Business Central Update Readiness: 2026 Release Wave 2

Before the Business Central update to 2026 release wave 2 (version 29) lands in your tenant, confirm the scheduled date and update window in the admin center, make sure update emails reach a monitored mailbox, and copy production to a sandbox. Update that sandbox to version 29, test posting, integrations and extensions, then schedule production only after the rehearsal passes.

This guide is for Business Central administrators, finance and operations leads, and the developers who own your extensions. It covers the version 29 dates, an upgrade checklist mapped to the admin center, how Microsoft handles incompatible extensions, a sandbox rehearsal, and the 29.0 changes worth testing. Microsoft guidance was checked on 2026-11-04. This article replaced the August 31, 2026 readiness version written for version 28.

Already running Business Central? Book the free BC Environment Snapshot: one hour with a senior Business Central consultant on a screen share, then a written summary of your environment within five business days.

Business Central 2026 release wave 2: the dates that matter

Microsoft ships two major updates a year, in April and October. The update cycles article defines four periods for each one. The update 29.0 release notes state that admins can schedule 29.0 on any date within the five-month update period, which ends in February 2027. The general update cycles article words it differently: update periods that start in October end "in early March". Plan against the earlier date, February 2027, from the 29.0 notes.

New versions become available to existing environments about a week after general availability, and the exact timing differs by environment. Minor updates follow every month without a major release.

Business Central upgrade checklist: what to check in the admin center

Most of the readiness work starts in the Business Central administration center. Record each value with a screenshot so the rehearsal has evidence.

The update management guide sets the scheduling rules:

• Default window. Every environment has a default update window of 8:00 PM to 6:00 AM local time for its country or region. Where a country or region has several time zones, the default is a time zone close to its geographic center. Check that it matches where your people work.

• Minimum length. The window must be at least six hours. Updates start inside the window, though not necessarily at its start.

• Cancellation. An update that does not finish before the window ends is canceled, the environment returns to its original version, and the update is rescheduled seven days later.

• Downtime. During the update, all users and sign-in attempts are blocked with the message "Service is under maintenance".

• Running now. To start immediately, schedule the current date and set Allow the update to run outside the update window to Yes. Updates in this mode are not canceled automatically when the window ends, so Microsoft advises against it for environments that must be available by a specific time.

Notifications come from no-reply-dynamics365@microsoft.com. Microsoft's notification guidance asks for at least one administrator on the list, allows up to 100 recipients, and suggests a distribution list beyond that. If no recipient is set up, no email is sent.

Extension compatibility: Microsoft's checks and what happens if an extension blocks the update

Before a major update, Microsoft checks per-tenant extensions in all existing environments for compatibility with the next version. When it finds an issue, it emails the notification recipients a description. That check is technical only. The app maintenance guidance states that the publisher remains responsible for functional and logical validation.

Apps from Microsoft Marketplace (formerly AppSource) are handled differently. Their technical incompatibilities might not be visible in your admin center, so ask each publisher to confirm version 29 support in writing.

Microsoft's documented fix for a per-tenant extension:

1. Change the code in Visual Studio Code.

2. Test the new version in a sandbox on the new major version, preview or official.

3. Upload it in the Business Central administration center with the Deployment Schedule field set to Next major, so the compatible version installs when the environment updates.

If an extension still blocks the update, the update fails, the environment returns to its original version, and Microsoft reschedules it seven days later. The notifications guidance describes a typical escalation: about 10 weeks of emails, six weeks of in-product messages asking users to contact their admin, then a month of more explicit warnings. In the enforced update period, blocking extensions might be uninstalled automatically. Their data is not deleted, but a compatible version is not reinstalled for you. After an update succeeds, you cannot restore the environment to a version that is in its grace or enforced period.

The developer side of this work is covered in the AL extension upgrade strategies guide and the CI/CD release pipeline guide for AL extensions. For compatibility fixes, Bitta Apps' AL development service covers version-to-version upgrades with regression test plans.

Sandbox rehearsal for the version 29 update: copy, update, test

When you are notified that the update is available, Microsoft recommends testing the new version on a copy of current production data. The rehearsal has five steps.

