Some users are reporting that Windows Server 2022 is automatically getting upgraded to Windows Server 2025 without the required licensing. This issue is reportedly linked to an API error.
Windows Server 2025 is now available for everyone, and it’s an optional release like all major updates, but some people have noticed that Windows Server 2022 is automatically getting upgraded to Windows Server 2025 overnight. Microsoft is not force-installing the update, as something else appears to be happening.
On November 5, some small businesses that use third-party patch management tools (it is used to manage security or feature updates for Servers) noticed that PCs upgraded to Server 2025. This is a big issue because, unlike Windows Updates, Windows Server releases are not free and require separate licensing.
One of the affected users noted that “all of our Windows 2022 Servers had either upgraded themselves to 2025 overnight or were about to do so. This obviously came as a shock as we’re not at the point to do so for many reasons and the required licensing would not be present.”
It looks like Microsoft may have screwed up the labelling of updates on its API, causing third-party tools to pick up Windows Server as a security update. According to reports, the root problem appears to be Microsoft mistakenly labeling the Windows Server 2025 upgrade (KB5044284) as a security update in their Windows Update API.
This misclassification caused third-party patch management tools like Heimdal to recognize it as a critical security update that needed to be installed.
As a result, third-party tools or anything that relies on the API will automatically download and install the update on Windows Server 2022 systems, unexpectedly upgrading the systems to Windows Server 2025.
Since the servers were upgraded without proper planning or licensing for the new version, this created issues like unlicensed servers.
What is KB5044284, and how it force upgraded Windows Server 2022 to Windows Server 2025
In October, Microsoft shipped an update KB5044284 for Windows 11 24H2, which is a security release. However, due to an error on Microsoft’s part, this update was misclassified and included an upgrade path to Windows Server 2025 on API.
API is not typically used by businesses directly, but when they use third-party tools, which rely on APIs, they can run into this issue.
What could go wrong when this happens?
- The company may not have licenses for Windows Server 2025.
- There’s no easy way to roll back to Windows Server 2022.
- The servers are now unlicensed and could face operational issues.
In a Reddit post, patch management company Heimdal confirmed that it’s aware of the reports, and they believe it happened due to Microsoft’s misclassification in the Windows Update API.
Heimdal confirmed that it blocked the KB5044284 update to prevent auto-upgrades to Windows Server 2025.
“On 5th Nov 12.16UTC, Heimdal was notified by a customer about unexpected upgrades related to Windows Server 2025 in their environment. Due to the limited initial footprint, identifying the root cause took some time. By 18:05 UTC, we traced the issue to the Windows Update API, where Microsoft had mistakenly labelled the Windows Server 2025 upgrade as KB5044284,” the company said in a statement.
For those who are affected, companies now need to decide whether to restore servers from backups, rebuild them, or purchase new licenses for Windows Server 2025.
Other companies that rely on API and third-party tools may run also into similar issues of Windows Server 2025 auto installing. Some noticed that the update appeared as an optional feature, while others had it automatically installed due to their update policies.
