Windows 10 Operating System will no longer receive security updates from 14th October 2025 – This is significant for your Cyber Essentials compliance 

Cyber Essentials certification requires organisations to use software that is licensed and supported. As all versions of the Windows 10 Operating System will soon become unsupported by Microsoft, this is significant for those organisations that use Windows 10 and are seeking to certify or recertify to Cyber Essentials.  

What is meant by updates? 

All software needs regular security updates to fix errors or ‘vulnerabilities’ in the code which criminals can exploit. If software is not receiving these updates, it becomes ‘unsupported’ and is vulnerable to threats. It will also fall out of compliance with Cyber Essentials. 

When software gets to a certain age, the vendor ceases to create and send out security updates or vulnerability fixes. At this point, the software is classed as ‘legacy’ or ‘end of life’ as it is no longer supported and therefore no longer secure to use. 

Remaining software vulnerabilities become common knowledge for hackers who create programs and services to make them easy to exploit, even for criminals with low levels of technical expertise. 

Microsoft Windows 10 is the most widely used Windows Operating System (OS). There are four editions of Microsoft 10 – Home, Professional, Enterprise and Education. 

Home and Pro editions have different support periods to the Enterprise and Education editions, please see table below.

Windows 10 Education and Enterprise editions that are running version 21H2 are no longer receiving security updates (as of 11th June 2024) and this means they are unsupported and non-compliant for Cyber Essentials.

All editions of Windows 10 will stop receiving security updates on 14th October 2025.

End of service period

If you are using Windows 10 beyond the 14th October 2025 you must be signed up to the Microsoft Extended Security Update program in order to remain compliant.

Microsoft Extended Security Updates

Microsoft is offering an Extended Security Updates program for Windows 10, details are available at:

Extended Security Updates (ESU) program for Windows 10

• Devices must be running Windows 10 version 22H2 to enrol into the program

• It’s expected that updates for Windows 10 Home Edition will be available for 1 year beyond the end of support date

• It’s expected that updates will be available for 3 years beyond the end of support date for commercial or educational organisations running Windows 10 Professional or Windows 10 Education

• Updates are limited to security-only and do not include features

• Technical support is not included

• Windows 10 ESU will be available in volume licensing starting about 12 months before the end of support date of Windows 10, or late 2024.

• Customers can't buy partial periods, for instance, only six months. Extended Security Updates are transacted per year (12-month period), starting with the end of support date.

• ESU will be free for all Windows 365 customers. For more information about Windows 365, see What is Windows 365?

How do I know which version of Windows 10 my machine is running?  

Many installations of Windows 10 will automatically update. 

To check which version of Windows 10 your machine is running, type ‘updates’ into the search bar and click on “OS Build and System info” at the right. You’ll be able to see the version details in the list. 

If the version is 21H2, updates stopped on 13th June 2023 and you are advised to update to 22H2 (or Windows 11) as soon as possible. 

If the version is 22H2, you will continue to receive updates until 14th October 2025. 

How to update Windows 10 to version 22H2 

Type ‘update’ into the search bar. The Windows update dialog will appear. 

Click ‘Check for updates’. 

Many machines will automatically download and install the update. It may be necessary to restart the machine to complete the installation. 

How to update to Windows 11 

Select the start button, then click on Settings. 

Click on Update and Security 

Select Check for Updates to see if your PC can run Windows 11, or if the upgrade is  

ready for your PC. 

How to Get Windows 11 for Your Compatible PC  

How do I know if my computer can run Windows 11? 

Windows 11 System requirements: 

Minimum 1GHz, 64-bit processor 

At least 4GB RAM 

At least 64 GB of storage space 

For full details refer to the ‘System requirements’ tab at the above page or go to Windows 11 Specs and System Requirements | Microsoft  

Organisations wishing to remain compliant for Cyber Essentials may have to update their machines in order to run Windows 11. 

Resources

Update pages for Home/Pro and Enterprise/Education respectively:

Windows 10 Home and Pro – Microsoft Lifecycle  

Windows 10 Enterprise and Education – Microsoft Lifecycle  

14th October 2025 is the end of service period for many other Microsoft products

Check the link below for details:

Ending Support in 2025 - Microsoft Lifecycle

You can check when your operating system goes out of vendor support on the Operating System Support page on the Cyber Essentials Knowledge Hub.