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With just a few months remaining until the Windows 10 end-of-support date, Microsoft seems to have belatedly realized that owners of tens of millions of consumer PCs running Windows 10 aren't ready to replace their old computers, and they're also not about to fork over $30 for a one-year Extended Security Updates (ESU) subscription.
So, at the end of June, just days before the end of its fiscal year, the company waved the white flag and announced new "free enrollment options" for the ESU program, along with a description of the steps customers will need to follow to sign up. Anyone willing to try out Microsoft's cloud-based Windows Backup or spend a few minutes per day with the Bing search engine over the course of a week can avoid the $30 tariff and get that subscription for free using the enrollment wizard shown here.
Microsoft is offering a year's worth of free security updates to owners of Windows 10 PCs. Screenshot by Ed Bott/ZDNET
The news was buried in yet another long-winded post on the Windows Blog, which praises Windows 11 and encourages business customers to upgrade their old PCs, buy new ones, or migrate to cloud-based alternatives like Windows 365.
Also: Can't quit Windows 10? You can pay Microsoft for updates after October, or try these alternatives
That announcement applies to tens of millions of consumer PCs that are ineligible for the free Windows 11 upgrade because they don't meet compatibility requirements. Enterprise customers are ineligible for the free options and will be required to pay a significantly higher price (starting at $61 per device per year, and then doubling each year after that) for up to three years of a commercial ESU subscription. Those business options are available through the Microsoft Volume Licensing Program today; Microsoft's Cloud Service Provider partners will be able to begin selling the commercial ESUs starting Sept. 1.
ESU coverage for personal devices runs from October 15, 2025, through October 13, 2026. The ESU subscription is tied to a Microsoft account and can be applied to as many as 10 PCs when signed in using that account.
Who's eligible?
The option to sign up for an ESU subscription from a personal Windows 10 PC is available in Windows Insider builds today, and the company says it will begin rolling out to additional Windows 10 PCs in July, with broad availability expected by mid-August.
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