Skip to main content

Digital Trends may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. Why trust us?

Microsoft plans to charge for Windows 10 updates in the future

Microsoft has confirmed it will offer security updates for Windows 10 after the end-of-life date for the operating system for consumer users but for a fee.

The brand recently announced plans to charge regular users for Extended Security Updates (ESU) who intend to continue using Windows 10 beyond the October 14, 2025 support date.

Windows 11 and Windows 10 operating system logos are displayed on laptop screens.
Beata Zawrzel / NurPhoto/Getty Images

Previously, such support was only available for enterprise organizations; however, Microsoft is extending it to individual users for the first time. The service will be available through an annual subscription service, though the brand has not yet shared the pricing details for the plan.

Recommended Videos

While Microsoft is making this available, it is also making plans to add AI-powered Copilot to Windows 10. However, the older system won’t get as an extensive update as Windows 11 is undergoing, The Verge noted.

Please enable Javascript to view this content

The company still insists that transitioning to Windows 11 is the best course for most users, noting in its blog post about the ESU program that while it provides security updates, technical support is not available.

Though the Windows 10 official end of life is October 14, 2025, making the lifespan of the operating system approximately ten years, the ESU program extends the OS support by three years for those who pay for additional security patches.

Such programs are likely a cushion to the transition between Windows 10 and Windows 11. Research has shown that Windows 11 adoption is going much better than many first believed, with the system actively running on over 400 million devices and hitting half a billion installs by early 2024. However, Windows 10 still dominates the business sector, powering 80.5% of devices.

In October, the IT asset management group Lansweeper uncovered that most businesses were updating to Windows 11 only when they replaced hardware, even though the majority had the minimum requirements to upgrade to the latest operating system.

Similarly, personal users might have their reasons for retaining an older system and might be willing to invest in maintaining that status. Microsoft would likely bank on such users being along the same lines as enterprise users.

The Verge noted that outside of paid service, Microsoft could be forced to provide free security updates for out-of-date software in extreme circumstances, such as defending against ransomware attacks. One such case happened in 2017 when an update had to be sent to the defunct Windows XP OS.

Fionna Agomuoh
Fionna Agomuoh is a Computing Writer at Digital Trends. She covers a range of topics in the computing space, including…
Microsoft finally wants to make gaming on handhelds less of a chore
The Digital Trends website on the Asus ROG Ally.

Whispers about an Xbox handheld have been circulating for a while now, but it looks like the project is still in the very early stages. At an AMD and Lenovo event this week at CES, however, Xbox chief Phil Spencer spoke to The Verge and dropped hints about Microsoft's plans to combine the Xbox and Windows gaming experiences together.

It seems this phrasing refers to bringing the strengths of the Xbox operating system to existing and future Windows gaming handhelds. Working on a handheld version of the XboxOS is part of the work the company will need to do to create an Xbox handheld, but it looks like we'll get to see ongoing developments way before that hardware is ready to come out. Spencer said that we should expect to see changes to the Windows handheld gaming experience at some point this year.

Read more
Windows 12 may not happen anytime soon
Windows 11 logo on a laptop.

Microsoft is making clear that its strategy to retire Windows 10 later this year will proceed as planned, and that its primary focus after that will be Windows 11 and Copilot+ PCs. To that end, the brand shared all the developments we can expect in a forward-looking blog post. Considering how focused Microsoft is on getting people to finally upgrade to Windows 11, it's hard to imagine that Windows 12 is anything more than a distant prospect at this point.

“Windows 10 will reach the end of its life cycle on October 14, 2025. After this date, Windows 10 PCs will no longer receive security or feature updates, and our focus is on helping customers stay protected by moving to modern new PCs running Windows 11," says Yusuf Mehdi, Microsoft's executive vice president and consumer chief marketing officer.

Read more
Here’s why some PC gamers shouldn’t install the latest Windows 11 update
Overwatch 2 running on the LG OLED 27 gaming monitor.

The latest Windows 11 update, codenamed 24H2, has been a troubled rollout for Microsoft, but one thing's been clear from the beginning: PC gamers should wait to install it. Let's add another issue to the list, shall we?

As spotted by Windows Latest, Microsoft has confirmed in an update to its Windows 11 24H2 problems page, that Windows 11 24H2 is causing issues with its Auto HDR feature. The result of the bug is that incorrect colors are being displayed or, even worse, are breaking games entirely and causing them to not be responsive.

Read more