Driver Ship Room Release Cadence Windows
Last Updated: November 11, 2024
This article provides information on the operation schedule for Windows driver ship room. In order to provide the best experience for Windows users, there are certain times where aspects of publication operations are suspended.
We have a shared goal of keeping devices up to date while providing users a high quality experience. When a driver update is released alongside OS updates, it results in a poor experience and impacts end-users.
Windows as a Service has a well-established OS update release cadence.
Latest Cumulative Update (LCU): Monthly quality and security updates are released during the second week. The LCU is also known as the B release, and is offered to all eligible Windows 10 devices through Windows Update (WU) scans.
Feature Updates: Provide the latest feature experiences and quality fixes.
There are changes for releasing drivers marked as needing Microsoft approval. These changes ensure we release quality drivers, reduce the risk of releasing drivers at the same time as OS changes, and provide ecosystem partners a predictable driver release cadence. The drivers affected by these changes include:
- Flighted drivers: Drivers (shipping label) marked as Automatic = Critical Update (CU) or Dynamic Update (DU) or both
- Optional driver classes which always go through ship room approval
Predictable driver release windows: During OS update release time frames, we defer releasing drivers needing Microsoft approval to WU and will resume automatic publishing after the deferral window.
Monthly Quality Update B release: Drivers needing Microsoft approval aren't released one day before and for one day after monthly security B release.
Monday Second Tuesday of each month Wednesday One day before B monthly security release day One day after Feature update offer via Windows Update: Driver needing Microsoft approval aren't released two days before, and for two days after the start of a feature OS update rollout.
Before Day Of After Two days before Feature OS Rollout Two days after If there are known issues for feature update and driver compatibility, you can request a feature update offer block mitigation while a compatible driver update is being validated and posted to WU.
Certain US holidays: Drivers needing Microsoft approval aren't released on certain US Holidays and long weekends
US Holidays 2025 2024 New Year's Day Wednesday, January 01 Monday, January 01 Martin Luther King Day Monday, January 20 Monday, January 17 Presidents Day Monday, February 17 Monday, February 19 Memorial Day Monday May 26 Monday May 27 Fourth of July Friday, July 04 Tuesday, July 04 Labor Day Monday, September 01 Monday, September 02 Thanksgiving Day Thursday, November 27 Thursday, November 28 Day after Thanksgiving Friday, November 28 Friday, November 29 Christmas Eve Wednesday, December 24 Tuesday, December 24 Christmas Day Thursday, December 25 Wednesday, December 25 Day after Christmas Friday, December 26 Thursday, December 26 US Winter Holiday time frame release moratorium: During the US winter holiday season, the driver ship room isn't releasing any drivers. For calendar year 2024, the time frame is December 14, 2024 through January 1, 2025. For calendar year 2025, the time frame is December 18, 2025 through January 1, 2026.
See the calendars in the Appendix for more dates.
Note
Because a predictable driver release cadence results in a better user experience, we encourage ecosystem partners to plan for driver flighting and publication releases.
Appendix
FAQ
What does this deferral mean for newly submitted drivers or drivers currently In-Flight?
This deferral is for the release of a driver needing Microsoft approval (marked as Automatic or Dynamic Update) to WU. Newly submitted drivers, and drivers currently in-flight, proceed as they normally do.
What is the latest deferral calendar?
These calendars are subject to change based on OS release timelines.
