End of support for older Visual Studio versions in April 2022, and in May for Windows 10 20H2

[German]Last week, or rather in the last few days, Microsoft has already pointed out that certain products will reach the end of support in a few months and will no longer receive updates. This includes older versions of Visual Studio, whose support will end on April 12, 2022. But also for users of Windows 10 version 20H2, support for security updates will already end on May 10, 2022. Microsoft has begun now to auto update these systems to version 21H2.

End of Life for Visual Studio

Microsoft has already published an overview of when which versions of Visual Studio will be phased out in the developer block as of February 10, 2020. Here is the overview:

• Visual Studio 2012: support ends on January 9, 2023 for the IDE and its associated products, runtimes, and components. Microsoft recommend users upgrade to a newer version of Visual Studio.
• Visual Studio 2017: mainstream support ends April 12, 2022, and the product will transition to extended support until April 2027. During extended support Microsoft will provide fixes only for security issues. Microsoft recommend users move to the 15.9 supported baseline to remain under support.
• Visual Studio 2019 version 16.7: support ends April 12, 2022. Microsoft recommend users move to the version 16.11 supported baseline, or to Visual Studio 2022.
• Visual Studio 2019 Preview Channel: after April 2022, Microsoft will no longer provide updates to the Preview Channel of Visual Studio 2019. They recommend users migrate to either the Visual Studio 2019 Release Channel or to Visual Studio 2022 Preview to stay secure and receive the latest feature updates.

Current is probably Visual Studio 2022, which comes in three channels: Preview Channel, Current Channel and Long-Term Servicing Channels (LTSC) for Enterprise, Professional and Build Tools editions. LTSC receive quality and security fixes until 18 months after release. For more information, see this overview.

Windows 10 Version 20H2 Support End

It is also time for users of Windows 10 version 20H2 in the Home and Pro editions to prepare for the end of support. After all, this version was released on October 20, 2020, and only receives support for 18 months via security update. Support will end on May 10, 2022, according to this lifecycle website. 

Microsoft, meanwhile, has already begun, auto updating Windows 10 version 20H2 to the latest Windows version 21H2 – see Windows 10 20H2 will be upgraded to Windows 21H2 (January 20, 2022). Windows 10 Enterprise 20H2 will continue to receive support with security updates until May 9, 2023.