Windows End of Life (EOL) Dates & Support Timeline

Microsoft Extended Security Updates (ESU) Timeline

Microsoft's official lifecycle data lists the following Extended Security Update windows. ESU is a paid program that delivers critical security patches only, after a version's mainstream and extended support have already ended — it does not include new features, non-security fixes, or technical support.

Source: Microsoft Lifecycle — official Microsoft data, supplementary to endoflife.date.

Windows release and support pattern

7 of the 49 tracked lines are designated long-term support, which is where the longer windows sit.

Of the 49 release lines tracked, 36 are past end of life and 13 are still within support. The newest line, 11-26h2-e, was released September 29, 2026. The next scheduled end of life is 11-23h2-e on November 10, 2026 — 0 days from this build. The longest-supported line currently published is 11-24h2-iot-lts, to October 10, 2034. Upstream also publishes an extended-support phase for 3 lines, shown in the table above.

Computed from the tracked release data at every build — the figures above are the dates in the table, restated, not an editorial estimate.

Windows security intelligence

CISA KEV history: Windows is named in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog 243 times, most recently on 2026-10-13, including use in ransomware campaigns. Derived from CISA's live catalog at every build.

What does Windows end of life mean for your organization?

When a version of Windows reaches end of life, the maintainers stop issuing security patches. Vulnerabilities discovered after this date are publicly disclosed on the National Vulnerability Database, exploit code appears on GitHub, and your systems remain permanently exposed.

The CVE blind spot: A CVE-based scan does not show the accumulation of unpatched vulnerabilities in EOL software. Some scanners flag unsupported versions of common products, but coverage varies, and none of them give you the date in advance. With a zero-day, nobody knows about the vulnerability. With EOL software, the vulnerability is public — listed, rated, and often weaponized — but no vendor patch is coming. This is one of the most dangerous gaps in enterprise security posture.

Organizations running EOL Windows should treat it as a vulnerability class in their risk register, apply compensating controls (network segmentation, enhanced monitoring, access restriction), and prioritize migration to a supported version.

Your options when Windows reaches end of life

There are four realistic paths. Which one is right depends far more on how long the system needs to keep running than on the version you are on today.

How to choose, in one question: how many more years does this system need to run? Under a year, extended support (where it exists) is usually cheaper than an emergency migration. One to three years, migrate — support purchased repeatedly costs more than doing the project once, and the project only gets harder as the version ages. Indefinitely, migrate now and plan the next migration before it surprises you.

Worth saying plainly, because vendors selling extended support rarely will: extended support is often the more expensive choice over a multi-year horizon. It is the right answer when a deadline is genuinely unreachable, not as a default. Compare the annual fee against the one-time cost of migrating before committing to either.

Formalizing decisions like this across your estate? Our free EOL policy template is a ready-to-adopt policy with risk tiers, remediation SLAs, and audit mapping — no signup, free to use and share.

For the full decision flow on this product, see our detailed guide: Windows 10: upgrade, buy ESU, or replace?

Extended Support Options

If you cannot migrate immediately, check whether the vendor or a third party sells extended support with security patches for your Windows version; coverage varies by product and version. Where it exists it is a bridge, not a permanent solution — plan your migration in parallel.

Related Products