A few years back, when Microsoft released Windows 10 it was said it would be their last version of Windows, ever. It was, well , not really and as of June 2021, not at all.
Windows 11 is about to be released in 2021, with Microsoft updating the product support page to indicate support for Windows 10 home and professional will end in 2025. Due to Limited Windows 11 CPU support you might be stuck on Windows 10 for a while.
Every so often, you’ll receive a big Windows update known as a ‘Feature Update,’ and they come twice a year. Typically one in the fall and again in the spring.
These feature upgrades change the operating system’s key functions; the version of Windows 10 you experience today is very different from the first version from over 2015.
In the past, Microsoft had you buy a version of Windows, and every few years came out with a new version; this created support challenges and fragmentation within the industry.
Windows 10 is part of the Modern Lifecycle Policy, wherein it will be fully supported forever, provided you keep doing regular updates.
The last feature upgrade was in May of 2021, also known as Windows 10, version 21H1. This is the most current version of Windows, and you should have the installed or Version 20H2. If you have a older version, you are or will soon be missing critical updates that keep your system secure.
To know your Windows version, right-click on your start button and select ‘system’ this should pop up a new window, and if you scroll down you should see something similar to this:
In this image you can see was using Windows 10 Pro version 2004 that will be no-longer be supported as of December 2021.
If you are using Windows 10 Professional or Home version 2004, you must know as of December 14, 2021 you will need to upgrade. After these dates, they will no longer be supported by Microsoft or receive security updates.
If you have an older version than that, it’s been unsupported for over a year! Reach out to your IT partner on this subject; let’s keep our systems up to date.
This is the current Windows 10 Lifecycle for various versions:
| Windows 10 Version History | Date of Availability | End of Service for Home, Pro |
| Windows 10, version 21H1 | May 18, 2021 | Dec 13, 2022 |
| Windows 10, version 20H2 | October 20, 2020 | May 10, 2022 |
| Windows 10, version 2004 | May 27, 2020 | December 14, 2021 |
| Windows 10, version 1909 | November 12, 2019 | May 20, 2021 |
| Windows 10, version 1903 | May 21, 2019 | December 8, 2020 |
| Windows 10, version 1809 | November 13, 2018 | November 10, 2020 |
| Windows 10, version 1803 | April 30, 2018 | November 12, 2019 |
| Windows 10, version 1709 | October 17, 2017 | April 9, 2019 |
| Windows 10, version 1703 | April 5, 2017 | October 9, 2018 |
| Windows 10, version 1607 | August 2, 2016 | April 10, 2018 |
| Windows 10, version 1511 | November 10, 2015 | October 10, 2017 |
| Windows 10, 1507 | July 29, 2015 | May 9 2017 |
Updated 05-27-21 to reflect new windows editions
