Windows client roadmap update: April 2023

[Jason Leznek]

We realize that a clear Windows client roadmap update helps consumers and organizations with planning their Windows release activities.

Today we'll provide a brief update on the latest version of Windows 10, as well as share more on the time frame for the next Long-Term Servicing Channel (LTSC) release of Windows 11.

Windows 10 support lifecycle

As documented on the Windows 10 Enterprise and Education and Windows 10 Home and Pro lifecycle pages, Windows 10 will reach end of support on October 14, 2025. The current version, 22H2, will be the final version of Windows 10, and all editions will remain in support with monthly security update releases through that date. Existing LTSC releases will continue to receive updates beyond that date based on their specific lifecycles.

Recommendation

• We highly encourage you to transition to Windows 11 now as there won't be any additional Windows 10 feature updates.
• If you and/or your organization must remain on Windows 10 for now, please update to Windows 10, version 22H2 to continue receiving monthly security update releases through October 14, 2025. See how you can quickly do this via a servicing enablement package in How to get the Windows 10 2022 Update.

The final end of support date for Windows 10 does not change with this announcement; these dates can be found on the Windows 10 Lifecycle page.

Windows 11 LTSC

It's important for organizations to have adequate time to plan for adopting Windows 11. Today we're announcing that the next Windows LTSC releases will be available in the second half of 2024:

• Windows 11 Enterprise LTSC
• Windows 11 IoT Enterprise LTSC

We'll provide more details as we get closer to availability.

Recommendation

If you're waiting for a Windows 11 LTSC release, you can begin planning and testing your applications and hardware on the current GA channel release, Windows 11, version 22H2. Check out App confidence: Optimize app validation with Test Base for more tips on how to test your applications.

Stay informed

In the future, we will add more information here and to the Windows release health page, which offers information about the General Availability Channel and LTSC under release information for appropriate versions.

The Windows release health page lists release information for different versions of Windows.

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[Dburke225]

Maybe finish Windows 11 before forcing us onto it? 

[Thudar666]

Give me back my start menu and taskbar controls then I'll switch. Nobody asked you to copy MAC. If I wanted Apple garbage, I would use Apple.

[Deleted]

It seems a bit too soon to stop Windows 10 feature updates considering that it still has time left and Windows 11 still needs to be polished up.

[PIyer]

Have a sincere request!

I believe Richard Lander has a chisel he is using to chisel Linux - 
perhaps the Windows Team can borrow that to chisel Windows!!.

A billion people will thank you every day!

[Michael Russo]

Hey, how can I convert an existing Windows 10 client to LTSC so I can keep using perfectly fine hardware until it dies (or 2029, whichever comes first)? 

[Ryandlich]

Please bring back windows 7.  

[Bjorn_Vermeulen]

What about the Enterprise 2021 LTSC version? I see january 2027 on the lifecycle page. please clarify. 

[The_Smart_One]

We realize that a clear Windows client roadmap update helps consumers and organizations with planning their Windows release activities.

As soon as I read this sentence, I knew this article was a discontinuation notice, not a roadmap. The post-2012 Microsoft has no idea what's a roadmap, let alone stick with one. (Not only that, the post-2012 Microsoft keeps mistaking the word "inbox" for "built-in.")

A roadmap is a careful plan for transitioning the world from Windows 10-capable machines to Windows 11-capable machines. Other examples of roadmaps (planned transitions):

• Control Panel to Settings
• PowerShell 5.1 to PowerShell 7.3.4
• shipping .NET Framework 2.0 with Windows 11 to shipping .NET 8.0

[number201724]

Windows 11 is a mess.

**bleep** desktop right click menu, almost unusable, massive lag, sometimes needing to wait 2-3 seconds for the menu to appear, I have to figure out a way to replace it with 3rd party software.
**bleep** notepad update, use it for daily work to save temporary code, after update it became slow, I had to replace it with notepad3.
The right-click function of the taskbar has lost most of its functions.
Trayicon dragging the icon to the hidden icons does not work
The flickering problem has not been solved for a long time.
**bleep** taskbar color, my eyes are going blind.
Disk cleanup is hidden, I don't know what MS people do to change this, this is a frequently used function, why move it to a new setting to use the **bleep** cleanup function.
Windows 11 must log in to a Microsoft account, and there is almost only a one-tenth probability of being able to log in successfully in China.
The submenu for adjusting sound and network in the lower right corner is often unavailable, and it takes a very long time to see the content. I only need to simply modify the volume or output device, and then wait 5-10 seconds randomly before it may be displayed.

