Windows 11 25H2: How to Get It, What Changed and What It Quietly Broke

Windows 11 25H2 has been out for a year, and plenty of PCs still haven’t got it. Some are sat on 24H2, some are still on Windows 10, and one is under Dave from accounts’ desk running whatever it ran in 2023.

That was fine until the calendar caught up. Windows 11 24H2 Home and Pro stop getting updates on 13 October 2026, the same day the Windows 10 consumer Extended Security Updates year ends. Two deadlines, one Tuesday.

This guide covers how to check your version, the ways to get Windows 11 25H2 (including the Intune route for admins), what changed, what was removed, and where the newly released 26H2 fits in.

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What is Windows 11 25H2?

Windows 11 25H2, also called the Windows 11 2025 Update, reached general availability on 30 September 2025. It is OS build 26200, and it shares a servicing branch with 24H2 (build 26100).

Shared branch means the 25H2 code was already on 24H2 PCs, delivered through monthly updates and left dormant. The enablement package (KB5054156) flips the switch: a small download and a single restart. After years of two-hour feature updates stuck at 61%, it feels like cheating.

Installing it also resets the support clock, which is the part that matters most a year later.

Windows 11 25H2 support dates and build numbers

Here is where each current Windows 11 version stands, taken from the Windows 11 release information page.

Version	OS build	Released	Home and Pro updates end	Enterprise and Education updates end
24H2	26100	1 October 2024	13 October 2026	12 October 2027
25H2	26200	30 September 2025	12 October 2027	10 October 2028
26H1	28000	10 February 2026	14 March 2028	13 March 2029
26H2	26300	29 September 2026	10 October 2028	9 October 2029

That is the standard Windows 11 lifecycle: 24 months for Home and Pro, 36 months for Enterprise and Education. 23H2 Enterprise and Education run out on 10 November 2026, so if any are still lurking in a cupboard, they need moving this month.

26H1 is the odd one out. It only ships on certain new devices that arrived in early 2026, and it isn’t offered as an in-place update from 24H2 or 25H2. If you didn’t buy one, you can ignore it.

What changed in Windows 11 25H2

Because features arrived through monthly updates on 24H2, a lot of what people call new in 25H2 was already on 24H2 PCs. These are the changes worth knowing about, all listed on What’s new in Windows 11, version 25H2.

Features switched on for managed PCs

Temporary enterprise feature control keeps some features off on managed devices until the next feature update. Windows 11 25H2 ends that hold for four of them: Agent in Settings, Improved Windows search, Click to Do and AI actions in File Explorer.

Agent in Settings and Click to Do also have permanent policies, so you can keep them off if your security team twitches at the word “agent”. Improved Windows search still respects your existing search policies.

Admin features worth a look

• Policy-based removal of preinstalled Microsoft Store apps on Enterprise and Education, so Clipchamp stops reappearing like a bad penny. I cover the settings in my Intune Windows 11 25H2 settings guide.
• Windows Backup for Organizations is generally available, backing up user settings and Store apps for device refreshes.
• Quick machine recovery looks for cloud remediations when PCs hit a widespread boot failure.
• Wi-Fi 7 enterprise access point support (also on 24H2 with KB5065789 or later).
• Taskbar pinning policies apply without restarting explorer.exe when you use the PinGeneration option.
• Energy Saver settings can be managed through Group Policy and Intune.

Things your users will notice

File Explorer gets AI actions on the right-click menu: blur background, erase objects and remove background for images, plus a Summarize action for OneDrive and SharePoint files. That summary needs a Microsoft 365 subscription and a Copilot licence, so don’t promise it to the whole office.

Task Manager now measures CPU workload using industry standard metrics, with an optional CPU Utility column if you want the old figure back. Settings > Privacy & security also gains a Text and Image Generation page showing which apps have used Windows’ on-device generative AI.

What Windows 11 25H2 removed: PowerShell 2.0 and WMIC

This is the Windows 11 25H2 section that generates help desk tickets.

PowerShell 2.0 isn’t included in Windows 11 25H2. It was taken out of 24H2 in August 2025 as well, so this is less a 25H2 surprise and more a very long goodbye. Windows PowerShell 5.1 and PowerShell 7 are unaffected.

WMIC is uninstalled when the 25H2 feature update installs. Since August 2026 it is fully removed from 24H2 and later and is no longer available as a Feature on Demand, according to the removed features list. Reinstalling it from optional features is no longer an escape hatch.

