Microsoft targets September 2017 release for Windows 10 Redstone 3

Microsoft has today confirmed that it plans on releasing two major updates for Windows 10 every year, with this years second major update scheduled to be finalized and maybe even released in September 2017. Windows Central previously reported that this would likely be the case, and Microsoft has today confirmed that September 2017 is indeed their target month for finalizing the second update for this year, codenamed Redstone 3.

September 2017 is no random month for Microsoft, as it aligns with the company's other product releases too. Microsoft wants Windows 10, Office 365 Pro Plus and System Center Configuration Manager releasing at the same time each year, which appears to be in March and September. The official blog post said:

Based on this feedback, I am excited to share today that we are aligning the servicing models for Windows 10, Office 365 ProPlus and System Center Configuration Manager for our customers, particularly those with Secure Productive Enterprise.

What's more, Microsoft says each feature update for Windows 10 will be serviced for 18 months after general availability. Although Microsoft is targeting September 2017 for Redstone 3's launch, we're expecting the company to finalize Redstone 3 in September, with a general release sometime in October. Similar to how the Creators Update was finalized in March, but released in April.

Insiders are already testing Redstone 3 in the Fast ring, with new features expected to show up for testing over the next few weeks. It's an exciting time for Windows fans, with more features on the way, what are you most looking forward to?

Zac Bowden is a Senior Editor at Windows Central. Bringing you exclusive coverage into the world of Windows on PCs, tablets, phones, and more. Also an avid collector of rare Microsoft prototype devices! Keep in touch on Twitter: @zacbowden.

