[German]Brief information to administrators in the enterprise environment who are running Windows Server 2022. It is now final, there will be support for Microsoft 365 apps until October 2026. This affects support for Microsoft 365 apps (Word, Excel, etc.) on Windows Server 2022. As recently as December 2021, Microsoft had emphasized that there would be no support for the MS 365 apps in question on the operating system. I had reported on the U turn from Microsoft.
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This week German blog reader Robert G. already emailed me a short note on the topic of "support MS 365 apps on WS 2022": We have had the discussion the other day and now came another confirmation from Microsoft – but is still in a kind of beta status with no date when it will be released. And also German blog reader Gregor also got in touch with a mail: Apparently the topic MS 365 Apps on WS 2022 is now final according to Microsoft. Have just stumbled upon it by chance. Was also partially taken over in the support articles (with the EOL for WS 2022). Thanks to both blog readers for pointing this out.
No support for MS 365 Apps on Server 2022?
It was a shock to many administrators that Microsoft would not provide support for Microsoft 365 apps (Word, Excel, etc.) on Windows Server 2022. I had pointed out Microsoft's position in October 2021 in the blog post Windows Server 2022: Microsoft 365 Apps unsupported (see also the following screenshot). Affected users should switch to Azure Virtual Desktop or Windows 365, according to Microsoft.
It was kicked off by an affected party with a large number of Windows Server 2016 instances with Microsoft 365 apps (Office 365). The affected person wrote in early December 2021 that he needed to update these servers. He made it "incendiary" in his post because the end of support for Windows Server 2016 was January 2022 after all (that's not so true, that's when Active Support ended, Extended Support still runs until January 12, 2027).
U-turn: Support for MS365 apps after all
The issue has probably led to quite a bit of protest from customers. In any case, in September 2022, there was feedback in Microsoft's tech community from Microsoft employee Elden Christensen on the user post Support for M365 Apps (O365) on Windows 2022, who announced that Microsoft had reconsidered. I had picked this up in the blog post Windows Server 2022: MS 365 apps to be supported.
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Now there is the Techcommunity post Windows Server 2022 adds support for Microsoft 365 Apps – Updating our support policy through October 2026 from October 14, 2022, in which Microsoft employee TJ_Devine finally confirms the new development.
Based on feedback from customers, we are happy to share that we are updating our support policy for Microsoft 365 Apps on Windows Server 2022. Support for on-premises and Azure deployments will be available through October 2026. This covers the period in which Windows Server 2022 is in mainstream support.
Support for running Microsoft 365 Apps on Windows Server 2022 is currently in preview. If you want to begin testing on Windows Server 2022, we recommend that you use the most current, supported version of Microsoft 365 Apps available in Current Channel. We will provide information about which versions of Microsoft 365 Apps are supported on Windows Server 2022 at a later date.
In short: There is an official support for Microsoft 365 apps (Word, Excel, etc.) under Windows Server 2022 by Microsoft, namely until October 2026. Concerns the MS365 apps in the Current Channel, whereby the whole thing is currently still in preview status. Mainstream support for Windows Server 2022 will also end in October 2026.
Currently, Microsoft is already starting to revise the support pages and the documentation (may take a few days). The Microsoft page Windows Server end of support and Microsoft 365 Apps already confirms this:
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Windows Server 2022: Microsoft 365 Apps unsupported
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