Microsoft now offers Windows Server 2025 hotpatching through Azure Arc at no additional charge for eligible Azure Arc-enabled servers. Hotpatching installs Windows security updates without restarting the server in most months, but it does not eliminate all reboots. You still need Azure Arc, the Azure Connected Machine agent, Virtualization-based Security, and a supported Windows Server 2025 edition. This article explains what those requirements mean, how to enable the feature, and where its limits are.

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Microsoft released version 2602 of the Security Baseline for Windows Server 2025, approximately eight months after the previous version 2506. The update adds 10 new Group Policy settings and removes one, focusing on NTLM auditing, printer security, and authentication hardening. Most of the new policies were already included in the Windows 11 Security Baselines since 2022 and are now being backported to the server edition. The baseline is available as part of the Microsoft Security Compliance Toolkit 1.0.

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Windows 10 Enterprise LTSB 2016 reaches end of support (EOS) on October 13, 2026, after which Microsoft will stop delivering security updates, bug fixes, and technical support. Organizations that cannot migrate to a newer release by that date can purchase Extended Security Updates (ESU), a paid program that provides critical security patches for up to three years. ESU licenses for LTSB 2016 will be sold through Volume Licensing or a Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) starting in Q2 2026. Activation is performed using a Multiple Activation Key (MAK) and the slmgr.vbs command-line tool.

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