Windows 11's 2026 update is out, and for most PCs it is one restart

It arrived on 29 September without much ceremony. Windows 11 version 26H2, officially the 2026 Update, has left the volunteer channel and started rolling out to ordinary PCs, announced on the Windows Experience Blog by John Cable, who runs update delivery at Microsoft.

For anything already on 24H2 or 25H2, what turns up is KB5121794, an enablement package. Those three versions sit on the same servicing branch, which means the code for 26H2 has been arriving on your disk inside the monthly updates for months, switched off and waiting. The package is the switch. Small download, one restart, finished. Features that shipped in 25H2 disabled by default simply become enabled.

So there is not a great deal to look at, and that is fine, because the reason to take it is the calendar rather than the features. Home and Pro get 24 months of support from this version, Enterprise and Education 36, which keeps a home PC receiving security updates well into 2028. The rollout is staged and Microsoft is holding it back from machines with known compatibility problems, so if Windows Update has nothing for you yet, that is the system doing its job rather than failing.

If you want to go looking: Settings, then Windows Update, turn on "Get the latest updates as soon as they're available", then check for updates. Resist the urge to hunt down an ISO and force it early. Feature updates very rarely eat anything these days, but the cost of being wrong is high and the cost of being careful is about five minutes, which is roughly how long Tendvane's one-click backup takes to copy Documents, Pictures and Desktop somewhere else first.