Feature Update 23H2 for SharePoint Server Subscription Edition has been released today

In previous versions of SharePoint Server new features were introduced with the release of new major versions. Those versions would be serviced with new security and quality improvements via monthly Public/Cumulative Updates but only on rare occasions, new feature experiences may be introduced via a Public/Cumulative Update.

Unlike earlier versions SharePoint Server Subscription Edition is an evergreen product. That means there are currently no plans to release another major version of SharePoint server.
This gives the opportunity to provide a more agile approach to how new feature experiences are introduced to SharePoint Server: Instead of waiting for the next major version of SharePoint Server to be released, new feature experiences will now be introduced to SharePoint Server Subscription Edition via Feature Updates on a predictable schedule twice a year, once in spring and once in autumn. The feature update will be shipped with a Public/Cumulative Update and will be included in all future Public/Cumulative Updates going forward.

The third feature update (23H2) has been released today and is included in the September 2023 CU for SharePoint Server Subscription Edition.

Releasing new features for a product which is used by a large number of users creates challenges for IT departments (e.g. users have to be trained to use the new functionality correctly, a change in behavior can lead to an increased number of internal support calls, new features need to be tested against custom solutions installed on the SharePoint farm, …). With the feature updates for SharePoint Server Subscription Edition organizations are given the ability to manage the introduction of new features introduced in a feature update by grouping them into feature release rings: the Early release ring and the Standard release ring. This gives organizations time to train their users and support staff on any new functionality, perform compatibility testing of those new feature experiences with existing customer scenarios, and develop new business processes to take full advantage of the new feature experiences.

See here for more details on the feature release rings.

Below is a list of all new feature released in the 23H2 feature updates and the release ring the feature is included:

New Features released with 23H2 Release rings
Private key management in certificate management Standard release (*)
Support for wildcard host header bindings Standard release (*)
Expanded usage of modern sharing dialog Standard release (*)
Column totals in modern list views Standard release (*)
Enhanced Quick Chart web part Standard release (*)
Improved file picker Standard release (*)
AMSI integration enabled by default Standard release
AMSI health analyzer rule Standard release
People Picker supports LDAPS (TLS connection encryption) Standard release
Search crawler uses HTTP 1.1 by default Standard release
SharePoint Framework (SPFx) component upgrades Standard release
New PowerShell cmdlets to manage feature release rings Standard release
Custom branding in the Suite Bar Early release

Standard release (*) in the list above means that this feature was available since Feature Update 23H1 in Early release and got promoted to Standard Release with the 23H2 feature update.

More details:

16 Comments


  1. Hello,
    with the new component upgrades on SPFX, which version can we use now ?

    It is possible to use the version 1.10 with node v8 and React 16.8.5 ?

    Reply

    1. It is strange, I can’t found any information about the TypeScript version. Does anyone have any information?

      Reply

  2. Hello Stefan,

    I built up 2 farms (INT/PROD) now with this Latest Version SPSE, really basic installation 1xAPPwithSearch and 1xWFEwithDC. If I create a Web Application it will be created only on the Local Server, but not on the other one. Actually I timer Job should trigger this process on the other server but we see that Timer job fails.

    Provisioning Web Application ( Web Application)
    In ULS is following visible:

    Unable to get Site by Id 1074850486: System.InvalidOperationException: Sequence contains no matching element
    at System.Linq.Enumerable.First[TSource](IEnumerable1 source, Func2 predicate)
    at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPIisWebSite..ctor(Int32 instanceId)

    The Execute method of job definition Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPWebApplicationProvisioningJobDefinition (ID 0ab33ed3-c1e9-4da2-aca2-37c060e38208) threw an exception. More information is included below. Object reference not set to an instance of an object..

    than

    Exception stack trace:
    at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPIisSettings.MarshalForAdminService()
    at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPWebApplication.ProvisionIisWebSitesThroughAdministrationService()
    at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPWebApplication.ProvisionIisWebSites()
    at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPWebApplication.Provision()
    at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPWebApplicationProvisioningJobDefinition.Execute(Guid targetInstanceId)
    at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPAdministrationServiceJobDefinition.ExecuteAdminJob(Guid targetInstanceId)
    at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPTimerJobInvokeInternal.Invoke(SPJobDefinition jd, Guid targetInstanceId, Boolean isTimerService, Int32& result)

    Do you have a quick idea, better MScase / VerboseEx Logging?

    Basically the service Instances / Services are running correctly.

    Thank you, kind regards,
    Gabor

    Reply

    1. Hi Gabor,

      May i know how did you resolve this issue? I am having exactly same issue and trying to troubleshoot it.

      Regards,
      Sunil G.

      Reply

      1. Hello Sunil,
        my problem was because of the differences in parameters in New-SPWebApplication commands. SPSE has different parameters as SP2019.
        Regards, Gabor

        Reply

        1. Hi Gabor,

          Can you please help me in pointing to those New-SPWebApplication parameters that helped you to resolve the above issue with SP SE ? I will try the same and verify if that resolves the issue.

          Regards,
          Sunil G.

          Reply

          1. Hello Sunil, In my case it was [-Certificate ] missing.
            Create first a WebApp via UI you will see the differences if you chose SSL…
            Regards, Gabor


  3. You can ignore the previous message. Most likely New-SPWebApplication. In our automated scripts it was still using this as it would be SP2013/2016/2019. I see there are lot of changes.
    Thank you and sorry 🙂

    Reply

    1. Thank you Gabor. Your suggestion of Creating new Web application with -Certificate parameter addressed the issue.

      Reply

  4. This update broke my dev environment and the advice from Microsoft was to hold off apply this update and wait for the October CU

    Reply

    1. Hi Clarky,
      would be great if you could share more details about the specific issue you ran into.
      Thanks,
      Stefan

      Reply

      1. Happy to. Single server. Applied the CU and ran psconfig and afterwards was unable to get central admin or any site collections to open. ULS log wasn’t reporting any errors (or request). Opened a support ticket with MS and they took a ULS log and got me to run a failed request log in IIS and a fiddler trace- seemed to know what they were looking for.

        They asked me to check we.config for each affected web app for “SPRequestFilterModule” within .

        I found it there and was asked to remove it which fixed the problem. Whe I asked for more info I got this:

        It should be the Sep 2023 update caused this problem. We have found other several problems with this CU, it is recommended that install the previous (August CU) instead of September CU. Or you can wait for some time and use Oct CU.

        Reply

        1. Sorry – the above should read:

          They asked me to check web.config for each affected web app for “SPRequestFilterModule” within “”.

          Reply

          1. Gah – website is stripping the brackets

            They asked me to check web.config for each affected web app for “SPRequestFilterModule” within “modules” section of the web.config file.

            Sorry about all the replys to my own comments…


        2. Hi Clarky, thanks a lot for the additional details. The information you received is partially correct but be aware that SharePoint is the victim here. October CU will also not change the behavior.

          The workaround which was given to you (removing the SPRequestFilterModule) will resolve the issue but it is not the recommended solution as it requires manual changes on all servers which could be reverted with future updates.
          Instead the feature that is invoking the problematic code path should be disabled as a workaround.

          You can find all details in the following article:
          https://blog.stefan-gossner.com/2023/10/05/trending-issue-500-server-error-and-application-pool-crashes-after-september-2023-cu-for-sharepoint/

          Reply

          1. Thanks for the additional info. In or environment user endpoints are running windows defender. We will investigate disabling the feature until such time as it is working with Windows defender.

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