Microsoft will no longer end support for Windows 10 in 2025. The company updated this news on its Windows Update Lifecycle fact sheet. As per the new timeline, Microsoft will retire the Windows 10 version on the 14th of October 2025. This includes Windows 10 Home, Pro, Pro for Workstation, and Pro for Education.
What “ending support” essentially means is that no technical support for any software issues, or safety and software updates will be extended to users of Windows 10 by the company, post that date. The date 14th October 2025 marks just over 10 years since the operating system was first introduced.
This comes as Microsoft simultaneously drops several hints of a new upgraded version of the Windows, all set for launch soon. Last month in Microsoft’s Build event, the company’s CEO Satya Nadella had himself slipped in a little teaser saying that a new release was on its way.
Even though Windows 10 was supposed to be the last version of Windows ever. Microsoft had switched to a Windows-as-a-service model for the operating system with the current version, which meant that users would get over-the-air updates, like Android and iOS platforms.
“Soon we will share one of the most significant updates to Windows of the past decade to unlock greater economic opportunity for developers and creators. I’ve been self-hosting it over the past several months, and I’m incredibly excited about the next generation of Windows,” Nadella had said in his keynote.
This upcoming event which has been scheduled for the 24th of June, has been confirmed by the company’s Twitter handle. It is supposed to be the event wherein the software maker announces everything that is coming ‘next for Windows.’ The event starts at 11 AM ET and 8:30 PM IST.
Upcoming updates to Windows will include major changes including significant visual enhancements. The update will also entail some major UI changes to the OS under a project codenamed “Sun Valley,” The Verge reported. The new update is purported to be the most significant one of the past decade.
A new version of Windows makes sense too, given Microsoft’s recent experiments with ARM chips. The company has designed Surface-branded devices that are meant to run on mobile chips, and hence needs a different version of Windows that would be better suited for such processors. Microsoft did update Windows 10 to support ARM as well, but perhaps a larger revamp of the operating system is in order.
In releasing the new update, the company also has the view to create more opportunities for Windows developers and creators who are looking for innovative and open platforms to build, distribute and monetise applications.
Returning to Windows 10, the end of support was originally scheduled for October 2020. However, the mainstream end of support has not yet commenced, as Microsoft has been introducing regular updates and extending active Windows 10 support.
Going by the upgrade experience from Windows 7, it looks like this Windows version might last longer than 2025. Microsoft will likely give extra time to people to migrate over to the new operating system.
