Windows 10 Support Has Ended: What It Means for Your Office in 2026

If your office still uses Windows 10, review upgrade options and Extended Security Updates before the next ESU coverage year. Standard commercial ESU charges increase by coverage year and include prior years when enrolling late.

What actually happened

Microsoft ended standard support for Windows 10 on 14 October 2025. Machines still running it do not stop working, but they stop receiving security updates unless they are enrolled in the Extended Security Updates programme, which is a paid subscription.

If your office still uses Windows 10, start by checking each device, its software requirements and its eligibility for Windows 11 or Extended Security Updates.

Why October 2026 is the deadline that matters

For standard commercial volume licensing, ESU Year One (2025-26) costs $61 USD per device. Pricing doubles in each subsequent coverage year. Consumer, education and qualifying cloud licensing arrangements may differ.

You cannot skip a year. If you enrol after Year One closes, you are charged for Year One retroactively as well as Year Two. A machine enrolled in Year Two costs $183, not $122. By Year Three the cumulative cost is $427 per machine.

For ten devices at standard commercial pricing, Year One totals $610. First enrolling in Year Two totals $1,830 for Years One and Two combined. These are license-cost examples, not Pine quotes.

The part nobody mentions: some machines cannot upgrade at all

Windows 11 eligibility depends on a supported processor, TPM 2.0 and other system requirements, not simply the age of the computer. Check each device against Microsoft's requirements before deciding to upgrade or replace it.

Windows 11 eligibility and drive encryption are separate checks. A PC that cannot upgrade to Windows 11 may still support BitLocker. Review its Windows edition, configuration and encryption status before making a replacement decision.

Prices are moving against you

Computer memory has become dramatically more expensive through 2026. In February, Gartner forecast that surging memory costs would push PC prices up 17% compared with 2025 levels, on the back of a projected 130% rise in combined memory and solid state drive prices. Memory alone is expected to account for 23% of what it costs to build a PC by the end of 2026, up from 16% in 2025.

The practical effect is that quotes now expire quickly. The pricing we are given typically holds for about two weeks rather than the month it used to, and figures can move between the day you approve a purchase order and the day stock ships. This is unusual, and it is worth knowing before you start collecting quotes.

What we would suggest

1. Find out what you actually have. Most offices do not have a current list of their computers, their ages and their specifications. You cannot make a sensible decision without one, and it can support your wider technology and security planning.
2. Split the fleet into three groups: machines that can upgrade to Windows 11 for free, machines that need a supported alternative or replacement, and machines you would replace anyway because they are slow.
3. Replace in waves, not all at once, unless you have a reason to do otherwise. Twenty to thirty percent of your machines per year keeps the cost predictable and stops every computer in the office ageing out simultaneously.
4. Get quotes early and expect them to be short-lived. Ask any supplier how long their pricing holds. If they cannot tell you, that is informative.

We can do the first step for you, free

Pine Tech Group is a Maryland business working with offices across Frederick County and the surrounding area. We will come to your office, spend about thirty minutes going through your computers, and give you a one-page inventory: what you have, how old it is, which machines can take Windows 11 and which cannot.

There is no charge and no obligation to buy anything. You keep the document either way, and if you work in a profession that requires a written security plan, that inventory may help with your planning; it is not a compliance assessment.

Where these numbers come from

We would rather you checked us than took our word for it. Every figure above comes from one of these three places, and all of them are public.

• The $61 price, the doubling, and the back-billing. Microsoft's own documentation gives the $61 per device Year One price for organisations, states that the price doubles every consecutive year for a maximum of three years, and confirms that the updates are cumulative, so enrolling in Year Two means paying for Year One as well. Extended Security Updates program for Windows 10, Microsoft Learn
• How many machines are still on Windows 10. Statcounter tracks this monthly from real browser traffic and publishes it free. Desktop Windows version market share, United States, Statcounter
• The 17% price rise. Gartner press release, 26 February 2026. Surging memory costs will reduce global PC and smartphone shipments in 2026

If something here goes out of date and we have not caught it, tell us and we will correct it.

Windows and BitLocker are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. Last reviewed 1 August 2026.