Am a big fan of these monthly Reddit posts which summarize the key Microsoft 365 updates that we as admins need be aware of.

I came across this Copilot agent from Microsoft called Microsoft 365 Admin. Tried using this to summarize the updates and it was quite useful. Sharing with the community here if you would want to leverage it going forward. You need an admin account to access this.

Link: https://m365.cloud.microsoft/chat/?titleId=P_c0fd1ab0-cbf3-7eb9-1a7d-2d823549ef31

Prompt:
What are the upcoming changes in July 2026 based on Message Center posts that I as an admin should be aware of. Categorize these into Retirements, New Features, Enhancements, Functionality Changes, Action Required. Add detailed information.

Result:

I pulled Message Center posts that are scheduled/updated for July 2026 (and adjacent July rollouts) and grouped them for admin awareness.

Retirements (must plan migrations)

Category	Post	When	What’s changing	What you should do
Retirement	MC1230891	End of support July 14, 2026	SharePoint Designer 2013 will reach end of support; no extensions/updates.	Inventory any workflows relying on SPD 2013, migrate to supported alternatives (e.g., Power Automate) before July 14.
Retirement	MC1255407	Retirement July 14, 2026 (publishing blocked after May 18, 2026)	InfoPath Forms Service in SharePoint Online won’t allow publishing/updating after May 18; existing forms still work.	Identify any InfoPath forms being created/updated; plan migration to Power Apps / Power Automate / Microsoft Forms before the blocked period/retirement.
Retirement	MC616550	End of support by July 14, 2026 (publishing blocked after May 18, 2026)	InfoPath 2013 client + InfoPath Forms Services end support in SharePoint Online; publishing new/updated forms will be blocked after May 18.	Communicate to app owners, assess usage, and migrate forms/workflows ahead of May 18 / July 14.

New Features (what users/admins will notice)

Category	Post	Rollout timing	What’s new	Admin impact
New Feature	MC1417474	July 2026 (post dated)	Dynamics 365 Sales: copy opportunities for repeat deals.	Likely no admin action—validate CRM customizations/policies if applicable.
New Feature	MC1417473	July 2026 (post dated)	Dynamics 365 Contact Center: “Bullseye routing” using user groups.	Review your queue/routing configuration expectations.
New Feature	MC1417483	July 2026 (post dated)	Dynamics 365 Customer Service: modify/override submitted evaluations.	Confirm evaluation workflow behavior matches your process.
New Feature	MC1413308	Preview late July; GA mid‑Aug 2026	Microsoft Purview DLM: AI-driven insights into Copilot/AI app interactions.	“No immediate action,” but use it to improve retention/security governance.
New Feature	MC1413304	Late July → mid‑Aug 2026	Viva Engage: new Recent feed in Home (chronological content).	No action; update communications if you support adoption guidance.
New Feature	MC1413302	By late Aug 2026	Viva Engage: discussion post previews before publishing.	Inform users; may affect how admins handle training/support.
New Feature	MC1413301	June–July 2026	Catalog Management: create custom groups of SharePoint sites (CSV/site properties/Entra attributes).	Admin-facing governance/reporting improvements; no migrations called out.
New Feature	MC1413299	July 2026	Planner: custom templates (plans → reusable templates shared in Groups).	No admin setup noted.
New Feature	MC1411727	Early July 2026	Copilot Notebooks: suggests relevant Word/Excel/PowerPoint artifacts proactively.	No action needed; consider license eligibility expectations.
New Feature	MC1411431	Rollout late July 2026	Purview compliance: expiration dates for temporary role assignments (1 day–2 years).	Supports governance; no action required, but consider adopting for “just-in-time” access patterns.
New Feature	MC1411726	Retirement through July 1, 2027	Remote Event Receivers retirement (Azure ACS-registered RERs stopped working April 2, 2026).	Start migrating to SharePoint webhooks / Graph change notifications to avoid gaps.
New Feature	MC1330883	Mid‑July 2026	Viva Learning: Academy support on Teams mobile (view-only; policy controlled).	No action; verify authorized users’ experience.
New Feature	MC1405506	Late July → mid‑Sept 2026	OneNote (Windows): multimodal capture in Copilot Notebooks (audio/images/notes).	Requires Copilot license; plan for user enablement/training.
New Feature	MC1412655	July 2026 (post dated)	Windows: customize Start menu with updated policies.	Ensure your Windows policies are compatible with the update.

