Windows 10 Just Got Another Year. Here's What To Do With It
Microsoft moved the consumer Extended Security Updates deadline from October 13, 2026 to October 12, 2027. If you were braced for a cutoff in a couple of weeks, you aren't facing one. Here's what actually changed, how to confirm your PC is covered, and how to spend the extra year rather than lose it.
The date a lot of Windows 10 holdouts had circled was October 13, 2026. That was the end of the consumer extension, and it was sold as one year only, with nothing after it. It moved. Enrolled home PCs now receive security updates through October 12, 2027, and enrollment stays open the whole time. If you have been putting off a decision, you just got a reprieve you did not ask for, and the useful question is what to do with it.
The Short Version
Nothing about your PC changed this month. What changed is the deadline: the consumer extension runs a year longer than it was first sold. If you are enrolled, you are covered until October 2027 with no action needed. If you are not enrolled, you have had no security updates since October 2025, and enrolling is free or $30 and takes about five minutes. Either way the machine still has to move to Windows 11 or be replaced eventually, and doing that across the next twelve months is cheaper and calmer than doing it in a rush next September.
The Dates
Windows 10 end of support. No more security or feature updates without an Extended Security Updates enrollment.
The old consumer deadline. This is the date that moved, and the one you will still see in older articles and in a lot of well-meaning advice.
Consumer Extended Security Updates now end here. Enrolled home PCs get critical and important security fixes until this date. Nothing has been announced for home users past it.
Business ESU maximum. Bought annually through volume licensing, three years at most, at a price that doubles each consecutive year.
Microsoft 365 apps (Word, Excel, Outlook) stop receiving security updates on Windows 10.
Microsoft lifecycle dates as published, verified September 2026
First: Are You Actually Enrolled?
This is the part people get wrong. The extension is not automatic, and a PC that never enrolled has been running without security fixes since October 2025. Open Settings, then Update & Security, then Windows Update, and look for the Extended Security Updates enrollment. If it says you are enrolled, you are covered through October 2027 and you are done. If it doesn't, enroll now and then keep reading.
Your PC needs to be on Windows 10 version 22H2, in the Home, Professional, Pro Education or Workstations edition. There are three ways in, and two of them cost nothing: it's free if you let Windows Backup sync your settings to a Microsoft account, free for 1,000 Microsoft Rewards points, or a one-time $30. One license covers up to ten devices on the same Microsoft account, which is usually enough for a whole household.
What the Extra Year Does Not Buy You
Extended Security Updates deliver critical and important security fixes. That is the whole product. No new features, no non-security bug fixes, no general technical support, and no promise about anything that isn't Windows itself. Printer and scanner drivers, the software you actually use, and the hardware vendor's own support all follow their own schedules, and several of them have already stopped caring about Windows 10.
For a business, expect the question on the cyber insurance form either way. ESU is a paid security-update subscription, not a return to support, and the form usually asks whether you are running an operating system past its end of support date. The honest answer is still yes. The same goes for a compliance review, and it's worth reading the cyber insurance questionnaire guide before you answer anything on a renewal.
For Businesses, This Is a Different Program
The consumer extension is built around a personal Microsoft account and the Home through Workstations editions. Business machines go through volume licensing instead, at $61 per device for the first year, and the price doubles every consecutive year for a maximum of three. Year one started in November 2025, and the years are cumulative: buy in late and you pay for the earlier years too.
So the business math has not changed the way the consumer math has. If you were planning around a three-year commercial runway, you still have it. What changed is that the home machines and the personally owned laptops people bring to work are no longer about to fall off a cliff in October. Ask us which program a given machine falls under before you pay for either one, because the answer is not always the one you would guess from the edition sticker.
How To Spend the Year
Enroll anything that isn't enrolled
Today, not in the spring. It's free or $30 and it stops a machine from quietly accumulating unpatched holes for another twelve months.
Write down every Windows 10 machine you own
Including the one in the spare room, the one running the label printer, and the laptop somebody only opens at tax time.
Run PC Health Check on each one
Microsoft's tool gives a yes or no on Windows 11 eligibility in about a minute.
Check the BIOS on every “no” from 2018 or later
The most common false no is a TPM that exists but is switched off. Turning it on takes five minutes and changes the answer.
Upgrade the eligible machines on your own schedule
One a weekend, backed up first, is a completely different experience from six of them in a panic.
Spread the replacements over four quarters
An ineligible machine that is already seven years old will not get better. Budgeting it across a year beats writing one large check next September.
Put the stragglers on paper
Any machine locked to software that can't move yet gets a written plan: who owns it, what it is isolated from, and the date it gets replaced.
The Trap
An extra year reads as permission to do nothing for eleven months. That is how the last deadline went for most of the machines we see. The difference between using the year and losing it is whether anything gets written down in the next two weeks, while you are still thinking about it. The machines that were ineligible for Windows 11 in 2026 will be a year older in 2027, the same replacements will cost the same money, and the deadline will feel exactly as sudden as this one was going to.
If your machine is eligible and running a solid-state drive, there is no reason to wait at all. The upgrade is free, it keeps your files and programs, and doing it in October on a quiet Saturday is strictly better than doing it under pressure. If it's eligible but still on a spinning hard drive, upgrade it and put an SSD in at the same time, because the drive is what makes an older PC feel slow, not the version of Windows. See Windows 11 running slow for why, and repair or replace for the math on whether the machine is worth the parts.
Quick Self-Check
| Question | If “no” or “not sure”... |
|---|---|
| Does Windows Update say this PC is enrolled in Extended Security Updates? | If not, it's unpatched right now |
| Is it on Windows 10 version 22H2? | Required to enroll at all |
| Have you run PC Health Check? | Five minutes, gives a yes or no |
| Is there a current backup before any upgrade? | Do this first, always |
| Business: can you list every Windows 10 machine you own? | Worth a call |
Want the Year Planned For You?
We'll confirm the enrollment, check Windows 11 eligibility on every machine, turn on the TPM where that's all it needs, back up, and upgrade, remotely in most cases. Where a replacement is the right answer we'll say so, and set the new one up.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the October 13, 2026 Windows 10 deadline gone?
For the consumer program, yes. Microsoft extended consumer Extended Security Updates by a year, so enrolled home PCs receive security updates through October 12, 2027 instead. Windows 10 itself still left support on October 14, 2025, so a PC that is not enrolled is not getting fixes today.
I enrolled last year. Do I need to do anything to get the extra year?
No. If your PC is already enrolled, coverage continues through October 12, 2027 on its own. It is still worth opening Windows Update once to confirm the enrollment is actually showing.
Can I still enroll if I never signed up?
Yes. Enrollment stays open until the program ends. It's free if you let Windows Backup sync your settings to a Microsoft account, free for 1,000 Microsoft Rewards points, or a one-time $30. One license covers up to ten devices on the same account. Your PC must be on Windows 10 version 22H2.
Does this mean Windows 10 is supported again?
No. Extended Security Updates deliver critical and important security fixes only. There are no new features, no non-security fixes, and no general technical support. The operating system is still past end of support, which is what a cyber insurance form or a compliance review will ask about.
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