Microsoft gives business users more time to install Windows 8.1 Update

Microsoft is giving business users running Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2 a few additional months to apply the recently released updates for those operating systems.

According to an April 16 post on the Springboard Series blog, business users now have until August 12 instead of May 13 to move to the Windows 8.1 Update and Windows Server 2012 R2 Update in order to continue to receive security and other patches, fixes and updates. Those same extended deployment date also apply to Windows Embedded 8.1 Update.

Microsoft officials announced last week when Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2 Updates arrived that all users would have to move to that version of the operating system by May 12, which is the next Patch Tuesday.

The new, later deadline applies to users deploying the Updates via WSUS, Windows Intune or System Center Configuration Manager. From the post:

"In order to receive future updates, all customers managing updates using WSUS, Windows Intune, or System Center Configuration Manager have until August 12th to apply the new updates. For those that decide to defer installation, separate security updates will be published during the 120-day window."

The original May 12 deployment deadline still applies for "consumer customers," however. From today's blog post:

"For our consumer customers, the Windows 8.1 Update is a required update to keep Windows 8.1 devices current. It will need to be installed to receive new updates from Windows Update starting on May 13th."

Microsoft officials note that users with Automatic Update already turned on don't need to worry, as the Windows 8.1 Update will automatically install in the background before May 13.

Microsoft officials also noted in today's post that they have resolved the Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) issue that affected some users attempting to install Windows 8.1 Update, Windows Server 2012 R2 Update and Windows Embedded 8.1 Update.