Enhancements (improved capability / UX / control)

Category	Post	When	Enhancement	What to expect
Enhancement	MC1413309	Early July 2026	Purview SITs: enforce one capturing group per regex in custom Sensitive Information Types.	This is effectively a compliance-control tightening—admins must remediate affected custom SITs or creation/updates may be blocked.
Enhancement	MC1413301	June–July 2026	SharePoint Advanced Management: custom site groups via CSV/site properties/Entra attributes.	Better governance/reporting; no migration required.
Enhancement	MC1309746	Late July 2026 rollout	OneNote Mobile (Android): Copilot chat pane + Summary in Copilot (Premium).	License + policy review may matter.
Enhancement	MC1317197	July 2026 rollout	Teams: refreshed in‑meeting controls + smarter share panel (reduces accidental actions, adds previews/two-step confirmation).	User experience change; admin communications/training may help.
Enhancement	MC1319213	Early June → mid‑July 2026	Teams events: proximity join for presenters using Teams Rooms (Windows/Android).	Enabled by default; no action required.

Functionality Changes (behavior changes without full retirement)

Category	Post	When	What changes	Admin action?
Functionality Change	MC1409305	Starting Aug 3, 2026	Entra: block new assignments to Partner Tier1/Tier2 Support roles (roles retired). Existing assignments remain valid.	Update scripts/role assignment automation; use alternative roles (e.g., User Administrator).
Functionality Change	MC1409303	August 2026	Edge: enforce Do Not Allow Screen Capture for sensitivity-labeled PDFs in OneDrive/SharePoint web viewers.	Review sensitivity labels and educate users—behavior depends on Edge/web viewer.
Functionality Change	MC1245635	Notification control available (tenant-wide)	Teams meeting recording expiration notification emails: new PowerShell setting to enable/disable notifications.	Notifications default ON; no action needed unless you want to change tenant notification behavior.
Functionality Change	MC1405498	Late July → early Aug 2026	Copilot service plan behavior becomes the primary control for access to Copilot experiences.	Licensing/manageability change—review your Copilot service plan configuration to match intended access.
Functionality Change	MC1409304	August → late Aug 2026 (manual enablement)	Teams “Facilitator” with Copilot Premium detects knowledge gaps, searches web, and posts answers in chat.	Admin controls + manual enabling: review policy and decide if/when to enable.
Functionality Change	MC1188222	Mid‑Aug → late Sep 2026	Teams: private chat for organizers/presenters in structured meetings/webinars/town halls.	Review policies and update documentation/expectations.
Functionality Change	MC1269209	Mid‑April 2026 (rollout noted; still relevant context)	SharePoint AI extension via custom skills (multi-step AI tasks saved as Markdown assets).	Check who has edit permissions and understand limitations (no external systems/code execution).

Action Required (explicitly time-bound or remediation)

Category	Post	Deadline / start	What requires attention	Recommended admin steps
Action Required	MC1230891	July 14, 2026	Migrate off SharePoint Designer 2013 workflows before end of support.	Identify usage, migrate to supported automation, validate in test.
Action Required	MC1255407	Publishing blocked after May 18, 2026; retirement July 14	InfoPath form publishing/updating blocked (existing forms usable).	Inventory InfoPath forms and complete migrations to Power Apps/Power Automate/Forms before blocked period impacts authors.
Action Required	MC616550	Publishing blocked after May 18, 2026; retirement by July 14	InfoPath 2013 + InfoPath Forms Services end support.	Communicate, migrate forms/workflows, confirm authoring stops are handled.
Action Required	MC1413309	Early July 2026	Purview SIT regex enforcement: one capturing group per custom SIT regex (else creation/updates blocked).	Audit custom SIT regexes; update any SITs with multiple capturing groups; validate DLP policy behavior.
Action Required	MC1411726	RER retirement is by July 1, 2027 (and some stopped already)	Remote Event Receivers migration to webhooks/Graph notifications.	Identify any RER dependencies (especially those still expected to work), migrate, test event flows.
Action Required	MC1317197	July 2026 rollout	Teams meeting control/share UI changes may affect admin guidance/helpdesk.	Update internal training/cheat sheets for support.
Action Required (admin configuration/scripts)	MC1409305	Starting Aug 3, 2026	Entra blocks new assignments to Partner Tier1/Tier2 Support roles.	Review and update automation/scripts; adjust role assignment workflows.
Action Required (config changes may be optional but recommended)	MC1405498	Late July → early Aug 2026	Copilot access control aligns more tightly to service plan behavior.	Confirm your intended user access model and ensure service plan configuration matches it.
Action Required (manual enablement)	MC1409304	August → late Aug 2026	Facilitator feature requires admin/manual enabling.	Decide whether to enable; update policy/comms.

If you want, tell me whether you prefer the view “only items that require explicit admin action” (strict) or “all July-posted impacts” (broader). I can then tighten the list to the exact set you care about.