[DoveFromAbove]

---

The current version, 22H2, will be the final version of Windows 10

On behalf of my entire community of friends and family, including their SMB companies, I want to thank Microsoft for the quit 2,5 years that lie ahead of us. No more unanticipated changes to the desktop, no more pop-ups for functionality that nobody ever asked for. We look ahead to be able to focus on our own core business again. Happy memories from the last years of Windows 7. Happy memories also from the last years of Office 2003. You'll guess why most of them have switched to LibreOffice nowadays.

Please, please offer LTS versions to anyone, not just large enterprises!

[wroot]

We have a few machines that updated to Windows 11 initial version, but now when you try to run 22H2 update it says CPU is not supported. F that. Why it has updated in the first place? All our machines can run Windows 10. I bet in two years there still be some that "can't" run Windows 11 because of an artificial block added in.

[mathieu prevot]

We are many to avoid W11 because of the much less functionnal start menu of W11.
W10 may be passé de mode in terms of design, but it's still more functionnal for pros (we run W10 enterprise and workstation). We need an OS that does not go in the way.
Please bring back the possbility to choose W10 start menu in W11 instead of that of W11.

[Bunny Evans]

This is going to be a really popular move as there are a lot of people for whom Windows 11 is either "not able to run on this hardware" or "an anathema." I expect it will be a publicity nightmare.

Perfectly good hardware forced into obsolescence by this plan. Some people might even be desperate enough to try Linux but honestly, this just makes the Apple Walled Garden is more attractive. 

For many of us, there is no merit to downgrading to Windows 11. The taskbar being stuck on the bottom being the most obvious. Even in XP you could move that.

I too expect to enjoy three more years of no more feeping creaturism.

[Sizume]

It is highly unfortunate to see the security updates take a turn for the worst. While seeing that 22h2 is the last feature update brings enjoyment to the finalization of an OS, many users just switched to Windows 10 by force of security. Really sad to see security updates dropped for an OS that can run on lots of equipment and older hardware especially due to Windows 11's high-set bar for requirements.

[hohlmesser]

Making such a move in at a time where everyone should care about the environment, customers are forced to trash their working computers, to stay secure.

Not everyone has such high standards and is satisfied with their computer the way it is or performs. That’s why there are still computers sold with low powered CPUs like Pentium or i3. For what some people need it’s sufficient.

I don’t care how green MS Datacenters might get, calculate that amount of artificially made obsolete hardware, into your carbon rating and it will take ages to reach carbon-negative.

How about Windows 11 LTSC will it also have the same strict hardware requirements? Manufacturers of Embedded Hardware are often way behind with the CPU generations they use in their builds. Just recently got offered Industrial Clients with 8th Gen Intel CPUs, maybe would just make the curve for Win 11, but the biggest part of hardware currently at play here is 2nd & 7th Gen Intel. And those are often not easily changed as an upgrade would also involving third parties for the software part, communication with manufacturing machines etc.

Sad move.

[SuperCocoLoco]

Previous Versions from Restore Points not run in Windows 11. A lot of things not run or run bad in Windows 11. A lot of good and productivity features are removed in Windows 11. Every little or simple task requiere more clicks. Most used task requiere more clicks. Windows 11 It's all about unproductivity.

[Charles_Gilley]

"We realize that a clear Windows client roadmap update helps consumers and organizations with planning their Windows release activities."

Oh Microsoft will you ever figure things out?  Note that there is not 1 positive comment to this article with the general theme being "stop changing stuff for the sake of change."  As Windows 11 rolled out, it was all about security, security, security.  Now we see groups within MS messing with UI things that worked perfectly well - almost like they are trying to justify their existence.

Now what do I have on my laptop?  Advertisements in my task bar.  It's really sad.

