Confused by a mysterious update that’s suddenly appeared on your Windows 10 PC? Don’t panic – here’s what you need to know

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Confused by a mysterious update that’s suddenly appeared on your Windows 10 PC? Don’t panic – here’s what you need to know

Windows 10 PCs are getting an update stealthily installed
The under-the-radar arrival of KB5001716 may confuse some folks
This patch is deployed to versions of Windows which are about to run out of support, and it’ll nudge you to make a move to keep your PC secure

Windows 10 PCs are getting an update stealthily piped to them, and some folks may be confused as to what it is.

The good news is that it’s nothing to worry about as such – although the update is a bit of an oddity, and it does herald the end of Windows 10 (I’ll come back to why momentarily).

Neowin noticed the arrival of the patch labelled KB5001716, and observed that this is an upgrade that Microsoft deploys ahead of ‘force-installing’ a new feature update.

That’s somewhat dramatic phrasing for KB5001716 being pushed to Windows versions which are about to run out of support – hence the users will indeed need to upgrade soon, or they’ll be left without security updates (and potentially open to vulnerabilities that could be exploited as a result).

So technically, the comment about a forced installation is true, but only because the upgrade is a necessary move to ensure the safety of the host PC.

Here’s what Microsoft tells us about this patch: “After this update is installed, Windows may periodically display a notification informing you of problems that may prevent Windows Update from keeping your device up-to-date and protected against current threats. For example, you may see a notification informing you that your device is currently running a version of Windows that has reached the end of its support lifecycle.”

In this case, the update is being quietly installed on PCs running the latest version of Windows 10, which is 22H2, as well as 21H2 – the latter is already out of support, mind you. (As is Windows 11 21H2, which Microsoft also lists as receiving this patch currently, rather oddly).

Analysis: the beginning of the end

(Image credit: Microsoft)

What this really represents is Microsoft preparing the ground for the end of Windows 10, which happens in October of this year. With this patch now being installed on all Windows 10 PCs, as noted, those machines will receive periodic notifications warning that the operating system is about to run out of support (and security updates).

Microsoft is keeping something of a tight rein on those nudges (which will doubtless mention upgrading to Windows 11), though. The company notes that they “will respect full screen, game, quiet time and focus assist modes” meaning that they won’t be overly intrusive. And hopefully they won’t be too regular, either.

So, if you’ve been worried about the appearance of this update, there’s no need to fret. It’s not a big deal, although that said, it is in some respects, in terms of the fuse effectively being lit for the final countdown with Windows 10.

There are only three months left to go before the End of Life of the older OS now, and so there is some urgency to act. If you can’t upgrade to Windows 11 due to falling short of the system requirements, you need to be thinking about alternatives (or getting an extra year of support).

I think it would really help if Microsoft was clearer about what this update is. In fact, KB5001716 is rolled out to PCs every time a support deadline for a version of Windows is imminent. Indeed, in the past, we have seen reports of this patch failing to install because it’s already present on the system.

Strictly speaking, that shouldn’t happen – due to the patch only being pushed out to versions of Windows that are at death’s door, as noted – but if it does somehow, the solution is simple. Uninstall the existing copy of KB5001716 in Windows Update, and the new one should then patch successfully. Otherwise, it’ll keep repeatedly failing, which will doubtless get tiresome quite swiftly.

Overall, this is a somewhat odd approach from Microsoft for managing dying Windows versions. It’s not surprising that KB5001716 can cause some confusion, in terms of the stealthy, and repeated (over the years), installation of this ‘update for Windows Update’ as the company bills it.