[German]On October 14, 2025, Microsoft Windows 10 22H2 will receive security updates for the last time and will then no longer be supported. But there are options to at least secure the operating system. Apart from this issue, other Microsoft products such as the Universal Apps, OneNote for Windows 10, Microsoft Office 2016 and 2019, and Exchange Server 2016 and 2019 will also receive security updates. Here is a brief look at these issues.
End of Life (EOL) means that the products will continue to work, but will no longer receive support or security updates from Microsoft.
Windows 10 End of Life
The end of support for Windows 10 22H2 on October 14, 2025 should be the least of most people's headaches. If Microsoft has its way, people will throw away their old PC and buy a nice new Copilot+PC with Windows 11 and AI functions (see my article Microsoft: 2025 will be the year of Windows 11 PC updates Posted on 2025-01-07 by guenni). Well, newer systems could be updated to Windows 11 24H2 (including its bugs) for free. And somewhat experienced users can also get Windows 11 to run on older, no longer supported hardware.
Brave new Microsoft world, with a few scratches. The lure of Windows 11 doesn't seem to be so great, because in the article Operating system share (End of May 2025); Windows 11 don't climb; Windows 11 weakens, the Statcounter figures show that the Windows 11 share has stagnated in recent months.
Windows market share 5.2025
Windows 10 is still "the workhorse" on desktop systems and is likely to remain so in the coming months, is my conclusion. From a purely technical point of view, this is not a problem – Windows 10 is stable and the lack of "broken updates" – referred to by Microsoft as feature updates – should suit some people. Finally, "Windows 10 is no longer being updated by Microsoft in a broken state", is the saying that has been heard many times.
ESU support from Microsoft
Windows 10 users can still officially receive security updates via Windows Update after October 14, 2025 for a fee. The magic word is ESU updates (ESU stands for Extended Security Updates).
For private users, this should be possible for one year for a mere 30 euros. I mentioned this in the article Windows 10: Surprise, there is an ESU support extension; also for private users and in the article Microsoft wants 30 US-$ for 1 year Windows 10 consumer support extension. However, it is not yet known when this program will start.
Enterprises can even purchase ESU support for Windows 10 22H2 Enterprise for three full years before there are no more security updates. The whole thing starts at 61 US dollars in the first year, but the price for the ESU license doubles every year, as I have already explained in the article Windows 10: Prices for Extended Security Updates announced.
According to Microsoft's support articles, companies have been able to purchase ESU licenses for the first year since October 2024. I just checked the article When to use Windows 10 Extended Security Updates on the Techcommunity blog to see where this date is, although the article was last updated in April 2025. The article highlights the options available to Windows 10 users after October 2025 and aims to clarify when to use Extended Security Updates (there are also free renewal options in the Microsoft Cloud with virtualized Windows 10).
With a Windows 11 license on a Windows 365 instance, the ESU updates for the local host should also be included (see also, key point: "Local Windows 10 endpoints that connect to Microsoft 365 and are entitled to ESU").
With regard to the start of sales of ESU licenses from October 2024, however, it seems to be a fail in documentation from Redmond. In the Patchmanagement.org mailing list, I keep noticing posts where administrators are desperately looking for sources for ESU licenses and are not finding them. Sales are supposed to be handled by CSPs (Cloud Solutions Providers), who are also responsible for license sales. I got the information from a German CSP, that that ESU licenses will not be offered until shortly before October 2025.
I'll leave aside the fact that there may be an unofficial ESU hack that ensures that Windows 10 systems receive ESU updates even without an ESU license.
Tip: Use 0patch for five years of protection
My advice for all private users – and possibly also small freelancers, craftsmen and lone fighters who want to continue using their Windows 10 systems with software securely after October 2025 is: Take a look at the 0patch solution from ACROS Security. I already mentioned in the blog post Windows 10: 0patch provides 5 years of additional support that Mitja Kolsek and his team are planning Windows 10 support for another five years. He published this article on the subject in May 2025.
