fleet/docs/Using Fleet/MDM-OS-updates.md

# OS updates

_Available in Fleet Premium_

In Fleet you can enforce OS updates on your macOS and Windows hosts remotely.

## Enforce OS updates

You can enforce OS updates using the Fleet UI, Fleet API, or [Fleet's GitOps workflow](https://github.com/fleetdm/fleet-gitops).

Fleet UI:

1. Head to the **Controls** > **OS updates** tab.

2. To enforce OS updates for macOS, select **macOS** and set a **Minimum version** and **Deadline**.

3. For Windows, select **Windows** and set a **Deadline** and **Grace period**.

Fleet API: API documentation is [here](https://fleetdm.com/docs/rest-api/rest-api#modify-team).

## End user experience

### macOS

When a minimum version is enforced, the end users see a native macOS notification (DDM) once per day. Users can choose to update ahead of the deadline or schedule it for that night. 24 hours before the deadline, the notification appears hourly and ignores Do Not Disturb. One hour before the deadline, the notification appears every 30 minutes, and then every 10 minutes.   

If the host was turned off when the deadline passed, the update will be scheduled an hour after it’s turned on.

### macOS (below version 14.0)

End users are encouraged to update macOS (via [Nudge](https://github.com/macadmins/nudge)).

![Nudge window](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/fleetdm/fleet/main/docs/images/nudge-window.png)

|                                      | > 1 day before deadline | < 1 day before deadline | Past deadline         |
| ------------------------------------ | ----------------------- | ----------------------- | --------------------- |
| Nudge window frequency               | Once a day at 8pm GMT   | Once every 2 hours      | Immediately on login  |
| End user can defer                   | ✅                      | ✅                      | ❌                    |
| Nudge window is dismissible          | ✅                      | ✅                      | ❌                    |

### Windows

End users are encouraged to update Windows via the native Windows dialog.

|                                           | Before deadline | Past deadline |
| ----------------------------------------- | ----------------| ------------- |
| End user can defer automatic restart      | ✅              | ❌            |

If an end user was on vacation when the deadline passed, the end user is given a grace period (configured) before the host automatically restarts.

Fleet enforces OS updates for quality and feature updates. Read more about the types of Windows OS updates in the Microsoft documentation [here](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/deployment/update/get-started-updates-channels-tools#types-of-updates).

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