Windows 10 after end of support: options for your business

Updated October 19, 2026. Published July 15, 2025.

Microsoft ended standard support for Windows 10 on 14 October 2025. After that date, a computer that is not enrolled in Extended Security Updates does not receive the regular security updates that applied during standard support. Devices that are eligible and enrolled can still receive the security updates specified for that program. That enrollment is a temporary bridge while the business moves to a supported system. It is not a reason to leave every older PC in place.

Some Long-Term Servicing Channel editions follow a different lifecycle, so the installed edition and any enrollment have to be checked before every Windows 10 computer is treated the same way. Read Microsoft's guidance on Windows 10 Extended Security Updates. Windows 10 servicing page.

A practical checklist

• List each computer’s Windows edition and whether the hardware can run a supported version.
• Ask the software vendors whether the business applications run on Windows 11.
• Decide which machines can move to Windows 11, which should be replaced, and which are eligible for Extended Security Updates as a bridge.
• Back up the computers and test that a restore actually works. A backup does not replace security updates.
• Plan the moves around the hours the office can be interrupted.

FSCS can walk through that list as part of business IT support, an ongoing managed IT relationship, or backup and recovery. Scope and timing are agreed before work begins.