Managing updates in the Business Central admin center
Business Central environments follow a set update schedule to deliver new functionality, improvements, and bug fixes. There are two major update cycles each year, starting in April and October, with minor updates in other months. Learn more in Major Updates and Minor Updates. Refer to the release plan for an overview of new and upcoming functionality. To learn about new functionality, bug fixes, and improvements in recent versions, see What's new or changed.
Microsoft manages updates for the application and platform. As an internal admin or partner, use the Business Central administration center to specify the timing of updates for each environment and identify who receives notifications when an update is available. Prepare your solution and users by creating preview environments to get familiar with new product functionality. Learn more in Update cycles.
Set the update window for each environment
The update window for an environment defines the hours during the day for the selected time zone in which the environment can be updated. When an update is rolling out, it's applied to an environment within the time frame that the update window defines.
Important
Updates always start during the update window specified for the environment, but not necessarily right at the start of the update window. Updates that fail to complete before the end of the update window are canceled to ensure the environment is operational during business hours. The update is automatically rescheduled seven days later and notification recipients are informed.
This window helps ensure updates are applied outside of the normal business hours of the organization. Every environment has a default update window that's between 8:00 PM and 6:00 AM local time for the environment's country/region. In countries/regions that have multiple time zones, the system sets a time zone that's close to the geographic center of the country/region as default.
Note
Desktop users who are signed in to the environment during the update receive an alert in Business Central before the update starts.
To change the update window for an environment:
- On the Environments tab of the Business Central administration center, select the Name of the relevant environment to open the environment details.
- Select the Update Settings action, and then select the Set update window action.
- In the Set update window pane, specify the time zone, start time, and end time, for the update window for the environment. The update window must be a minimum of six hours.
- Select Save.
This timeslot now becomes the default window when updates are applied to this environment.
Schedule an update
Admins can schedule environment updates to any version higher than the current environment version within the environment's current or next major version from the Business Central administration center, even if the chosen version isn't available yet.
The following fields on the environment page can help you plan the update:
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Latest Available Version | Specifies the latest version you can update your environment to. |
| Next Update | Specifies the target version and date for the environment's next update. If the target version isn't available, the date is scheduled when the target version becomes available. |
| Update window (time zone + UTC offset) | Specifies the hours of the day when an update runs. The time zone and its offset from UTC are indicated in parentheses. |
When the scheduled update date arrives, the update runs automatically within the update window you specify for this environment. During the update, all users and sign-in attempts to the environment are blocked with the message Service is under maintenance.
Important
The update duration differs depending on the environment. We strongly recommend scheduling the update for a date when it's acceptable for the environment to be inaccessible until the update window ends.
Schedule an update to an available version
Available versions are versions released by Microsoft and ready for environments to update to. Notification recipients get an email notification when a new version is available.
Important
Choosing a target version for an environment's next update is expected to be available by the end of April 2025 for environments on version 25.5 or higher.
To schedule an update:
On the Environments tab of the Business Central administration center, select the Name of the relevant environment to open the environment details.
Under Update Settings, select the Modify action for Next Update.
In the Schedule Environment Update pane, select an available target version and pick a date within the update period for the environment's current major version to schedule the update for.
Note
If you select a current date for your update, and the update window for the environment has already passed, the update starts during the next day's update window.
For example, if you change the Scheduled update date to the current date at 6 PM, and the update window is set to 1 AM–7 AM, the update doesn't start immediately but starts after 1 AM the next day.
To start an update immediately, schedule it for the current date and set Allow the update to run outside the update window to Yes. If an update is scheduled for the same day, this option lets the update start immediately and allows large updates to run for longer than 24 hours if needed. Updates running in this mode aren't automatically canceled when the update window ends. Avoid using this setting for environments that must be available for users by a specific time.
Select Schedule Update.
Note
The chosen date for a target version remains the same even if the target version and date for an environment's next update change later. If an update succeeds and the next update scheduled by Microsoft is for a target version with a previously selected date, that date is used for the next update instead of the default seven days after the previous update finishes.Schedule an update to a planned version
Planned versions are versions that aren't released by Microsoft yet. Administrators can select planned versions within the current and next major version of the environment as the next update. This way, Microsoft doesn't schedule updates on the environment until the chosen planned version is available. A few days after the chosen version is available, the update is scheduled for a date at least seven days later automatically. Notification recipients receive an email notification when a new version is available and another when the update is scheduled for the environment. Administrators can change the update date after it's scheduled by following the instructions under Schedule an update to an available version.
To schedule an update to a planned version:
- On the Environments tab of the Business Central administration center, select the Name of the relevant environment to open the environment details.
- Under Update Settings, select the Modify action for Next Update.
- In the Schedule Environment Update pane, select the planned target version. Each planned version indicates the month when the version is expected to be available.
- Select Schedule Update.
Note
Only versions planned for release during the update period of the environment's current major version can be selected. For example, you can't select planned version 26.5 for an environment on version 25.x, because version 26.5 is planned for release in September 2025 and the update period for 25.x ends in August 2025.
Get notified of updates
A notification is sent to all notification recipients that are listed on the Notification recipients tab of the Business Central administration center whenever a new version becomes available and whenever an update is scheduled for your environment. Learn more in Managing Tenant Notifications.
Important
To not miss update notifications from Microsoft, you must verify that the emails are not redirected to a spam folder by your email software. The notifications are sent from the Microsoft account, no-reply-dynamics365@microsoft.com.
Environments that can't get updated
Sometimes an environment can't get the new update. For example, a per-tenant extension might conflict with the changes in the new version of the base application.
Before a major update, Microsoft routinely checks per-tenant extensions in all existing environments for compatibility with the next major update. If we detect compatibility issues with the upcoming version, we send email notifications that describe the detected issues to the notification recipients. We warmly encourage all admins to review these emails and take action as soon as possible.
If you discover any such issues, apply the changes to your solution as usual using Visual Studio Code. Test the new app in a sandbox environment that runs on the new major version, either in preview or the official version. If tests complete successfully, upload the new app version into your production environment in the Extension Management page, setting the Deploy to field to Next major version. This way the compatible version of your app will be used when your environment is updated. For more information, see Deploying a Tenant Customization.
Learn more in Completed updates.
Related information
What's new or changed in Business Central
Major Updates of Business Central Online
Prepare for major updates with preview environments
Working with Administration Tools
The Business Central Administration Center
Managing Environments
Managing Tenant Notifications
Introduction to automation APIs