Microsoft confirms Windows 11 25H2, and in some ways, I'm glad we're not getting a major update like Windows 12 this year

An upgrade with a smaller scope gives Microsoft a chance to recover from the bug-ridden 24H2 update

· TechRadar

News By Darren Allan published 30 June 2025

(Image credit: Getty Images)

  • Microsoft has confirmed Windows 11 25H2 is the update for this year
  • The upgrade is now officially in testing
  • It'll be a more minor update delivered as an 'enablement package' and that's a good thing as we're likely to see fewer bugs than with 24H2

Microsoft has confirmed that Windows 11 25H2 is the next update for its desktop operating system, arriving later this year.

That ends whispers that we might just see the release of Windows 12 - or whatever the next incarnation of the OS will be called - later this year. However, hope of that had already dwindled to pretty much dying embers in all honesty.

The announcement came in an IT Pro blog post from Microsoft that Tom's Hardware flagged.

Microsoft told us: "Today, Windows 11, version 25H2 became available to the Windows Insider community, in advance of broader availability planned for the second half of 2025."

The Windows Insider community is the formal name for those who are testing Windows 11, running preview versions of the OS (in various channels, from the earliest builds in the Canary channel to the Release Preview channel, which, as the name suggests, is one step away from release).

So, some of those testers are now officially using Windows 11 25H2, and Microsoft further confirmed another suspicion that's been previously aired about the next big update for the operating system - that it's what's known as an 'enablement package' or 'eKB' for short.

This means that the move to 25H2 will be a swift upgrade for those who are on Windows 11 24H2, and as Microsoft puts it, the update will be "as easy as a quick restart".

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