Windows 10 has received yearly “feature updates” even though Windows 11 wasn’t introduced until October of 2021. Around the same time that Windows 11 was released, Windows 10 21H2 and Windows 10 22H2 followed.
However, a roadmap update published yesterday indicates that version 22H2 will be the final release of Windows 10. Jason Leznek, a Microsoft product manager, reaffirmed that Windows 10 will continue to get security updates until the deadline of October 2025, but that there will be no more yearly feature updates.
“Windows 10 will approach end of support on October 14, 2025, as stated in the Windows 10 Enterprise and Education and Windows 10 Home and Pro lifecycle pages,” adds Leznek. Windows 10 will no longer be supported after this date; the current version, 22H2, will be the last. All versions will continue to receive monthly security update releases.
This won’t be a big deal in terms of how it will actually affect those who are still using Windows 10 on a daily basis. Microsoft never released thorough release notes for Windows 10 22H2, and throughout the past 18 months, it is obvious that the majority of their attention has been focused on Windows 11 and its integrated apps. The end of feature updates isn’t exactly tragic because at least some of the users who are still using Windows 10 are doing so because they don’t want to cope with changes.
Computers that don’t comply with the Windows 11 system requirements will no longer be able to receive officially supported Windows security updates as of 2025. Users will either need to take a chance with an unsupported Windows 11 install or an alternative operating system like ChromeOS Flex or some other Linux version because the majority of those systems will be at least seven or eight years old by that time, which is old but still useful for many devices.
Leznek said that the second half of 2024 would see the release of Windows 11’s subsequent “LTSC” version. In order to be solid platforms for IT administrators to use if they don’t want to keep up with delivering new Windows releases every year, LTSC, or Long-Term Servicing Channel, versions of Windows receive security patches for a longer period of time than previous yearly Windows releases. A significant 23H2 update for the standard consumer editions of Windows should still be released in the second half of this year.