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An active Exchange Server 2019 and 2016 gets the regular support from Microsoft developers through timely cumulative updates. These updates are not random changes, but they are the necessary answers to the queries that users asked to the support team in that period.
Each cumulative update is a wholesome setup of Exchange and its gets the entire changes from the previous CUs too. If you have not updated the Server since a long time, then you should not install all the previous updates, but download and install the latest Cumulative update only. If you do not update the Exchange regularly, then there will be consistency related problems and create Exchange Database Consistency Check Failed and other kind of errors.
You cannot uninstall the new version of Exchange to return to the older CU after upgrading to a newer version. Exchange is entirely removed from the server after uninstalling the updated version.
Exchange has a quarterly release schedule to make Cumulative Updates (CUs) that fix customer complaints available. In certain cases, CUs also include fresh capabilities.
Packages that address a security bulletin published by Microsoft or that include a change in time zone definitions are considered critical product upgrades. When under Mainstream Support, significant product upgrades are delivered on a monthly basis as necessary for both the most recent CU and the CU that was published just before it. Critical product updates for only the most current CU are issued on a monthly basis while in Extended Support as needed.
In the available table, you do not require to download the older updates, but get the latest one and it will include all the changes present in the previous versions. When you click on the available link, then you can go to the respective page of the cumulative update with its information.
In the page of Cumulative Update, you will get the detailed information related to new changes and in the Release Details section, you can click on Download button and get the setup.
Click the Download button in the new page.
The setup will take some time to download completely as it is a bigger file in multiple Gigabytes. Let it complete and after that, you can check its ISO file.
When you have the ISO file downloaded, then before installing the setup, there are some prerequisites that you must complete beforehand. Checkout the following-
There are several best practices that an Exchange Administrator may employ before installing the setup file.
A bad cumulative update process can damage the structure of Exchange database files and you should have a safety plan for a damaged file too. Kernel for Exchange Recovery removes all kinds of corruptions and deletions from EDB files and later you can save the recovered data into Live Exchange too. It is a great tool that is highly necessary for a business that is going to regularly update their on-premises Exchange and require a safety net for their data.