Kolsek and his team analyze the security updates available for Windows 10 21H2 Enterprise LTSC for closed vulnerabilities. He then develops a so-called micropatch, which he loads into the working memory via the 0patch agents. This closes security gaps in Windows 10.
With 0patch, users receive security "micropatches" for critical vulnerabilities that are likely to be exploited and are discovered after October 14, 2025. These patches are very small, usually just a few CPU instructions (hence the name), and are applied to running processes in memory without changing a single byte of Microsoft's original binaries (See How 0patch works, or in my blog post here).
The prices for this protection, which is also available for home users, are very moderate. Private users can even install a free version of 0patch, but will then only receive micropatches for vulnerabilities classified as serious. If you want to be sure to receive all micro-patches for Windows 10 via the 0patch agent, book a paid package.
The current annual price for 0patch PRO is 24.95 EUR + VAT per computer, and for 0patch Enterprise 34.95 EUR + VAT per computer. Active subscriptions will keep these prices for two more years in case of price changes.
My personal assessment: I will most likely book one of these packages (probably Pro), as I have had good experiences with this solution on a private PC under Windows 7. Whether an IT department takes the risk of distributing this solution for in-house customers or external customers must be decided on an individual basis.
One problem will be that software support for Windows 10 22H2 (browsers, banking software, etc.) will expire at some point, meaning that it will no longer make sense to operate it. But this is unlikely to be the case before 2028 or 2029.
What about LTSC variants?
Companies have the option of relying on the so-called LTSC versions of Windows 10, which receive 10 years of support in the Enterprise version until 2019 – but from Windows 10 21H2 Enterprise LTSC onwards, support has been reduced to five years. Only the IoT SKUs retained the 10-year support.
In this blog post, I will not go into the possibility of using Windows 10 21H2 Enterprise LTSC or Windows 10 2019 IoT Enterprise LTSC and Windows 10 2021 IoT Enterprise LTSC. These operating system variants can be used in the same way as Windows 10 22H2 and will receive security updates until 2029 and January 2032 respectively.
It may be possible to purchase used licenses for these SKUs in order to update existing systems and operate them securely (in European Union this is legit). I am currently in the process of clarifying with a source that this can be handled in a legally compliant manner for companies. The transfer of used licenses is not an issue and Windows 10 21H2 Enterprise LTSC should also be unproblematic in terms of licensing with the corresponding basic license (Windows 10 Pro).
Only in the case of Windows 10 IoT Enterprise LTSC is Microsoft trying to legally restrict the possible uses for first-time buyers through use clauses. I asked a potential source to have this legally clarified – CSPs that sell licenses have waved off inquiries so as not to get into trouble with Microsoft.
End of life for further Microsoft software
In addition to Windows 10, other Microsoft products are in "phase-out mode" or have been discontinued. Here is a summary list::
- Microsoft Office 2016 and 2019 will reach their end-of-life on October 14, 2025 and will no longer receive security updates or support.
- The same applies to Microsoft Project and Microsoft Visio, as Martin Geuß notes here. There is also a note that the UWP apps for Excel, Word & Co. will also be discontinued in October 2025.
- There has been confusion about Microsoft 365 apps running on Windows 10. Originally, support was supposed to expire (see Microsoft's Marketing tales: Windows 11 is free for a short time; support for Microsoft 365 app ends in October 2025 for Windows 10). But Microsoft provides security updates for applications such as Excel, Word & Co. (see Support for Microsoft 365 extended for 3 years for Windows 10 ESU systems).
- Support for Microsoft Exchange Server 2016 and Microsoft Exchange Server 2019 will also end on October 14, 2025 (see Exchange Server 2016 / 2019 reach their EOL in October 2025). Administrators of Exchange 2016 have been advised by Microsoft to upgrade to Exchange 2019 (see Microsoft on the "decommissioning"; of Microsoft Exchange 2016). An "Inplace Upgrade" (probably via CU) will be offered for this Exchange version, which will upgrade the product to Exchange Server SE.
Furthermore, the OneNote app will be discontinued for Windows 10 users in October 2025, as I reported in the article OneNote app for Windows 10: Restrictions from June; End of support in October 2025.
