According to a tweet from WalkingCat, the first major featured update for Windows 11 could hit an important milestone very soon. The usually well-reliable Microsoft leaker believes that Windows 11 22H2 might hit RTM status on May 24, also the first day of Microsoft’s annual Build developer conference.
Windows 11 22H2 RTM = May 24
— WalkingCat (@_h0x0d_) May 14, 2022
Though RTM (Release to Manufacturing) doesn’t mean much these days, it used to signal when Microsoft readies a final version of the OS for shipping on new PCs from its partners. Of course, with Windows always being updated in the Windows as a Service era, Microsoft doesn’t use the term much anymore. Rather, it is something we insiders keep an eye on to find out which is the final build of the upcoming version of the OS Microsoft has decided is stable enough.
That exact RTM build number? Well, it is not certain just yet, though Windows Central’s Zac Bowden believes it could be 22621. Microsoft’s own Brandon LeBlanc added to a Twitter thread of that speculation, mentioning that “we’re not as release based as we used to be.” This means that even if 22621 is RTM, the final version of 22H2 that regular Windows 11 users will get won’t be coming for quite a while, with Microsoft instead just servicing that RTM build with cumulative updates.
Again, that’s all because Microsoft shifted the way Windows featured updates are released, now with only one big update, instead of two (spring, and fall.) Some rumors even indicate that Windows 11 22H2 might not come to regular non-insider Windows 11 users until September or November.
