Windows 10 2004 Gets View Optional Updates
MS continues to refine its update download options. Starting with Build 19536, Insiders on the Fast Ring have a new Windows Update download option. That is, Windows 10 2004 gets “view optional updates” as a selectable link in Settings → Update & Security → Windows Update. Here’s what that looks like on my Lenovo X220 Tablet (which fortunately needed some USB driver updates, as you’ll see):
Note the blue text at the bottom of this snippet. It reads “View optional updates.” When it appears, you can click it to see what’s available, optionally.
When Windows 10 2004 Gets View Optional Updates, Then What?
If may click the link that reads “View optional updates.” If you do, a list of one or more available items appears on an “Optional Updates” Setting page.
Here’s what just showed up on my Lenovo X220 Tablet, with the Driver Update category expanded. As you can see, I’ve got a couple of apparently identical USB drivers waiting for this PC. Apparently, a separate install is needed for each of the two built-in USB hubs on this machine. You must check the boxes to the left of any item, after which the “Download and install” button goes live. Then you can click it to start that process on its way.
Both of my USB hubs apparently need a “new” driver dated 2016!
[Click image for full-sized view.]
What Else Might Appear as an “Optional Update?”
According to the 19536 announcement, in addition to device drivers, optional updates can also include “feature updates, and monthly non-security quality updates” as well. The goal here, according to MS, is to bring all this kind of update information together “in one place.” The hope is to make such updates easier to see, manage, and control. It looks like the ire of many users of earlier Windows 10 versions about having updates forced upon them with no opportunity to decline or defer might finally be assuaged. Good stuff!