Windows 11 24H2 end of support: Home and Pro lose updates October 13, 2026, Enterprise and Education October 12, 2027

Windows 11 version 24H2 has two end-of-support dates, and which one applies depends entirely on the edition installed. Home and Pro editions reach end of servicing on October 13, 2026. Enterprise, Education and IoT Enterprise editions of the same version are supported for a further year, until October 12, 2027. This split is standard Microsoft practice for annual Windows feature updates, but it reliably confuses readers who find one date in a headline and assume it applies to their machine. The practical test is simple: press Windows key plus R, type winver, and read both the version and the edition.^[1][2][3]

It is worth being precise about what end of servicing means, because the phrase sounds more dramatic than the reality. Nothing is disabled and nothing expires. A 24H2 machine on October 14, 2026 boots and runs identically to how it ran the day before. What changes is that Microsoft stops shipping monthly security updates, bug fixes, time zone data updates, preview updates and technical support for that specific version. From that point every newly disclosed Windows vulnerability remains unpatched on the machine indefinitely, and that exposure compounds month over month.^[2][4]

Microsoft did not wait for the deadline to force the issue. Beginning in April 2026 it started automatically upgrading unmanaged Windows 11 Home and Pro devices from 24H2 to version 25H2. Unmanaged here means consumer and small-business PCs that are not governed by enterprise update management tooling such as Windows Update for Business or Intune. Devices under IT management are excluded, which is consistent with the longer Enterprise and Education support window.^[4][5]

The rollout is phased rather than scheduled. Microsoft assesses device readiness using telemetry before offering the upgrade, which means there is no published date on which any particular PC will be offered 25H2. For a reader trying to plan, this is the awkward part: waiting passively is a bet that Microsoft's rollout reaches your device before October 13, and that bet has no stated odds. Users on unmanaged Home and Pro devices can defer a restart when the upgrade arrives, but they cannot block it indefinitely once targeted.^[5]

The remedy is free and quick, which distinguishes this deadline sharply from the Windows 10 situation many readers are conflating it with. Open Settings, go to Windows Update, click Check for updates, and if version 25H2 appears click Download and install. Because 25H2 shares a servicing branch with 24H2, the transition applies as an update rather than a complete reinstall: installed applications, settings and files remain in place, and the installation is substantially faster than a traditional feature update. Windows keeps a rollback window after the upgrade if something goes wrong.^[3][4]

The most common misunderstanding worth correcting is the Windows 10 comparison. Windows 10 reached end of support on October 14, 2025, and consumers wanting continued security updates had to enroll in a paid Extended Security Updates program. Windows 11 24H2 is a different kind of deadline entirely. It is a version cutoff inside a fully supported operating system, and there is no ESU program to buy because none is needed. The fix is an in-place upgrade at no cost. If Check for updates does not offer 25H2, the usual causes are pending prerequisite cumulative updates that must install first, or the device not yet being reached by the phased rollout, in which case installing all outstanding updates and checking again is the correct next step.^[3][4][5]