Old WMIC command	PowerShell replacement
wmic os get caption,version	Get-CimInstance Win32_OperatingSystem | Select-Object Caption, Version
wmic bios get serialnumber	Get-CimInstance Win32_BIOS | Select-Object SerialNumber
wmic computersystem get model	Get-CimInstance Win32_ComputerSystem | Select-Object Manufacturer, Model
wmic logicaldisk get name,freespace	Get-CimInstance Win32_LogicalDisk | Select-Object DeviceID, FreeSpace

To find the scripts that will break, search your script share before Windows 11 25H2 finds them for you. Change the path to suit:

# Find scripts that still call WMIC or PowerShell 2.0
$path = '\\fileserver\scripts'
Get-ChildItem -Path $path -Recurse -Include *.ps1, *.bat, *.cmd, *.vbs -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue |
    Select-String -Pattern 'wmic', '-version 2' -SimpleMatch |
    Select-Object Path, LineNumber, Line |
    Export-Csv -Path .\legacy-script-hits.csv -NoTypeInformation

How to get Windows 11 25H2 in 5 steps

Step 1: Check which version you’re on

1. Press Win + R, type winver and press Enter.
2. Read the version and OS build. Version 25H2 with OS build 26200 means you’re already there.
3. Prefer clicking? Settings > System > About shows the same detail under Windows specifications.

For a quick check over a remote PowerShell session:

Get-ItemProperty 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion' |
    Select-Object DisplayVersion, CurrentBuild, UBR

CurrentBuild tells you the version: 26100 is 24H2, 26200 is 25H2 and 26300 is 26H2. UBR is the monthly update level, the bit after the dot.

Step 2: Prepare the PC

1. Back up anything you care about to OneDrive or an external drive. It’s a small update, but it’s still an update.
2. Install the latest cumulative update first, so the enablement package prerequisite is in place.
3. Run the WMIC and PowerShell 2.0 script search above if the PC runs anything home-grown.
4. Coming from Windows 10? Check the hardware meets the Windows 11 requirements. Enablement packages only work from 24H2, so this will be a full upgrade.

Step 3: Install Windows 11 25H2 through Windows Update

1. Open Settings > Windows Update.
2. Select Check for updates.
3. If Windows 11, version 25H2 is offered, select Download and install.
4. Restart when asked. One restart, usually quicker than the kettle.

The “Get the latest updates as soon as they’re available” toggle puts you near the front of the queue for new versions. Since 29 September 2026, eligible 24H2 and 25H2 PCs with it switched on are being offered 26H2, because that is now the newest release.

Step 4: Use the Installation Assistant or ISO (Windows 10 PCs)

For Windows 10 PCs, or anything Windows Update refuses to move, the Download Windows 11 page offers the Installation Assistant, installation media and an ISO.

Read the small print first. The page now offers the Windows 11 2026 Update (version 26H2), not 25H2. For most home users that’s fine: 26H2 sits on the same servicing branch as 25H2 and is supported for a year longer.

To keep files and apps, run the Installation Assistant or setup.exe from the mounted ISO inside Windows. For a clean start from a USB stick, follow my step by step guide to installing Windows 11.

Businesses on commercial Extended Security Updates can buy a second year that runs to 12 October 2027. That buys time to plan, not a reason to stop planning.

Step 5: Deploy Windows 11 25H2 with an Intune feature update policy

In a managed estate, don’t leave the Windows version to chance or to a toggle. An Intune feature update policy moves devices up to a chosen version and then holds them there.

1. In the Microsoft Intune admin centre, go to Devices > Windows > Windows updates > Feature updates.
2. Select Create profile and give it a name future you will understand.
3. In Feature update to deploy, choose Windows 11, version 25H2.
4. Choose Make available to users as a required update. The optional update choice needs a Windows Autopatch licence.
5. Under Rollout options, make the update available as soon as possible, on a specific date, or gradually across offer groups.
6. Assign the policy to a device group, review the settings and select Create.

Set Feature update deferral period (days) to 0 in your update rings and make sure feature updates aren’t paused, or the ring quietly overrules the policy. Devices already on a newer version aren’t rolled back; they just aren’t offered anything.