[Richard120075]

No updates, I bet they put in KBs that include ads for Windows 11. My daughter was tricked into a Win 11 upgrade. Not happy.

[Harvester]

Will the IoT Enterprise LTSC edition still get 10 years of support, like the current versions ?

[JosephJSchulerJr]

Honestly, enough whining about Windows 11.  What we really need is a way to seamlessly uplift machines that are blocked from updating to windows 11 even though they are not that old and have plenty of power.

[greatquux]

@JosephJSchulerJrwe'd settle for that, or an announcement that yes, a version of Windows Server will be based on 11 and allow us and many many other enterprises to continue running Office 365 on Remote Desktop on Windows Server, which is much more cost-effective and performant for us than using individual workstations or Azure Virtual Desktop. 

[RonHinds]

Thanks, but I'll wait for Windows 12. Going on the "every other release is garbage" theory that has worked so well for me for the past 30 years.

[Dukex031]

I'll quote this statement from Wikipedia - "The increased system requirements [of Windows 11] initially published by Microsoft meant that up to 60 percent of existing Windows 10 PCs were unable to upgrade to Windows 11".

If that figure is true, than realistically, more than half of all Windows users won't be able to upgrade to Windows 11. And let's be honest, most regular consumers aren't going to jump to Windows 11 because of "better security" of because it's horrible feature-creeps (as mentioned by many people above), which is similar to what happened with Windows 10 for a while up until recently.

But let's be generous and say that ~10% of those ~60% of people do end up buying a new PC for Windows 11 leading up to 2025, but that's still ~50% of people that can't feasibly upgrade to Windows 11 or get past Windows 10 in any meaningful way.

There is also a consensus by lots of people out there that most PC's/hardware made in the last decade or so are perfectly fine and usable for most people or business applications, so ripping support in less than 2.5 years time would definitely hurt consumers and/or enterprises in the future if they aren't going to pay up for LTSC (which most probably won't). Not only that but this would also certainly cause more e-waste than anything else (which isn't helping anyone).

Yet another diabolical move by 2020s Microsoft.

[RayRosenMSFT]

Seems Apple hardware lifecycle is ~10 years with a 'vintage' policy of ~5 years of no hardware support. Many references here:

Vintage and Obsolete Apple Products on MacRumors

How long do Macs and MacBooks last? MacBook Lifespan Explained | Macworld

The security threat landscape makes it near impossible to keep hardware 'supported' forever. It's not just a Windows thing. Of course, any hardware can potentially still run if getting support or security updates is not a value-add to the user or organization.

[Charles_Gilley]

Ray - horse doo hicky.  Stop being a Schilt.  I'm writing this on a high end laptop I've used for 4+ years.  This has nothing to do with apple.

[Charles_Gilley]

Joe - stop whining?  I've developed on Windows platforms for the last 20+ years.  I have virtual machines from Xp, Win7, <oh hell no Windows 8>.  What do you do for a living?  Don't even get me started on the fluster cluck of MS's development environment.

[JosephJSchulerJr]

Ray, I am talking a high end Alienware laptop that is less than 3 years old.  But for some unknown reason a

Intel Core i7 Kaby Lake Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-7820HK CPU @ 2.90GHz was never approved!  That's what I am talking about.
 

[JosephJSchulerJr]

Charles I have been a programmer through administrator for over 30 years.  Windows 11 is not the train wreck yo portray by any measure.

[Here4TheComments]

Force me to purchase new hardware because of your stupid requirements when my pc is perfectly capable of running win 11. **f**u**

[Caveman6510]

Microsoft, go and take a long walk off a short pier.

You do not have the interests of your customers at heart - all you ae interested in is making more money.

Your licensing programs are deliberately designed to be confusing and misleading so as to generate more revenue.

Your programs are released in an unfinished state, especially your operating systems, and yet your customers have to pay through the nose to beta-test your software!

In addition to the above you lie to your customers. We were told at the start of Windows 10 that "There will never be another version of Windows"......

[SuperCocoLoco]

Wow! This is the best and most demanded feature announce for Windows 10: ¡No more buggy and crappy features updates! No more frequently updates and restarts that break any Windows features. 

