Windows 10 ESU After 13 October 2026: Year 2 for Business

The first year of paid Extended Security Updates (ESU) for business Windows 10 PCs ended on 13 October 2026. Free support had already ended on 14 October 2025. If your business still runs Windows 10 on its own PCs, each one is now in one of two states: enrolled for ESU Year 2, or no longer receiving security updates. The exception is a cloud desktop, covered below.

The machines keep working, which is why the problem is easy to miss. The first security update a Year-1-only PC will not get is November’s, due on Tuesday 10 November 2026. From then on, every month adds to the list of unpatched vulnerabilities.

Here is where things stand, and what we would do in your position.

The Short Version

You have three options for every Windows 10 PC the business owns:

1. Pay for ESU Year 2: double last year’s price, per device, and Year 1 as well if the device skipped it
2. Upgrade to Windows 11: free, if the hardware qualifies
3. Replace the machine: the right answer more often than people expect

The only other route is moving the work onto a Windows 365 or Azure Virtual Desktop cloud desktop, which includes ESU (see below). Running Windows 10 without ESU means unpatched vulnerabilities on machines that hold your email, your files and your clients’ data, in a year when the government’s breach survey found 43% of UK businesses reported a breach or attack.

Where Things Stand Now

For business devices, Microsoft’s lifecycle schedule sets out three ESU years, each ending on a fixed date:

• Year 1 ended on 13 October 2026
• Year 2 ends on 12 October 2027
• Year 3 ends on 10 October 2028, and then the updates stop for good

A Windows 10 PC enrolled for Year 1 only received its last security update on 13 October 2026. ESU covers Windows 10 version 22H2 only, and it includes security fixes only: no new features, no non-security fixes and no technical support.

What ESU Costs Now

Microsoft’s business ESU pricing was designed to move you off Windows 10, and it works like a ratchet. Microsoft publishes it in US dollars: $61 per device for Year 1, doubling each consecutive year, for a maximum of three years. There is no official sterling price. The pound figures below are conversions at the European Central Bank reference rate on 23 September 2026 (about 75p to the dollar), not a Microsoft price list, and what you pay will depend on your licensing partner and agreement.

• Year 1 (ended 13 October 2026): $61 per device, roughly £46
• Year 2 (to 12 October 2027): $122 per device, roughly £92
• Year 3 (to 10 October 2028): $244 per device, roughly £184, and then it ends for good

ESU is cumulative: Microsoft requires a device joining in Year 2 to pay for Year 1 as well, so a PC that skipped Year 1 costs $183, roughly £138, to bring into Year 2. A 20-person firm keeping every Windows 10 machine through Year 2 pays around £1,840 for one more year of patches, or about £2,760 if none of them were enrolled for Year 1. That is money spent on machines that are, by definition, getting old: holding the problem in place rather than solving it.

Windows 10 virtual machines in Windows 365 and Azure Virtual Desktop get ESU at no extra cost, and Microsoft also extends ESU to Windows 10 PCs that connect to Windows 365 Cloud PCs while the subscription is active. That is worth knowing if a cloud desktop was already on your list.

Budget the replacement properly, though: new hardware usually arrives with a Microsoft 365 licence review attached, and those prices moved on 1 July. Our Microsoft 365 2026 pricing breakdown covers what each plan now costs and when the new rate actually hits your bill.

The consumer extension to 2027 does not cover business PCs

In June 2026 Microsoft extended the consumer ESU programme for personal-use devices by a year, to 12 October 2027. Home users can enrol free if they sync their PC settings, with 1,000 Microsoft Rewards points, or with a one-time $30 purchase. That generated a lot of confused headlines. Microsoft is clear that the consumer programme can’t be used in commercial scenarios and won’t be offered to devices joined to Active Directory or Microsoft Entra, or enrolled in device management. For company PCs, the commercial schedule above is the one that matters. Do not plan around a consumer concession.

