How to Troubleshoot Windows Feature Update in Microsoft Intune

Let’s discuss How to Troubleshoot Windows Feature Update Using Microsoft Intune. Microsoft Provide feature update on Windows to effectively manage system and maintain system performance. Windows Feature update troubleshooting is very necessary.

As you know that, Windows Feature Update are major update to the Windows Operating System released by Microsoft. These updates go beyond regular security patches and bug fixes, offering new features, enhancements, and improvements to the system’s performance, security, and functionality.

Windows Feature updates troubleshooting is very necessary, which helps to address common issues with feature update policies in Intune. Intune provides feature update policy that helps to you to choose the Windows feature update version that devices should stay on or update to.

Windows 10 and Window 11 feature update can be managed by using the combination of update ring and feature update policies. In this blog post I would like to share How to Troubleshoot Windows Feature Update Using Microsoft Intune.

• Update Compliance Queries to Troubleshoot Intune WUfB Patch Deployment

How to Troubleshoot Windows Feature Update using Microsoft Intune

As mentioned above, Windows feature update can be managed by using the combination of update ring and feature update policies. Update ring policies utilize the Policy CSP – Update to configure the Windows devices with the desired settings.

• Easy Guide to Set Feature Updates for Windows 11 as Optional with Intune
• Windows 11 23H2 Upgrade using Intune Feature Updates Policy

Prerequisites

There are some prerequisites you should follow before starting troubleshooting. It is the first and very crucial that ensure a smooth feature update policy implementation; missing a prerequisite accounts for many feature update failures or undesirable behavior.

• Licenses – There are many licenses are needed to troubleshoot Windows feature update. The core functionality requires an Intune license, but it’s important to note that the cloud-based capabilities such as gradual rollout and optional feature updates require a license that includes access to the Windows Update for Business deployment service.
• Telemetry – It ensure device restriction policy is deployed to all devices in scope for feature updates with reporting and telemetry configured.
• Enable Windows Diagnostic Data Collection – It ensure feature update reporting is accurate. This is a tenant wide setting and is configured in the Intune admin center.
• Microsoft Account Sign-in Assistant Service – You must ensure Microsoft Account sign-in Assistant service isn’t disabled, by default this is set to Manual.
• Connected User Experiences and Telemetry Service – You must ensure the Connected User Experiences and Telemetry service is not disabled
• Supported version of Windows 10/11 – The Windows operating system being updated must be either Professional, Enterprise or Education editions.editions.
• Network Endpoints – Ensure the devices can access the Intune and Windows update endpoints

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Deploying Feature Update Policies

If the Admin deploying update rings in parallel to feature update policies, then it is important to consider the implications of configuring certain settings in the update ring policy. The following table shows the settings.

Different Settings
Feature update deferral period (days)
Upgrade Windows 10 devices to Latest Windows 11 release
Paused feature updates

Conflicting Feature Update Policies

There are some scenarios you should consider when deploying feature update policies. Microsoft recommended that target a single feature update policy per operating system version, in other words, one for Windows 10 and one for Windows 11 devices.

• Deploying multiple feature update policies to devices could target multiple versions of feature updates to a device at the same time. The latest feature update will always be offered to the device under these circumstances.
• An eligible Windows 10 device targeted with both Windows 10 and 11 feature update policies will update to Windows 11.

Microsoft Entra Hybrid Joined Devices

When feature updates are failing to deploy to machines that are Microsoft Entra hybrid joined, it’s important to investigate whether there are any pre-existing group policy objects (GPOs) deployed via Active Directory Services.

Safeguard Holds

It is windows function that helps you to prevents your device from receiving new feature updates. The Windows update service enforces a safeguard hold on a device when it determines that a feature update may have a negative impact on your device.

Troubleshooting Feature Updates from the Intune Admin Center

Enabling prerequisites for update reporting is very important. There are two prerequisites which you must meet. They are Windows feature update report and Feature update failures report.

Windows Feature Update Report

Windows feature update report helps to get an overall status of the feature update deployment policy status. From the Intune Portal you can easily access the Windows Feature Update Report. Follow the steps below.

• Open Microsoft Intune Admin Center
• Go to Reports > Windows updates > Reports > Windows feature update report

Feature Update Failures Report

Feature update failures report is the first point of contact for troubleshooting feature updates. Feature update failures report helps to shows the reason for why individual devices have failed to install a feature update. Before this report shows any data, you must configure the data collection pre-requisite. It can be quickly access from Intune Admin Center. Follow the steps below.

Read more – Windows Feature Update Failures Intune Report

• Open Microsoft Intune Admin Center
• Go to Devices > Monitor > Feature update policies with alerts.

All the current feature update policies with an overview of the number of devices with errors. This report helps admins to checks to understand whether the feature update install has been attempted on a device and subsequently failed.

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Resource

Troubleshooting Windows Feature updates in Microsoft Intune

Author

Anoop C Nair has been Microsoft MVP for 10 consecutive years from 2015 onwards. He is a Workplace Solution Architect with more than 22+ years of experience in Workplace technologies. He is a Blogger, Speaker, and Local User Group Community leader. His primary focus is on Device Management technologies like SCCM and Intune. He writes about technologies like Intune, SCCM, Windows, Cloud PC, Windows, Entra, Microsoft Security, Career, etc.