Actually there is no reason to update, install or buy a computer with Windows 11 with less features and less productivity functions than Windows 10 and also need to mess with frequently buggy and crappy feature updates and terrorific Moments, that crearly destroys functionality and add features that no one reclaim or demanded. Also adding more ads, more cloud services that requiere paying susbcriptions, more forcing to Edge and Bing, ever if users don't want it and difficulting and no respecting default app settings.

The best for Windows 11 is to expect Microsoft fixes all bugs, adds all the remove features and announce no more features updates. 

[Dukex031]

First of all, @RayRosenMSFT , this situation has nothing to do with Apple, having ~10 years of OS support is just an "industry standard" practice.

Second of all, is there any internal (or external) evidence to suggest that Windows 11 is any more "secure" than Windows 10 is (besides marketing ploys)? As far as I can tell, most of the security features built into Windows 11 itself (not internal hardware or UEFI security features) are imported from Windows 10.

On top of that, if Microsoft isn't offering any official upgrade paths for users stuck on Windows 10 and can't upgrade to Windows 11 to stay "secure" (not by using any unofficial workarounds), then what does that mean for consumers? For nearly all previous versions of Windows, there were few artificial upgrade or installation restrictions (besides RAM and certain CPU extension requirements). Simply saying "buy a new PC to stay 'secure'" is not tangible statement from a consumer perspective and even from an enterprise perspective if their PC(s) are still fully and functional and perfectly usable for most needed tasks.

I know hardware and software alike cannot be supported forever (as Ray mentioned), but given the circumstances with Windows 11's installation blocks and having no ability to extend security updates beyond the EOS date besides paying a premium for LTSC, this situation will fail for organizations and consumers alike, and could have lasting consequences if no one at Microsoft realizes how big the situation will be if few people upgrade to Windows 11 (or Windows 12) or buy new PC's by 2025.

[greatquux]

Yeah I think the issue of this creating so much e-waste really will turn into a PR nightmare. Users can find workarounds for most of the Win11 issues they have. But to just say their existing computers are junk, when the hardware cutoff may involve tens of millions of computers or more, is .. not good .. at all.  I blame the Office team for a lot of this, because they don't want to continue using an older base OS for their code. But most people don't want Office to change either, so there you go. :)  The Win10 LTSC is not exempt from this - they aren't supporting Office on that platform after LTSC leaves mainstream support (5 years) and same for Windows Server.  A lot of MS customers would pay good $ not to change anything - but a lot of suits at MS feel (and they may be at least half right here) that if they don't change software (with new AI features, etc) then a competitor will come along and eat their lunch (even if it takes years like it did with IBM).  So everyone has points here, but I think with more communication (REAL communication) and listening to customers MS can come to a solution (or, maybe 2 solutions) that can satisfy almost (almost) everyone.  But they have to be willing to listen too. 

[Goodguy1585]

Switched to Linux 15 years ago and have never been happier.

I keep my computers as long as I want (without any software company telling me when to upgrade), never spend a dime on an os, and am happy knowing my system is always up to date and secure.

Not to mention a desktop that is customizable however I want (I like taskbars...).

Only came here to relish never having to deal with this Microsoft BS ever again 

[A1]

@Goodguy1585

Unfortunately - your Linux advertisement is not related to this article, and your confidence in Linux security - is just fun!

[Charles_Gilley]

I'm stunned by the apologists here.  I want their drugs.

[pp03pp03pp03pp03]

fix activation in 10 enterprise ltsc eval please !!!

[Danishz]

Please low the requirement windows 11 to all user out there before forcing people to use windows 11? Can you all do for it? 

[Charles_Gilley]

a1 - in all fairness, Windows 11 was advertised as being necessary for "security" - just more disinformation from Microsoft.  Wait, I'm not a journalist so I'll call it an outright lie.  Period.  The context of this discussion is why is Windows 10 being sunsetted?  No other reason than revenue.  Windows 7 worked fine, Windows 8 was an abortion.

Meanwhile, do you really want to have a pissing contest about linux vs. microsoft security?  Want to stake your paycheck on it?  I'm sure there are smart people working at Microsoft.  Heck, someone could write their phd thesis on the management involved.  That said, we have one group messing with the task bar for no apparent reason.  Other changes occur to other products for no apparent reason.  

