Shubham Agarwal and Eric van Wijk outline critical updates for Azure Pipelines users, with step-by-step guidance on transitioning to new agent images to maintain secure and reliable CI/CD workflows.

Upcoming Updates for Azure Pipelines Agent Images

Authors: Shubham Agarwal, Eric van Wijk

Azure Pipelines is updating its hosted agent images to ensure the most secure and up-to-date CI/CD environments. This news covers support for new images, deprecation timelines for existing ones, and recommended actions for maintaining healthy and operational pipelines.

Ubuntu Images

Ubuntu 24.04 Availability and “ubuntu-latest” Mapping

Ubuntu-24.04 image has been available since October 2024.
The “ubuntu-latest” image will soon map to Ubuntu-24.04, replacing ubuntu-22.04 as the default.
Some tools may no longer be available in Ubuntu-24.04; review documentation before migrating.

Ubuntu 20.04 Deprecation Plan

Deprecation Start Date: March 19, 2025
Brownout Period: March 19 – April 8, 2025 (intermittent job failures using Ubuntu-20.04)
Full Removal: April 30, 2025 (pipelines using Ubuntu-20.04 will fail to run)

Recommended Actions

Update pipeline YAML (vmImage) from ubuntu-20.04 to ubuntu-22.04, ubuntu-24.04, or ubuntu-latest.
```
pool:
  vmImage: 'ubuntu-24.04'
```
Find pipelines using deprecated images with this script or via Azure DevOps web UI.
Consider container jobs or Managed DevOps Pools if Ubuntu-20.04 dependencies persist.

Windows Images

Windows Server 2025 Availability and Deprecation of Windows Server 2019

Windows Server 2025: Generally available June 16, 2025.
windows-latest: Will map to Windows Server 2025 starting September 2, 2025.
Windows Server 2019: Deprecation begins June 1, 2025; full removal on January 1, 2026.

Recommended Actions

Update pipelines to use windows-2022, windows-2025, or windows-latest.
```
pool:
  vmImage: 'windows-2025'
```
Identify pipelines via the deprecation script or agent pool UI filters.

macOS Images

macOS Sequoia and macOS 13 Ventura Deprecation

macOS 15 Sequoia is now generally available, with macOS-latest mapping to macOS 15.
macOS 13 Ventura deprecation starts September 1, 2025, and retires December 4, 2025.
Brownout periods in November 2025 will cause intermittent failures.

Recommended Actions

Change support to macOS-14, macOS-15, or macOS-latest in pipeline YAML.

Apple Silicon (ARM64) Previews

Private preview is ongoing; public preview registration is now closed.

Migration and Troubleshooting

Use the provided migration scripts to identify pipelines using deprecated images.
For assistance, reach out through Azure DevOps support or community forums.

Summary of Key Dates

Ubuntu-20.04: Full removal April 30, 2025
Windows Server 2019: Removal January 1, 2026
macOS 13 Ventura: Removal December 4, 2025

Timely updates to your pipelines and agent images ensure improved security, performance, and compatibility with the latest tools.

This post appeared first on “Microsoft DevOps Blog”. Read the entire article here