Somewhere in most offices there’s a laptop nobody has thought about for years, still running Windows 10 and still doing its job. Microsoft’s lifecycle page for Windows 10 Home and Pro gives 14 October 2025 as the date support ends. That turns the forgotten laptop into a planning item, because replacing hardware can take longer than you’d expect to arrange.
What the date means, and what it doesn’t
Windows 10 version 22H2 is the final version, and all editions stay in support with monthly security update releases through that date. The page covers the Home, Pro, Pro Education and Pro for Workstations editions, and says long-term servicing (LTSC) releases follow their own lifecycles, so if you run Enterprise, Education or LTSC, check the pages for those editions.
Nothing dramatic happens on the day. The PC still starts and your applications still open. What stops is the monthly security updates, and without them a weakness found afterwards may never be fixed on that machine. Microsoft’s Windows lifecycle FAQ (updated 1 October 2024) says anyone who carries on with Windows 10 after that date will have the option of enrolling in a paid Extended Security Updates programme, with details including pricing to be provided later. Why updates matter covers the general case.
If you’re working towards Cyber Essentials, the requirements point the same way. They say software must be supported by its vendor and taken off a device once it stops being supported, unless the device is removed from scope by a defined set of controls that stops all traffic to and from the internet. So a PC on an unsupported operating system would be hard to keep within the scheme. We aren’t a certification body and your assessor has the final say. The NCSC requirements document is the April 2023 version.
Find out what you have
Before anyone talks about replacing anything, you need a list. A spreadsheet is fine. For each device note who uses it, roughly how old it is, which edition and version of Windows it runs, and what software the person depends on. It’s dull work, but it’s how an unlisted desktop under someone’s desk gets noticed.
Then check each one against Windows 11. The Windows 11 requirements ask, among other things, for a compatible 64-bit processor with two or more cores, 4 GB of memory and 64 GB of storage. They also want TPM 2.0, a security chip that protects things like encryption keys, and firmware that supports Secure Boot, which checks that the software starting the PC hasn’t been tampered with. To upgrade directly, the PC needs Windows 10 version 2004 or later with the 14 September 2021 security update or newer. The word “compatible” matters, because a machine can have plenty of memory and storage and still fail on its processor, so we wouldn’t judge by specification alone.
You don’t have to read chip numbers off labels. Home, Pro and Pro for Workstations users can run Microsoft’s PC Health Check app to find out whether a device is eligible, and on a device nobody manages centrally the Windows Update settings page says so too. For a small office, running that check on each PC is usually enough. For larger fleets Microsoft says to expect the capability in existing tools such as Endpoint analytics, and Enterprise and Education users should rely on their IT administrators.
Decide the order, then the routes
Once the list has a column for “passes” and “fails”, sort it. We’d start with the oldest machines and the ones that handle the most sensitive information or the most important work, because they’re the likeliest to fail the checks and the costliest to get wrong. Say a finance PC that’s seven years old goes before a spare laptop used for visitors.
For machines that pass, eligible devices can be upgraded to Windows 11 using your existing deployment and management tools, or, on a device nobody manages centrally, by someone choosing the upgrade in Windows Update. Microsoft’s end-of-support page points PCs that can’t move to Windows 11 towards buying a new PC, and the lifecycle FAQ mentions a paid extension for Windows 10 on the existing PC. We’d plan on replacement and treat the extension as a possible stopgap. Replacing machines takes ordering, setting up and handing over, so do it in batches rather than leaving every machine until the last month.
Test the software and back up first
Microsoft’s planning outline includes testing applications, and its preparation guidance says to check with the providers of any non-Microsoft tools, particularly security and data loss prevention products, that they work with Windows 11. Add the things that don’t show up in a software list: the old label printer, a scanner, the accounting package that’s only run once a month. Try the awkward ones on one pilot machine with a willing user before you touch the rest. If you have more than a handful of machines or software tied to a particular PC, that’s the point where outside help with the pilot is worth considering, since a compatibility surprise is cheaper to find on one machine than on fifty.
Back up before you upgrade or retire anything, and make sure it’s a backup you have tested, with one file restored somewhere else. An upgrade is a big change to a working computer, and it’s far better to know the files are safe than to hope.
Budget as a list of questions
We wouldn’t put a figure on this for you, and a figure from anyone who hasn’t seen your device list would be a guess. These are the questions that produce a real number. How many machines fail the checks? Which of those were due for replacement anyway? Which could be spread over two financial periods? Is any specialist software tied to a particular machine, and what would moving it involve? How much staff time do the pilot, the backups and the swap-over take?
If you plan budgeting for IT in a yearly cycle, these answers belong in the next one. If you already have ongoing support arrangements, ask whether the device list and its dates are kept up to date as part of them. And because Microsoft hadn’t yet set the terms of any paid extension, don’t build one into the budget as a certainty.
A half-finished device list, or a few machines you can’t classify, is a fair thing to bring to us through the contact page before you commit to a replacement budget.