Hold onto your hats: Windows 11 26H2 is on its way. It is this year's Windows feature update, it brings a handful of sensible improvements rather than anything dramatic, and for most dental practices the right approach is simply to let it install and leave it alone while it does.
Here is what it is, what it changes, what could go wrong (briefly, because it is unlikely), and what we are doing about it.
What is Windows 11 26H2?
Not the catchiest name Microsoft has ever come up with, we know. It does make sense once you decode it, though. The 26 is the year, 2026, and H2 means the second half of the year, which is where we are now. So 26H2 is simply this year's autumn release of Windows 11.
These are what Microsoft calls Windows feature updates, and they now seem to arrive about once a year. They are different from the monthly security updates that land on Patch Tuesday. Those are the regular fixes that keep machines safe from month to month. A feature update is the bigger annual refresh of Windows itself: new features, design tweaks and under-the-bonnet improvements.
What is new in Windows 11 26H2?
To be honest, nothing immense. The main changes are:
- Taskbar and Start menu improvements. Refinements to the bits of Windows you click on hundreds of times a day.
- Better search. Finding files, settings and apps should be quicker and more reliable.
- A quicker File Explorer. Opening folders and browsing files should feel snappier.
Possibly not much that you are going to get hugely excited about. But these are the parts of Windows your team uses constantly, at reception, in the surgery and in the back office, so small improvements there do add up over a working week.
How long does the 26H2 update take to install?
This is where it pays to be patient. On a reasonably modern machine that is up to date with its monthly updates, the install can be done in a few minutes. On an older or slower machine, or one that has fallen behind and needs to catch up first, it can take an awful lot longer.
That variation is normal. A long install does not mean something has gone wrong.
Never interrupt an update in progress
If you take one thing from this article, make it this: never interrupt or cancel a Windows update while it is in progress. In our view, there be dragons.
That means no holding the power button down, no switching off at the wall, and no pulling the plug because a percentage seems to have stuck. Updates often appear to pause for long stretches while they are busy in the background. Cutting the power in the middle of that is one of the more reliable ways to turn a routine update into a machine that will not start, which is a far bigger problem than a PC that took a while.
If a machine really does look stuck for an unusually long time, leave it running and give us a call. We would much rather look at it with you than deal with what happens after the plug comes out.
What are people saying about it?
Early reactions seem mostly positive, with people noticing performance improvements, which is always nice to hear about a Windows release.
As with any Windows release, though, there is always some risk of incompatibilities. That could be a driver, a device connected to the machine such as a printer or scanner, or even a component inside the machine itself, and occasionally that kind of clash can cause booting or other issues.
We want to stress that this is unlikely. Most machines will update without anyone noticing anything other than a slightly tidier taskbar. We mention it because we would rather be straight with you than pretend Windows updates are completely risk free, and because when these things do happen, they are visible and fixable.
What about practice management software?
We are not expecting any dramatic issues with the practice management systems or other major operational software we see out there in dental practices.
We are keeping an eye on it all the same. Because we look after networks across a lot of practices, we tend to spot patterns early, and if we see any problems emerging with a particular piece of software or hardware, we will let our customers know.
What we recommend
Our advice on updates has not changed: take them. We always recommend installing Windows updates, and the networks we look after are configured by default to take them straight away, as long as the machines are left switched on.
So for our customers, there is very little to do:
- Leave machines on when we ask you to, so updates can install outside clinic hours. Screens off is fine.
- Let an update finish, however long it takes, and never power off a machine part way through.
- Tell us if anything looks odd afterwards, such as a printer that has stopped printing or a scanner that is no longer being picked up. We will take it from there.
We wrote more about why we favour taking updates rather than deferring them in Windows updates, automatic or manual?, and the reasoning applies just as much to the annual feature updates as to the monthly ones.
The takeaway
Windows 11 26H2 is a modest, sensible update that most people will barely notice beyond a slightly quicker, tidier Windows. Let it install, leave it alone while it works, and we will be watching in the background as it rolls out.
IT's all good.
If you are not sure whether your practice PCs are up to date, or you would like someone keeping an eye on updates for you, get in touch. It is exactly the sort of thing our monitoring and helpdesk support take care of quietly in the background.