Hi everyone,

I’m currently a junior/apprentice SysAdmin, and for my final graduation project, I’ve been tasked with evaluating and choosing a new EDR solution to replace our current setup: TrendMicro Security Agent.

For some context on our environment, we are relatively small: we manage about 120 user endpoints (workstations) and around 20 VMs.

The goal is to compare CrowdStrike, Microsoft Defender, Sophos Intercept X, and WithSecure.

Here is the catch: my director straight up refused to let me run a Proof of Concept (POC) for financial reasons. On top of that, every sales rep I’ve talked to has sworn on their life that their solution is the absolute best, lightweight, and most secure option on the market. Classic sales pitches, zero objective data.

Since I have to build a solid comparison matrix for my thesis without actually testing the tools in production, I desperately need your unvarnished, real-world feedback for an environment of our size.

If you have experience with any of these four solutions (or better yet, if you migrated from TrendMicro to one of them), could you share your insights on:

1. Day-to-day management: How is the admin console? Is it intuitive or a convoluted nightmare for a solo admin/small team?
2. Performance impact: Are the agents actually lightweight, or do they heavily impact end-user machines and VMs?
3. Alert fatigue: How do they handle false positives? Is the tuning process straightforward?
4. Support & Deployment: How painful is the initial rollout, and how reliable is their technical support when things hit the fan?

Any metrics, pros/cons, or horror stories you can share would be a lifesaver for my project (and my sanity).

Thanks in advance!

My company produces a Windows device driver and we were caught off guard by the Microsoft April 2026 driver enforcement. We signed up for the Windows Hardware Compatibility Program to get our device driver signed. They do real-world verification on your company and the individual signing up for the program.

Yet after seven days I still do not have any workspace showing in my portal. I'm expecting to see a hardware workspace there, but they only option under Workspaces is 'My Access' with a plus button. I.E., still blank.

All verification has completely successfully. Legal business profile says Vetting status : authorized. Under Legal Business Profile Verification, it says verification status : Authorized.

We uploaded our Extended Validation certificate and it says status : active.

My logged in user has the role of "Global admin (has full access to all administrative and PArtner Center features).

When I try to register for the Hardware program again (as a test) it says "Active in : Hardware".

You can't contact them about workspace issues without at least one workspace already being present, so I can't get to a human about the problem. Any advice?

We are noticing on several UPS WorldShip stations "Internal Application Error" after applying the latest update. These are all stations running V29 (2026) and just applied the latest update. Anyone else having this issue?

Hey guys just wondering if you guys have any recommendation for a 15 to 16 inch business laptop? I was looking initially at lenovo t16 but the trackpad is not centered which is kinda weird for me.

We have two 2019 dc's but the Domain functional level is still 2012 R2 and I'd like to bring it up a level. Is there anything that can break after raising the DFL? Similarly if I increase the forest FL?

Had a look through past posts here, and found a lot of interviewee posts, and a good few interviewer questions, however thought I would ask fresh.

I am a sysadmin/server engineer/jack of all trades (And neurodiverse to boot).
I am not management, and I don't usually do interviews of potential new starters, however I have been asked to assist with two interviews coming up for new people to our team.
We are a very small team currently (3, soon to be 2 people, should be more like 10) in a large healthcare organisation.

We look after essentially everything that isn't strictly "Network", so Windows Desktops, servers, AD, Exchange, storage, hypervisors, cloud migration, on-prem everything, and so on.

My question is, aside from specific technical questions, what questions would you want to ask someone joining your team?
These might be more left field technical questions, problem solving techniques, or just personal questions to see if they would fit with the team.

Aaaand go!

Hi guys,

we're using several CAD apps in our company, one of them being Dassaults CATIA. We're working with some automotive partners that require the use of their own environment package for CATIA.

Right now, we're using an app supplied by our CATIA MSP to launch these different environments and you can also select a license there and start some utilities.

At the same time we're currently implementing AppLocker. The issue we're running into is that the MSP requires that non-administrative users have write permissions in the folder where the Launcher (and all OEM environments) are saved (let's call it C:\CAD-Launcher\). This of course, works against the idea of AppLocker. In that folder CAD-Launcher, there are several perl and bat scripts. The folder changes frequently enough, that the hash option in AppLocker is not something I'd consider.

We had a talk with our MSP about the possibility if we could move that folder under C:\Program Files\ but they didn't really understand our request saying we're the first customer that contacted them about application whitelisting. They also stated they have no plans to change their current deployment.

So after that we explored another MSP and they're doing the same thing - a folder directly under C:\ and non-administrative users need to have write permissions there.

That can't be it, can it?? How do other companies deploy these OEM environments? Do you guys have any launchers that sit in Program Files or are maybe even signed?

