Microsoft has fixed a known issue that caused Windows Server 2019 and 2022 systems to automatically upgrade to Windows Server 2025 without user approval. The fix was confirmed in a Windows Release Health Update on Tuesday, more than a year after the issue was first acknowledged in September 2024. “This issue has been resolved and Microsoft has re-enabled upgrade offers through the Windows Update settings panel,” the company said.
How does the Windows Server upgrade bug work?
In September 2024, administrators reported that servers were automatically upgraded to Windows Server 2025 overnight, in some cases to editions for which their organizations did not have licenses. Microsoft said that part of the problem was due to third-party update management software that was not configured properly.
Software vendors disagreed, claiming the problem was caused by a procedural error on Microsoft’s part, pointing to the speed of releases and how updates were classified. At the time, Microsoft did not provide a detailed description of the root cause and did not respond to press inquiries when the problem was first reported.
Microsoft’s problems and current situation
The upgrade offer has been re-enabled through the Windows Update Settings panel after the fix is applied. Organizations aiming to upgrade in-place to Windows Server 2025 can now do so through Settings without worrying about accidental automatic upgrades. Microsoft has provided Guidance for in-place upgrades on Microsoft Learn.
This update coincides with a period of increased out-of-band update activity from Microsoft. Over the past month, the company has released emergency updates to resolve issues, including a broken March Preview Update, sign-in failure with Microsoft accounts in Edge, Teams, OneDrive, and Microsoft 365 CoPilot, a Bluetooth device visibility bug, and security vulnerabilities in the routing and remote access service management tools on Windows 11 Enterprise devices.