The Other Deadlines That Passed on 13 October 2026

Windows 10 was not the only thing that reached a deadline that day:

• Windows 11 Home and Pro, version 24H2, reached the end of servicing on 13 October 2026, according to Microsoft’s lifecycle page. Machines still on 24H2 need moving to 25H2 to keep receiving security updates. On a managed fleet this is a routine feature update; on unmanaged PCs it is easy to miss.
• Office LTSC 2021 (and Project and Visio LTSC 2021) reached end of support on the same day, per Microsoft’s partner announcements. If you bought Office as a one-off licence a few years ago, check which version it is.

Will Your Machines Run Windows 11?

Most business laptops and desktops bought from 2019 onwards meet Windows 11’s requirements (8th-gen Intel or equivalent, TPM 2.0, Secure Boot). If your kit qualifies, the upgrade is free and, done properly, a non-event for staff.

“Done properly” is doing some work in that sentence. A fleet upgrade should include:

• A compatibility audit before anything is touched (five minutes per machine, saves days of pain)
• Verified backups, so a failed upgrade is an inconvenience rather than an incident
• Staggered rollout, never everyone on the same morning
• A check that your line-of-business software actually runs on Windows 11 (it almost always does; the exceptions are exactly the apps you cannot live without)

This is routine work for a managed IT support provider. Start with the machines that pass the check: every one you upgrade is one less ESU licence to buy.

When Replacing Is Cheaper Than Keeping

Here is the maths people avoid doing. Take a 2018 laptop that cannot run Windows 11. These are illustrative estimates, not quotes:

• Year 2 ESU: $122, or roughly £92 converted (about £138 if it skipped Year 1)
• Slower hardware costing a conservative 15 minutes of productivity a day: £800+ a year at London salaries
• Higher failure risk on a 7-year-old battery, drive and fan: call it £150 a year in expected cost
• A capable business laptop: £450–700, with three years of warranty and native Windows 11

On those numbers the replacement pays for itself inside twelve months, and you stop paying for patches on hardware you were going to replace anyway. For small businesses we usually recommend replacing anything that fails the Windows 11 check rather than buying ESU Year 2. The exception is specialist machines tied to hardware (lab kit, CNC controllers, till systems), which deserve ESU while you plan properly.

The Compliance Angle Nobody Mentions

If you hold Cyber Essentials, or want to, unsupported operating systems are a straightforward fail. The scheme requires software that is licensed and supported. IASME, which runs the scheme, treats Windows 10 devices enrolled in ESU as supported, so ESU keeps them in scope while you migrate. A device whose ESU Year 1 ran out on 13 October 2026 without Year 2 has been unsupported since that day.

The same question appears on cyber insurance renewals and client due-diligence questionnaires. If your firm answers security questionnaires to win work, a Windows 10 estate without ESU is a line item you will have to disclose, and explain.

What To Do Now

If you still have Windows 10 machines, do things in this order:

This week: audit the fleet. Every device, OS version (including Windows 11 24H2), Windows 11 eligibility, age and ESU status. If that list does not exist yet, building it is the first job, and an afternoon usually covers it.

Before 10 November: buy ESU Year 2 only for the machines you have consciously chosen to keep, including anything still waiting for its replacement, so nothing misses November’s security update. Remember that a device which skipped Year 1 needs Year 1 as well.

Over the next few weeks: upgrade everything that qualifies, in waves, and move Windows 11 24H2 machines to 25H2. Order replacements for what does not qualify.

Then: migrate users to their new machines and decommission the old ones properly. Drive wiping is part of the job, not an optional extra.

The Bottom Line

The October 2026 deadline was never really about Microsoft. It is a forcing function for a hardware and security decision you would eventually make anyway. If you let the date pass without deciding, the decision still has to be made, and every month without updates makes it more expensive.

If you would like the audit done for you, book a free 30-minute review. We will go through which machines look able to upgrade, which should be replaced, and which genuinely deserve another year of ESU, and you will come away with a straightforward list to work from.