Windows 10 Home and Pro follows the Modern Lifecycle Policy. Windows 10 will reach end of support on October 14, 2025.
Windows 10 version 22H2 is the current and final version of the operating system, though Microsoft said it will continue to release monthly security updates for all Windows 10 editions until it reaches end of support on Oct. 14, 2025.
You will still be able to use windows 10 after October 2025, it is just that it will get less secure as time goes by.
The company also stated that all support for Windows 10 Home, Pro, Enterprise and Education, including security updates, will end for mainstream users on October 14, 2025. “We highly encourage you to transition to Windows 11 now,” said Microsoft product manager Jason Leznek.
Installing Windows 10 on your current PC - Windows 10 is still available and will be supported until October 14, 2025. You can check if your current PC meets the minimum system requirements for Windows 10.
"The free upgrade offer does not have a specific end date for eligible systems. However, Microsoft reserves the right to eventually end support for the free offer. This end date will be no sooner than October 5, 2022."
After 12 years, support for Windows XP will end on April 8, 2014. There will be no more security updates or Microsoft provided technical support for the Windows XP operating system. It is very important that customers and partners migrate to a modern operating system such as Windows 7 or 8.1.
In 2021, however, Microsoft announced that Windows 10 would be succeeded on compatible hardware by Windows 11–and that Windows 10 support will end on October 14, 2025.
Not only is Windows 11 considered faster and snappier than Windows 10, it also comes with many new features improving performance, user-friendliness, device compatibility (runs Android apps), and even gaming. It does come with some interface changes which might take some getting used to and also requires a recent CPU.
Support for Windows 7 ended on January 14, 2020 and Windows 8 went out of support on January 12, 2016. Devices running either version of Windows no longer receive security updates.
The Windows 11 End of Support Dates
The latest version of Windows 11 is version 22H2, released in October 2022. For the enterprise and education edition, Microsoft communicated October 2025 as the end date.
Once the license expires, Windows will reboot automatically about every three hours and anything you're working on when it reboots will be lost. After two weeks longer, Windows will stop booting at all. AT that point, you'll need to purchase another license and reinstall Windows.
Simply put, there just isn't any measurable performance difference between Windows 10 and Windows 11 right now. In fairness, Windows 11 is a little faster, but just not that much to be significant.
When Is Windows 12 Coming Out? The first inkling of a Windows 12 coming sooner than expected happened when Microsoft reportedly started implementing a new update cadence for the OS, with major versions to come every three years. That puts a Windows 12 release in 2024.
If you continue to use an unsupported version of Windows, your PC will still work, but it will become more vulnerable to security risks and viruses. Your PC will continue to start and run, but you will no longer receive software updates, including security updates, from Microsoft.
The "Your Windows license will expire soon" error message can occur due to several factors, and here are the most prevalent ones: Windows license is invalid: Using an unauthorized or pirated version of Windows is one of the most common reasons why you might encounter this error message.
Windows 11 does a lot under the hood to speed up a PC's performance. The same PC will generally run faster on Windows 11 than Windows 10. But no matter how zippy your Windows 11 may be, it can run faster. And keep in mind that PCs tend to slow down over time, and you want to make sure that doesn't happen to yours.
Upgrading your system from Windows 10 to Windows 11 will not erase all your files. After the update is completed, you should have access to all user files that were previously available in Windows 10.
As a reminder, Windows 8.1 will reach the end of support on January 10, 2023. After this date, this product will no longer receive security updates, non-security updates, bug fixes, technical support, or online technical content updates. This includes the following editions of Windows 8.1: Enterprise.
During its announcements of the Windows 11 rollout, Microsoft reiterated that Windows 10 would remain supported until October 14, 2025. The company put it in writing, too, in a blog post(Opens in a new window) that confirms the date. This applies to both Home and Pro versions of Windows 10.
How much does it cost to upgrade from Windows 10 to Windows 11? It's free. But only Windows 10 PCs that are running the most current version of Windows 10 and meet the minimum hardware specifications will be able to upgrade. You can check to see if you have the latest updates for Windows 10 in Settings/Windows Update.
In addition to the countless government computers that still run the operating system, there are at least seven machines accessible from the outside Internet running in 2017 that still use Windows 95. All of these machines are apparently in Taiwan.
On December 31, 2001, Microsoft ended its support for Windows 95, making it an "obsolete" product per the Microsoft Lifecycle Policy. Many features have since become key components of the Microsoft Windows series, such as the Start menu and the taskbar, originated in Windows 95.