others like it that have an IPP printer driver installed). While I could get around the block and manually install printer drivers after the upgrade is installed, I am planning to leave my computer as is and see whether my computer gets offered the 22H2 release when Microsoft fixes the issue.

The good news is that we now have a year between major feature releases along with a longer life cycle. Remember, Windows 11 21H2 is good until Oct. 8, 2024 — and 22H2 gets support until Oct. 14, 2025.

The dates are different for Windows 11 Home and Pro users: 21H2 gets security patches until Oct. 10, 2023 and 22H2 gets patches through Oct. 14, 2024. That's a year earlier, in both cases, than for Enterprise and Education versions.

Microsoft is planning incremental changes along the way, similar to how it handled the News and Interests and Search highlights in Windows 10. These incremental changes will come out throughout the year, though Microsoft has said enterprises with a domain will be able to opt-in to these changes when they want. (As of yet, Microsoft hasn't spelled out how this opt-in will be handled.)

So how will you know what changes are planned? My educated guess, based on years of monitoring Microsoft releases and patches is that you’ll need to keep an eye on two resources: the Insider channel and preview releases.

Even if you don’t run Insider versions, you can check the Insider blog to keep abreast of what changes are in testing. And for the Preview releases, check the monthly Patch Tuesday update. It includes security fixes and the incremental changes Microsoft has started doing.

The fact that Microsoft has said these new “moments” will not be enabled by default on Enterprise, Education and domain-joined machines hints that there will be some sort of group policy, or registry key to enable or disable them. (At a minimum, I expect we will find a menu option to disable them.)

To track what's in these preview updates, I recommend Googling “Windows 10 update history” or “Windows 11 update history” and bookmarking the version of Windows you're running. On the third or fourth week of the month, Microsoft will release information on a “Knowledge Base page” to allow you to read up on the non-security changes and fixes it is allowing us to test ahead of release in the next month’s security updates.

Take, for example, the Sept. 30 preview update of KB5017389 for Windows 11 22H2, which “adds more dynamic Widgets content to your taskbar with notification badging. When you open the Widgets board, a banner appears at the top of the board. It provides more information about what triggered the notification badge.” (We may also get clues at the upcoming Ignite conference, which you you can attend virtually.)

I’ll keep an eye on upcoming “moments” and let you know what I find.