1. Copy production to a sandbox

Open the production environment and choose Copy. The environment copy article confirms that the sandbox keeps the same version and includes all installed per-tenant extensions and Marketplace apps. It also applies safeguards you must plan around:

• Job queue tasks are stopped.

• Outbound HTTP calls from extensions are blocked until Allow HttpClient Requests is enabled per extension.

• Webhooks and several integration setups are disabled.

• Email accounts of type Microsoft 365 and Current User are deleted.

• The update window is copied from production.

2. Update the sandbox to version 29

On the sandbox, open Next Update, choose Modify, and select a version 29 target marked Available. To run it now, pick today's date and allow the update outside the window. A failed sandbox update shows you the problem before production does.

3. Test posting

Choose workflows by business impact, not menu coverage. Typical candidates:

• Sales order through shipment, invoice and customer payment.

• Purchase order through receipt, invoice, approval and vendor payment.

• Inventory adjustments, transfers and costing.

• Bank reconciliation, recurring journals and period-end reports.

For each, record the starting data, expected result, owner and evidence, such as a posted document number or a before-and-after total.

4. Test integrations

Enable HTTP requests only for the extensions you are testing, and point them at test endpoints, never production services. Restart the job queue entries you need from the Scheduled Tasks page and confirm they run. The job queue support handoff checklist lists what to capture for each entry. Test one failure and confirm someone receives the alert.

5. Test extensions

Run each extension's critical path, not just its pages. When something breaks, log it with the steps, user, company and error text. The Business Central support ticket checklist shows the format. Schedule production only after every blocking defect is fixed or accepted by its owner.

For the next wave, preview environments let you update an existing sandbox to the preview version with your extensions installed. Treat them as disposable: they are deleted 30 days after general availability, cannot move to another version, and preview updates send no emails to notification recipients.

Notable 2026 release wave 2 changes to test

These four items are listed in Microsoft's 29.0 release notes. Check which apply to you.

1. SOAP on Microsoft UI pages. "Feature: Disable SOAP web services on Microsoft UI pages" is mandatory in version 29. Microsoft's SOAP feature key article says support is deprecated and will be removed in version 30.0. The lasting alternatives are the built-in APIs or your own extension pages published as web services. OData V4 on Microsoft pages also ends in version 30.0. Confirm no integration still calls a Microsoft page over SOAP.

2. Manual flushing without a pick. The "'Manual' flushing method without requiring pick" update is now mandatory. Microsoft's feature description explains that the update converts existing records using Manual to Pick+Manual to preserve the original picking requirement, and that Manual then no longer requires a pick. Post consumption at warehouse-enabled locations and confirm picks appear where you expect them.

3. Reminder communication texts. The update to use new communication texts for reminder terms is mandatory. For reminders sent by email through automation, the email body text, attachment text and language come from the reminder term setup, as Microsoft's reminder automation article explains. Create and issue a test reminder, then review the text.

4. Page Scripting is generally available. The page scripting tool records UI steps and replays them to check that processes still work after updates. Recording and playback each need their own Page Scripting permission set, REC and PLAY. Record step 3 once and replay it on every future update.

Microsoft's mandatory features list shows the full set for version 29.

Signals you are not ready yet

• No one can name the Latest Available Version and Next Update for production.

• Notification emails go to a former employee or an unread inbox.

• The sandbox does not carry the same extensions as production.

• Testing covers navigation but not posting, document output or integrations.

• A failed integration has no replay procedure.

Any one of these is a useful finding before production, not after users return.

Microsoft's deprecated features list already names the next major, 2027 release wave 1, as version 30.0. Microsoft has not published its date, but the April and October cycle points to April 2027, with a public preview about a month before. The rehearsal you run for version 29 is the template for that one, and SOAP and OData endpoints on Microsoft UI pages both end with version 30.0. To keep updates owned month to month, see Bitta Apps' Business Central support service.

Next step. Book the free BC Environment Snapshot: one hour with a senior Business Central consultant on a screen share, then a written summary of your environment within five business days.