Microsoft this week made available a major system update for its Xbox One entertainment console. This is the second such update, the first coming right before the public launch of the console and dubbed the Launch Day Update.
This second update is called Stability and performance update. Microsoft says it provides the following changes:
- Addresses SmartGlass issues for some users when coming in and out of connected standby
- Addresses multiplayer issues for some users when re-joining games
- Addresses issues with inconsistent notifications for some users
- Addresses dashboard quality experiences for some users
- Improvements to Xbox One's TV, system update, and content update services for scaling over time
- Updated wireless networking driver to improve connectivity issues for some users
If you're into build numbers, Xbox One uses the same Windows kernel version (6.2) as did Windows 8 (not 8.1), and the RTM version of the Xbox One OS was 6.2.9781.0. With the Launch Day Update, the build number jumped to 6.2.10210.0(xb_rel_launch 131118-1159). And now with this Stability and performance update, the build has advanced to 6.2.10217.0 (xb_rel_launch.131205-2200). By comparison, Windows 8 was 6.2.9200 and Windows 8.1 is 6.3.9600.
Like other system updates, this second major system update will download automatically in the background if you are using the system's Windows 8-based Sleep/Instant On functionality and will install the next time you wake up the console. After the install, the console will reboot and start normally, launching into the Dashboard.
If you are not using Xbox One's advanced power management functionality—shame on you—you can wait until the update is made available automatically. At some point, the update will become mandatory, meaning you will need to install it before you can connect to Xbox Live normally.
You can find out more about the updates Microsoft has released for this console on the Xbox One operating system versions site. The firm also has a useful document—What is a system update and how does it work on your Xbox One console?—which describes the types of updates it makes available for Xbox One.
By the way, a number of readers have asked about Microsoft's schedule for updating Xbox One, and some have asked whether it would follow the Patch Tuesday schedule that Microsoft uses for updating its Surface devices. This isn't definitive, but it's worth noting that yesterday was this month's Patch Tuesday, and that along with a huge set of Surface updates, Microsoft did indeed release this first post-launch Xbox One system update. That's interesting timing, at the least.
Of course, it's reasonable to believe that Microsoft will update Xbox One—and that third party developers will update their games and apps—on whatever schedule is required. But I like the idea of a regular schedule, and am curious to see whether this continues.
