Microsoft's Windows 10 operating system reaches end of support in October 2025. This means no updates anymore for the operating system, including security updates.

This is a problem for many users, especially for users who run systems with hardware that is not compatible with Microsoft's official list of supported hardware for Windows 11.

One way out of this is to extend support via ESU.

What is ESU? Extended Security Updates were introduced by Microsoft for Windows 7. Organizations could pay Microsoft to extend support for up to three years.

For Windows 10, Microsoft widened the ESU-program to also include home users. Microsoft charges home customers $30 for a year of extended security updates. Notably, Microsoft is limiting the offer to a single year. Business customers on the other hand may extend support for three or even more years.

Windows 7 ESU Bypass hack

Back when Microsoft announced ESU for Windows 7, bypasses were discovered that enabled these updates on any Windows 7 machines, even home systems and devices that did not join ESU officially.

What this meant was that devices would continue to receive updates from Microsoft, even after the official end of support. These continue to work five years after Microsoft ended support for Windows 7 officially. While there are some limitations, only 64-bit Windows 7 remains supported, the bypass continues to work as to this day.

Windows 8 did not get any ESU.

Windows 10 ESU-bypass

Windows 10 customers may extend support for one or three years, depending on whether they are a consumer or business.

Preliminary tests show that Bypass ESU is working on Windows 10 devices as well. This would unlock security updates after October 2025 on systems on which the patch is installed.

The only downside, apart from the question of legality, is that Windows 10 Home updates cannot be extended for more than one year. Devices that run Windows 10 Pro on the other hand support at least three years of ESU updates in theory.

Closing Words

The end of Windows 10 support impacts millions of PC users significantly. While millions of Windows 10 PCs can be upgraded to Windows 11, tens of millions can't because of the altered system requirements of Windows 11.

These customers need to make a decision regarding the future of the device. ESU is one option to extend support, especially if the device is working perfectly fine. Another is to use the services of the micro-patching company 0Patch instead. For about $30 per year, 0Patch promises to release security patches for Windows 10 until at least 2030.

Now You: do you still run Windows 10 on your PC? What is your plan for October 2025? Feel free to leave a comment down below.