Requirement	Detail
Licensing	Microsoft Intune Plan 1, plus a Windows licence that includes the Windows Autopatch entitlement
Editions	Pro, Pro Education, Enterprise, Education (not LTSC)
Join type	Microsoft Entra joined or Microsoft Entra hybrid joined, managed by Intune
Device settings	Telemetry at Required or higher; Microsoft Account Sign-In Assistant service (wlidsvc) running
Role	Policy and Profile Manager, or a custom role with the device configuration permissions

My Intune update rings and feature updates guide covers the full set-up. Not on Intune? The Group Policy “Select target Feature Update version”, with Product Version set to Windows 11 and Target Version set to 25H2, does the same job on Pro and above.

Prove Windows 11 25H2 installed properly

Trust, but verify. Mostly verify, because a Windows 11 25H2 rollout report that says “in progress” for three weeks is not a success.

• Run winver on a handful of devices and look for Version 25H2, OS build 26200.
• In Intune, open Reports > Windows Updates > Reports tab > Feature Updates report, select your policy and generate it.
• Devices showing OfferReady or a later state are enrolled and protected from moving past your chosen version.
• Run Get-Command wmic on a 25H2 device. If it returns an error, WMIC has gone, as expected.

For a fleet-wide view, this works as a detection script in Intune Remediations. It exits 1 on anything older than 25H2:

$os = Get-ItemProperty 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion'
if ([int]$os.CurrentBuild -ge 26200) {
    Write-Output "OK: $($os.DisplayVersion) build $($os.CurrentBuild).$($os.UBR)"
    exit 0
}
Write-Output "Behind: $($os.DisplayVersion) build $($os.CurrentBuild).$($os.UBR)"
exit 1

Windows 11 25H2 gotchas

Safeguard holds. If a PC isn’t offered the update, Microsoft may be holding it back for a known driver or app problem. Check Windows release health before forcing it through with an ISO.

Shared code, shared bugs. Because 24H2, 25H2 and 26H2 share a codebase, they share known issues too. At the time of writing, release health lists a confirmed issue where some apps relying on Windows’ AC-3 (Dolby Digital) decoding close unexpectedly after the 22 September 2026 update.

26H1 devices. A new Arm laptop that shipped with 26H1 can’t move to 25H2 or 26H2, because it runs on a different Windows core. Microsoft says it will get an update path in a future release.

The 24H2 deadline. Home and Pro updates end on 13 October 2026. Do it before then, and preferably not at 4:55pm on a Friday.

WSUS timing. WSUS and Configuration Manager customers didn’t see Windows 11 25H2 until 14 October 2025, a fortnight after general availability. Build that delay into your plans for future versions.

What about Windows 11 26H2?

Windows 11 26H2 reached general availability on 29 September 2026 as build 26300. Like 25H2, it arrives as an enablement package on PCs running 24H2 or 25H2, with one restart in most cases.

Highlights on the 26H2 what’s new page include Administrator protection (just-in-time admin rights, off by default), built-in Sysmon (also off by default), point-in-time restore and a redesigned Start menu. The taskbar can live on any edge of the screen again, which the Windows 98 crowd has been asking for since 2021.

For production fleets, Windows 11 25H2 is still a sensible target: a release with a year of fixes behind it is a reasonable choice. Pinning to 25H2 and piloting 26H2 on a test group, as in the screenshot above, gives you both.

Should you upgrade to Windows 11 25H2?

On 24H2 Home or Pro: yes, and soon. Either 25H2 or 26H2 keeps you patched; 24H2 doesn’t after 13 October 2026.

On Windows 10: move to Windows 11 if the hardware qualifies. The download page gives you 26H2, which is perfectly fine for a home PC.

Running a fleet: pin Windows 11 25H2 with a feature update policy, clear out WMIC and PowerShell 2.0 dependencies, and pilot 26H2 alongside. It’s boring and predictable, which is exactly what you want from Windows updates.

Windows 11 25H2 FAQs

Further reading

• What’s new in Windows 11, version 25H2 (Microsoft Learn)
• Windows 11 release information (Microsoft Learn)
• Features removed in Windows client (Microsoft Learn)
• Configure Windows feature update policies (Microsoft Learn)
• What’s new in Windows 11, version 26H2 (Microsoft Learn)
• How to install Windows 11 from USB
• Intune update rings and feature updates
• Intune Windows 11 25H2 settings

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