All Microsoft licenses have an End of Life date. This means that after this date, Microsoft won’t provide support and updates for this license anymore. Despite this, users will still be able to use the license, they just won’t receive any updates or support. In this article you can read more about the End of Life date of Windows 11 and all its different editions.
Windows 11: End of Life dates
Windows 11 comes in multiple editions. These editions don’t all have the same End of Life date. One edition, for example, has already surpassed its End of Life date. If users haven’t updated their Windows 11 Home or Pro 21H2 to the 22H2 version, the End of Life date surpassed on the 10th of October, 2023. The updated 22H2 version will still be supported until the 8th of October, 2024. So in order to still receive updates and support for Windows 11, users with Windows 11 Home and Pro editions would need an update to Windows 11 22H2.
Windows 11 22H2 comes with several exclusive features that aren’t available for 21H2 users. The latest updates includes protective features such as Enhanced Phishing Protection, security hardening and threat protection, Microsoft Pluton, Smart App Control, and Personal Data Encryption.
Windows 11 Enterprise & Education and Windows 11 IoT Enterprise will be supported for a longer time span - until the 8th of October 2024. The 22H2 update of Windows 11 Enterprise & Education and Windows 11 IoT Enterprise will supported until the 14th of October, 2025. Therefore, if you have this license, you will still receive monthly updates.
Read more on the differences between Windows 11 Pro Retail vs Volume.
What to do after the End of Life for Windows 11?
As mentioned above, the End of Life date marks the end of Microsoft’s support and updates for a certain license, in this case Windows 11. This, however, does not mean that a Windows 11 license is useless beyond the End of Life date. In fact, you can still easily use your license. All features that are included in the latest update of your license will still apply. There just won’t be any new ones. This means that users who are not in need of the latest Microsoft updates, do not need to purchase another license.
It is, however, still relevant to know that your device will also be less protected and the risk of hacks and/or malware increases. For organizations that (partly) rely on all the new Windows 11 features, it the purchase of the latest and supported license makes more sense because using an unsupported license would not be an option in this case.
Windows 11: Extended Security Updates (ESU’s)
On December 5th 2023 Jason Leznek - Microsoft’s principal product manager, made an announcement about Windows servicing and delivery. In it, he disclosed that, as with Windows 7, Microsoft offers Extended Security Updates for organizations using Windows 11. Afterwards it was also confirmed that these security updates will be available for individual users as well.
These Extended Security Updates (ESU’s) are subscription-based which means that users will have to pay an annual fee to receive the monthly updates. After the first year, you can extend your subscription with another two years. All in all, users can receive Windows 11 updates for 3 years after the End of Life date through these ESU’s.
Why upgrade to Windows 11?
An upgrade from Windows 10 to Windows 11 is a great decision for users who want to benefit from the new and exclusive features. Keep in mind that Windows 10 only receives security patches until it’s End of Life date in October 2025. For example, the collaboration features are a good reason to upgrade to Windows 11. These contain improvements such as eye contact adjustment, automatic framing, and background blur which are not included in Windows 10. Additionally, upgrading to Windows 11 is free (for now). So users who already own a Windows 10 license won’t have any additional costs related to the upgrade.
Read more on why to upgrade to Windows 11.
It is worth mentioning that users have the option to downgrade back to Windows 10 within the first 10 days after an upgrade. If you are not sure whether upgrading to Windows 11 is the right solution for you, you could use the 10 days trial to decide. If you don’t feel like Windows 11 is the right fit for your and/or your company, you can easily go back to Windows 10 again. This cooling-off period takes away the risk of regretting an upgrade to Windows 11.
Purchase Windows 11 licenses
If you’re interested in purchasing one of the earlier mentioned Windows 11 licenses, Softtrader offers pre-owned licenses at 70% cheaper. Feel free to check our website or request your quote here!
For more information about which Microsoft software and licenses are best for you, please contact us. We are available from Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