Forcing people to W11 has NOTHING to do with security.

[A1]

Hi,    @Charles_Gilley

Windows11 - another change in system requirements. - Microsoft Community Hub

This is my post from September 2021 - it is still valid and explains on what basis the hardware requirements for Windows11 were changed - this was a recommendation of partners and many recognized institutions ( it was not a unilateral decision of Microsoft )

I would also like to have support for Windows 10 by 2030. :)

[jnor321]

@A1,  OH yes it was, you better believe it was. We all wonder why MS has given Win 10 upgrades for free right after the flop of 8. This was a "**bleep**, we gotta fix this. We just had the Vista crash." This was all in the plan and all the big PC companies were all in. Well, we are now going to start witnessing it. Perfectly good hardware forced into obsolescence, and customers are forced to trash their perfectly working computers because of bogus strict hardware requirements all while MS rakes in the dough from the Big Pc conglomerates and the advertisements we all now get shoved down our throats. etc. SMMFH!

[A1]

@jnor321

I expect to extend support for Windows10 until 2027 - this is very likely.

Of course, we will see in 2 years what will happen to our computers?

[Ryan Spooner]

@JosephJSchulerJr 8th gen processors were released almost 6 years ago.  If Dell managed to flog you an old stock laptop with a 7th gen processor 3 years ago, then you were had my friend.

[holladaym]

Thank you microsoft for giving me the motivation to finally switch to linux <3

[Charles_Gilley]

@A1 - I read your post, and I'll believe you that MS got together with others.  If that's the case, they made an abysmal attempt at conveying that information.  You know the old helicopter pilot, fog and Microsoft joke right?  The problem that MS has is that there are really smart people using their products.  I've developed on 5 os' so far in my career - only one crashes on a regular basis - Windows (hold that thought for a sec).  When I upgraded to Windows 10, MS decided it was okay to force machines to reboot without providing an option to delay.  I am a developer, I run professional, my machines are typically working for weeks on end without a reboot.  I get up in the morning to find MS has rebooted them?  Asinine decisions like this have cost MS huge credibility in the market place.  Fool me once, shame on you...

Anyway - I am happy to say Windows 10 rarely crashes on me.  As I type this, I cannot remember my last blue screen.  So credit where credit is due.

peace

[A1]

@Charles_Gilley 

The decisions have been officially announced and customers have been notified in advance, so the next step is the customer's decision - anyone can continue with Microsoft, or opt out. 

Announcing new Windows 11 innovation, with features for secure, efficient IT management and intuitiv...

Windows11 has a future - it is being improved, so criticism helps everyone :)

[Charles_Gilley]

Are you serious?  Are you a troll or a chatgpt bot from MS?  Seriously?  "the decisions have been notified in advance" is such a truck load of bullshit you have lost all credibility.  

Wow you are a respected contributor.  fail ms.

[A1]

@Charles_Gilley   ]:([

"The current version, 22H2, will be the final version of Windows 10, and all editions will remain in support with monthly security update releases through that date. Existing LTSC releases will continue to receive updates beyond that date based on their specific lifecycles."

[Draykanos]

Microsoft throwing a new coat of paint onto an already horribly bloated, outdated and haphazardly created operating system that is still using nearly the exact same code from nearly 15 years ago (vista) is just a sad joke at this point. I like Microsoft and their services but Windows 11 is a big no for me. It literally comes pre-installed with over 20 apps that the majority of people most likely are never going to use once. This is not counting the fact that $2000 machines from barely 5 years ago are classed as "outdated" just because Microsoft wants to say they've included something new security-wise. Bleh. How have we gotten to the point where Linux actually is starting to get a decent marketshare?

[Raptor2213]

I don't care what you say about Windows 11, in the same way that I never downgraded to Windows 8 from 7, I'm never downgrading to Windows 11, and I' fully intended to recommend the same for every company I work for.

Windows 11 is worse than 10 in literally every way possible.

• More intrusive.
• More ads.
• Worse GUI (requiring extra clicks for every menu).
• Worse performance.