Microsoft now says not to manually install Windows 11 24H2/Server 2025 MSU updates

Earlier this year in July, Microsoft announced that Windows 11 24H2 and Windows Server 2025 updates would be delivered using a new method. Called "Checkpoint Cumulative Updates," these are meant to lower download sizes and thus faster updates. Microsoft also says this will consequently reduce server-side load too. You can read about it in full in its dedicated article here.

Following that, in September, Microsoft confirmed that the new way to push updates led to installation issues for Windows Update Standalone Installer (MSU) files on Windows 11 24H2 and Server 2025 and some of these updates would fail with an "Operation is not supported” error message.

In its guidance, Microsoft had explained how the issue was mainly related to FoD (features on Demand) and LP (language packs), and it had also provided a couple of methods to fix the issue. One of them involved manually installing the MSU (Windows Update Standalone Installer) package files in order and the other way was via the DISM (Deployment Image Servicing and Management) command line tool.

Microsoft has since removed the manual installation method from its support article. Here is what it said previously:

Install the .msu packages

Method 1: Manually install MSU packages in order

 

Install each update one at a time in order. To do this, go to the C:\Packages folder and double-click the earliest .msu file. Then continue in order to the next .msu file until the latest .msu file has been installed.

 

Method 2: Use a DISM command

 

Use the Deployment Image Servicing and Management (DISM) tool to install one or more checkpoint cumulative update .MSU packages. For more information, see DISM Operating System Package (.cab or .msu) Servicing Command-Line Options.

 

To add a single .msu file to a Windows image, use the Add-WindowsPackage command.

And here is what the new guidance page says:

Install the .msu packages using DISM

Use the Deployment Image Servicing and Management (DISM) tool to install one or more checkpoint cumulative update .MSU packages. For more information, see DISM Operating System Package (.cab or .msu) Servicing Command-Line Options.

 

To add a single .msu file to a Windows image, use the Add-WindowsPackage command.

You can find the new support page here on Microsoft's official website.

Source

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