54 Comments

I'm looking forward to mobile
I believe this will be the last "Mobile" update before switching to full Windows 10 on ARM. I'm curious to see this play out.
Yep it seems inevitable I wouldn't mind a true pocket PC that makes phone calls its pretty much what I have been hoping for since getting my first Windows Mobile 6.5 phone
I doubt it. It will only be the very high end phones that can run the emulation at first - there will undoubtedly be lower end phones put out by other OEMs that still run the W10M SKU. But perhaps in a couple years when the lowest tier of processors catch up, all phones will have native emulation capabilities.
What OEM'S are gonna put out lower end phones? And, why wouldn't they be doing that now with WM??.... At this point, other OEM'S are out of the question. MS ran them off, and it'd be a miracle if they ever come back.
Hey! You've stole my comment!
Sorry, there won't be a RS3 for mobile. Only RS2-Feature 2
don't shoot the messenger!
And, we always revert to mobile on these post... Mobile is where it's at. MS needs to wakeup, and realize this..... They better kill at Build 2017 with much news about Windows, and Mobile, going forward. I don't expect any announcements, but some form of assurance that they have big future plans for mobile. That's all they need to say.. "We have big plans for mobile"... That alone will ease a lot of minds, including shareholders.
Mobile means more that just that phone in your pocket. Get over it already. All your favorite UWP apps are going to run on whatever comes next, so it's a moot point.
Hey, go away.... We know what mobile entails... You don't like someone's conversation then stay our of it.... Get over that, and go try to run something you might have control over. Bye.
But those phones will still be important for a couple of years. I expected more work from MS with OEMs on mobile
"Big plans for mobile"....?
You mean how they've been telling us for past 2 years? :-)
I think many of us expect actions and deliverables this year, instead of hearing another load of "big plans" and "coming soon".
Hey, in the situation we're in I'll take ANYTHING directly from MS, even if it's another confirmation.. Because, at this point that's all we're gonna get.
when will I got cu
And of the 11/13 current phones, 6 will be left.
Possibly zero...we'll see.
Dont see any phones being supported beyond maintenance mode after September.
Microsoft: And it won't be available for any mobile devices 😄
I hope they don't kill W10M and keep it alive even after RS3.
Alive, like on life support?
It's clear now that W10M would be considered as a feature phone OS (for those who want a precursor) after whatever pops out of Msft's kitchen made for mobile devices.
On time for my birthday!
dislike...... another update, another problems. CU broke my drivers - no sound/glitching graphics. I had to delete the drivers, redownload them and install. Too many things are changing at once, I dont have time to study the whole OS again and again. Its getting a bit annoying. And the update process itself, on some computers the new update causes freezing or decreased performance. The only solution is to reinstall the whole system - another wasted 15minutes + updates + install programs, games, drivers, reconfigure the whole system +2hours (no, I am not a fan of shadow copies or image backups)
"Study the whole OS again and again" what, why, when would you need to do that? Sounds like you are referring back to your complaints during insider releases? Therefore, unfounded complaints about something that is RTM. CU has had a largely positive reception and its only just started to roll out?
here are all updates detailed https://www.howtogeek.com/278132/whats-new-in-windows-10s-creators-update/ I dont have time to find everything on my own, reconfigure it or just learn about it. We had W7/8 ...... the system itself didnt change since RTM (compared to 10) and it was good as it was. With Windows 10...new features / mayor changes happen every 6 months and i dont like it. Thats all. Users should decide if they want new features or if they want to stick with a basic W10 which works the same way as W7/8 did - just security and bug fixes, nothing else (no, W10 cloud is not better because the Store limitation)
He is correct about studying OS again: search for new place of some settings, search for defaulted settings and switching those back to what you like, manage freaking notifications like max brightness warning, googling for possible bugs prior to update.
Hey here's an idea, go to Linux or Apple Mac! :) If you hate Windows that much then why do you not make your life a little less stressful and change? Take matters into your own hands.
How bold you are to unify "hate Win 10 features updates" and "hate windows"? Oh wait! Are you so young that only Windows OS you know is Win 10 and only CU?
Oooooooh burn!!!!!! Thanks AjvarD, you are swell human being :) I hope you have a good day :) And for what it is worth, just because someone is young does not make their opinion any less valid. Maybe you need to get over yourself and move on. The rest of the world has and that generation that you hate is just about to take over all of the jobs, I hope you are ready! But it certainly sounds like you are not. And for the record I started on DOS 3.1 so I have been around for awhile. And I like nostalgia so have had experience with several OS's not just Windows. My suggestion of Linux or Mac was valid. For you to take it and spin it like I am an idiot because you think I am young is really a fail on you. Try improving your life instead of taking everyone down with you. Have wonderful and pleasant day! :)
Thanks pal, how are you doing? I mean aside of writing walls of text every day because doing that you seem happy. Maybe you miss Ancient Egypt times.
Ummm it is called paragraphs.... But I can separate it out for you if that makes you happy :)
Will it release for mobile as well or will it still be a feature update....
I think that's the real question. What is happening with mobile. Really need Microsoft to actually mention something about it.
Mobile is done guys.. each update removes more models from the supported list (not that there's that many to start with), and still nothing on replacement hardware. Sad really as WP/WM had a lot of potential in the early days but some confused directions and strange decisions, leadership changes and extremely poor marketing pretty much killed it 18 months ago. That may be unpopular on this site but that's the reality. At least though they DID ensure that the actual services and products are viable on the mainstream Android/IOS platforms at this stage.
While phones have been removed which is normal for the lifecycle of devices because Microsoft promised updates for 2 years. Seems they made good on that.
Mobile focus and UI overhaul. New features and stability. Getting tired of bugs. Old bugs shouldn't reappear. Looking forward to fast smooth experience.
Bring on Version 1709!
I guess Only elite x3 will get redstone 3 update for mobile
I'll not be satisfied until they unveil what is "feature2" :D
Definitely betting now that they'll be unveiling the intended feature set of RS3 in May 2nd's event.
When on mobile? More like when in India?
Then I'm guessing no new Surface devices until September, as well.
so Redstone 3 with more core updates (background) nothing new is any of these updates making any difference from windows 8, 2 years and still waiting
I am only looking at a simple feature in phone since threshhold builds......call recording in legacy devices like lumia 640 and 535,etc on software ground.
Slow, slow, slow. Microsoft is so slow. I guess, nothing is really important to Microsoft, so they can just plod along.
It is very frustrating for those of us that see the real potential for Microsoft to do great things, especially with mobile. Yes, phones.
We are hanging in there, hoping for the best, doing what we can. We (I'm) not a quitter.
(We need new leadership at Microsoft.)
Best Wishes
Please do not shoot me. But i cannot help to think that Windows Cloud is essential mobile? Is it not logical, i guess i might be missing the obvious, that Windows Cloud is the next Windows Mobile? If WinCloud runs only app store apps and can run on ARM does it not make sense for MS to just produce a Snapdragon 835 based phone and put Cloud on it? Seems like this is the plan. Qualcom CEO said as much. The first ARM based Windows devices with cellular are coming Q4. We already have WM10 which only runs apps from the store. So phase WM10 out, replace with cloud put it on a device that runs 835 SOC and away we go? MS can then unlock a feature in the OS to run x86 apps while in Continuum mode. Does that not seem like the logical next step. Or am i totally missing something?
To add to my comment. The demo of Windows 10 running on ARM was based in Snapdragon 820 SOC and 4 GB of RAM. The same specs as HP Elite x3. Seems like HP designed the elite 3 to run Windows 10. So Windows 10 Cloud now becomes the OS used in mobile devices. Again, seems logical that MS would work with HP. Seems logical that HP would only invest in all that design if they new it would continue to be supports in the future. The next device is a Smartphone like device, with full phone function, running W10Cloud. Why would you need cellular based PC running windows 10 other then a very powerful smartphone? I guess a tablet could have cellular function for data and use a headset to make calls. Seems cumbersome to me. I bet is a Ultra Mobile PC in a smartphone form factor as the first device running Windows 10 Cloud on a 835 SOC in time for holiday 2017.
@RealtorTechGuy, possibly, but why would MS limit it with Cloud?That doesn't seem like it would be smart. If the device could run Cloud, then it could run Win32 apps via the ARM x86/x64 emulation. Presumably that would be part of the appeal. On the other hand, if you mean that Cloud is what would make the device "safe" to gain carrier approval because customers would be protected against installing everything under the sun, then I suppose I could see that, especially with the ability to upgrade from Cloud to full Windows 10. Carriers might not want to sell a Windows device that's wide open. Customers would still get the wink-wink option to put the phone into an easy side-load mode. But if you think of the next device as simply an ultramobile PC with voice and photo capabilities, then it's probably better to think of it as a regular tablet computer with LTE support. Carriers don't have a problem with that, so the Cloud benefits may not be needed to gain carrier approval.
Regarding Mobile : Instead of soothing graphics and animations - I would like to see proper memory management.
WP10 should work blazing fast like it was when WP8.
Its good that MS introduced many new features - but on cost of loading.../resuming... It feels annoying when you own a phone with 3Gb RAM and 2GHz hexa-core processor !
Also, it would feel great if it brings out some old WP8 features again like swipe-able tabs, no hamburger menus and Retro look which makes it different from other OSs :)
In short : Along with introducing new features it should also make existing ones perfect !
i want to see neon design
I want to not get mandatory Service Packs every half year. 18 monthes seems OK to me but that probably is only for LTSB Enterprise.
What I'm interested in is how the heck are we supposed to flight the rumored ARM features when none of us out in the wild has a device for it. They must come up with something what we consumers can buy to test W10ARM before it goes widely public. My gut tells me it will come out either at the edu event or at build. A cheap ARM laptop even???
this is awesome ! just hope it's more reliable than CU

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