Want smaller updates for Windows 11? Everyone does – the smaller the better – and there’s good news on that front, namely that most updates for the operating system will soon be a lot more manageable, in terms of downloads.
This is because Microsoft is introducing a system of ‘checkpoint cumulative updates’ starting with the release of Windows 11 24H2 later this year (and also with Windows Server 2025, for that matter).
Cumulative Updates are the major monthly updates that are installed on your Windows 11 PC (on the second Tuesday of every month). The idea here is that many smaller updates are applied on top of major “checkpoint” updates. These updates only make changes to the current checkpoint build.
As Microsoft explains in a blog post, “This lets you get features and security enhancements from the latest Cumulative Update through smaller, incremental differences that include only the changes since the previous Cumulative Checkpoint Update. This means you can save time, bandwidth, and hard drive space.”
It is a very useful step to streamline updates. We will likely see multiple smaller updates appear, in between the cumulative checkpoint updates that occur less frequently (these are normal sized downloads).
Analysis: Microsoft’s Sterling Work
What really happens, like Ghackswho noted this points out that you can think of a “checkpoint cumulative update” as a new base patch version for Windows 11. So a bit like a brand new version (like 23H2, 24H2), but just for recently applied security fixes and other patches. Normally, these would all be bundled into each cumulative update, but now that checkpoint updates include them – and provide a new base version – that is no longer necessary (hence the much shorter updates between checkpoints).
This all happens automatically via Windows Update, as usual, and you won’t notice any difference or need to do anything. As noted, the only difference is that most updates (non-Checkpoint updates) are significantly faster to download and install, and you save some storage space (perhaps an even more important benefit for those with, say, a smaller SSD in a budget laptop).
When Windows 11 first launched, Microsoft worked to streamline its Cumulative Updates by employing new compression technology. It was a great effort, too, and the fruits of that labor – which reduced the update size by 40% – eventually made their way to Windows 10 users. Whether this latest change will ultimately benefit those running Windows 10 is more questionable, however – with End of Life (EOL) just over a year away, Microsoft may not feel it’s worth the effort to apply this move to the older operating system.
