Windows 11 26H2 arrives in October. Here’s why you shouldn’t skip it
The next major update for Windows 11, called version 26H2 (which stands for “second half of 2026”), is coming in October 2026. However, you shouldn’t expect many new features with it—the main benefit of the update will be an extension of the operating system’s support period.
A fall estimate was previously confirmed by Microsoft, who also confirmed that it’ll arrive as an enablement package. That means the included features and improvements will already be downloaded on your system prior, with the update simply “flipping” them on.
The update could come as early as the last week of September, as was the case with Windows 11 25H2… but even then, it only started rolling out on September 30th and didn’t hit most users until October. Meanwhile, Windows 11 24H2 and 23H2 weren’t released until October—so odds are good that we’ll see another October release for 26H2.
What to expect in Windows 11 26H2
Windows 11 26H2 won’t introduce many new features, mainly because Microsoft already rolled out a number of new features over the last few months (including Point-in-Time Restore and Cloud Rebuild and a handful of others) instead of holding them until 26H2.
One genuinely new feature coming with 26H2 will be automatic cloud backups of Windows settings, the Microsoft Store update list, and some personal files. It’ll be enabled by default, but can be disabled.
The real reason to get 26H2 is that it’ll extend the support period of Windows 11 by another year. If you’re still on 24H2 Home or Pro, you’ll stop receiving updates after October 13th, 2026. Meanwhile, if you stay on 25H2 without updating to 26H2, you’ll stop receiving updates after October 12th, 2027. By upgrading to 26H2, you’ll keep receiving security and feature updates until October 2028.
By the way: If you’re using Windows 11 Home, you’re missing out on the many benefits of Windows 11 Pro. To learn more, see our comparison of Windows 11 Home and Pro. If you want to upgrade, snag it for cheap in the PCWorld Software Store: now just $59 instead of $99.
Windows 11 26H2’s download is small
Again, the update to 26H2 will be via an enablement package—one that’s expected to be just 174 KB in size. The code for all the changes is already included in Windows 11 24H2 and 25H2 via past and present updates, but they’re laying dormant. The enablement package merely enables them.
One thing to note, however, is that users on Windows 11 26H1 cannot upgrade to 26H2. That’s because 26H1 is a special version of Windows 11 for PCs with Snapdragon X2 or Nvidia RTX Spark CPUs. Instead of 26H2, these Arm-based PCs will receive 27H2 in the second half of 2027. Microsoft’s plan is to merge the two branches then.