I can't imagine that that's the way it's supposed to be in 2026

I've been pondering my job title for quite some time now, I'm labelled as an IT Manager, but I often feel like I'm not an IT Manager, but an "IT Manager", because no one else knows what to label either a jack-of-all-trades who does everything for the company, or one who has to wear all the hats because there isn't the budget to to delegate?

I feel like "IT Manager" is doing myself a disservice, considering the range of what is required of myself to do in a day, month or year can vary so massively. I feel more like a project manager, managing myself daily. I have only recently started managing someone, but even then, that's to do the jobs I can not do anymore.

The realms of knowledge required for the job I do is huge, and I find myself often swimming in the need to continue learning at a near full time need just to keep up with the needs of my organisation is getting a bit intense and hard to sustain.

If I were to look elsewhere, how would I best advertise myself?

(I know I need to push for more help, outsource more, etc; This I'm aware of.)

P.S. I ask here because I feel I'm best a sysadmin from a broad perspective

As a sysadmin, I'm on my feet a lot (as are all of you) and I'm looking for suggestions for some new shoes.

My company has a pretty strong corporate atmosphere, but I've gotten away with Skechers for the last year (though I felt like I should have had something more appropriate for the office). I'd love to find something that will give me sneaker-like support but have a more professional appearance.

What shoes are you all wearing that you would recommend that will hold up? The last pair of shoes I bought gave me arch problems until I changed out the insoles (which still wasn't perfect).

Hello fellow sysadmins!

I'm a linux guy, kubernetes, AWS, GCP, Onprem stuff, devops and all that.

I am being asked to do a job in a smaller company that is trying to move to Azure/exchange online from a local mail server, all good right? what could go wrong getting a linux guy to handle AD stuff and o365 migration?

their current domain has a non routable name, it ends with .lan, everything I'm reading is telling me that this is not really a good idea and it's just something that creates headaches down the road, can somebody experienced with this confirm?

oh and their domain has a functional level of 2008, windows AD servers are 2019....

the windows guy left years ago and they never really got anybody else to do it...you know, smaller companies and all that (72 users).

even the test environment I've built to try this out has plenty of issues trying to use the tenant with onmicrosoft.com while a spare domain I had was configured as a custom domain name, which was the first plan I tried to validate, I'm in login hell with the Entra Cloud Sync agent not accepting my a different email for the login, besides this, I should really change the domain name, correct?

I don't have much, but I previously worked at Geek Squad for about 5 years. It's been a few years since I've had work and I want to get back into things. I'm wondering if because of my hiatus, will the experience help me find a new job that's a step above entry level?

Bubble or no bubble, dealing with AI in general is so stressing. Everyday there's a new tool, a new model, a new date for when we are going to extinguish.

I work in the IT field and I'm exhausted. I don't know if I want to keep learning or recycling myself on it. Ai will do better.

I think I'll just accept it. Save money to earn a decent land and start learning on permaculture.

Soooo what is the point of cat8 wire when its biggest advertisement is 40gb capable but I cant find any ethernet copper rj45 based 40gb transceivers/modules

I have been given a job offer to run an IT function for a small business (~200 people) everything from level one to full system administration work plus GRC security specialist. Has anyone made this jump before and how was it? My concern is I won't have more talented people to bounce ideas off and that I will be solely responsible for things I haven't got a depth of knowledge in (networking / firewalls being my main key issue)

Right now I’m one of the 2 Sys admins for an org, we do everything under the sun. Networking, firewall, server maintenance, printers, wiring, mdm, entra, intune, dns, website records from our website host, email and everything that comes with being compliant.

It’s been a great opportunity to learn, but I’m getting pretty burnt out. I’ve talked to upper management about it and the answer is always my hands are tied but please just wait it out.

I’ve been looking for new jobs and I can’t help but to feel imposter syndrome really bad when I apply for other higher job titles, as well as guilt for wanting to leave. Anyone else experience this?

Not the big stuff. The $12/month tools that multiply quietly. I'm talking about the client who has 14 active subscriptions, 3 of which are duplicates, and none of which are documented anywhere. Trying to figure out if people have a system for this or if everyone is just doing the archaeology every quarter.

This isn't for work but on my personal account. I'm curious if anyone has any ideas. I've got the account secured with passkeys and 2fa and I've removed the password entirely. It's just non-stop all day long.

Curious if anyone is running into this and if anyone has ideas on how to stop it.

Is it possible to set up Ubuntu so that SSH connections to an onprem Ubuntu VM support SSO using Entra ID?

I see articles describing it for Ubuntu with the Desktop environment.

I also see articles for SSH if Ubuntu is hosted in Azure.

In addition, I see Ubuntu SSH secured using Google Authenticator.

Google Authenticator isn't a bad option but Entra ID would make audits easier.