Update, 13 October 2026: Windows 11 24H2 Home and Pro have reached end of updates. Your PC still starts and works, but it no longer receives monthly security fixes.
What to do now: open Settings → Windows Update → Check for updates and install 25H2, or 26H2 if it is offered for your PC. Enterprise and Education editions of 24H2 keep getting updates until 12 October 2027.
Short answer: Windows 11 24H2 Home and Pro reach end of updates on 13 October 2026. Enterprise and Education 24H2 continue until 12 October 2027. Your PC does not stop booting at the deadline; the affected version loses its normal flow of updates and support. Choose a supported release that Windows Update offers for your device.
Editorial review — 1 October 2026 UTC: We checked Microsoft’s current servicing table, lifecycle pages, release-health notices and installation documentation. We did not install Windows or test an upgrade.
Check the edition as well as the version
Use winver for the version/build and Settings → System → About for the edition. Write both down before using a deadline table. An Enterprise 24H2 machine and a Home 24H2 machine can share a build family while having different servicing dates.
The table below uses the date columns in Microsoft’s Windows 11 release information. It covers the ordinary servicing releases, not every LTSC product.
| Version / build family | Home and Pro family: end of updates | Enterprise and Education family: end of updates |
|---|---|---|
| 23H2 / 22631 | Already ended | 10 November 2026 |
| 24H2 / 26100 | 13 October 2026 | 12 October 2027 |
| 25H2 / 26200 | 12 October 2027 | 10 October 2028 |
| 26H1 / 28000 | 14 March 2028 | 13 March 2029 |
| 26H2 / 26300 | 10 October 2028 | 9 October 2029 |
Home/Pro-family columns include Pro Education and Pro for Workstations. Enterprise-family columns also list IoT Enterprise and multi-session; IoT Enterprise is not supported on 26H1. Version 26H1 serves selected new hardware and is not an in-place feature update from 24H2 or 25H2. Version 26H2 entered general availability on 29 September 2026; that does not mean every PC is immediately offered it.
SE and LTSC need separate decisions
The Home and Pro lifecycle page says 24H2 is Windows 11 SE’s final supported version. Do not promise an SE device a later Windows 11 SE update. The servicing table separately gives Enterprise LTSC 2024 an end date of 9 October 2029; only IoT Enterprise LTSC 2024 has the listed extended-support date of 10 October 2034.
What changes after the deadline
Microsoft’s 24H2 notice says the affected Home/Pro editions stop receiving monthly security and preview updates, known-issue fixes, time-zone updates and technical support. An installed application continuing to work does not establish that the operating system is still serviced.
Keep three questions separate: does the machine run, is this Windows release still supported, and does its hardware qualify for the upgrade you intend to use? A “yes” to the first does not answer the other two.
Make an upgrade decision before changing the PC
- Keep a usable copy of irreplaceable files and record your edition/build.
- Install applicable pending updates and complete required restarts.
- Open Settings → Windows Update and check the actual release offered to this device.
- Read that release’s known issues and any device-specific hold before proceeding.
- After an upgrade, check the resulting version/build and whether your essential applications and peripherals work.
These are checkpoints for your own migration; they are not results of a test performed by this site. For a work or school device, the administrator controls deployment timing. A missing offer deserves investigation rather than automatically bypassing the hold.
The documented 24H2-to-25H2 package
KB5054156 describes the shared core of 24H2 and 25H2 and an enablement package requiring one restart. Its prerequisites are 24H2 plus KB5064081 from 29 August 2025 or a later cumulative update. This describes that particular route, not a generic promise that every future feature update is a small download.
The 24H2 release-health page still contains a rollout statement dated March 2026 describing 25H2. For the current release list, use the servicing table above; do not read that dated paragraph as proof that 26H2 is unavailable.
Current Microsoft media is not fixed to 25H2
The current Microsoft download page labels its release 2026 Update / 26H2. Installation Assistant and Media Creation Tool are x64 routes; Arm64 ISO information is separate. Check the version and architecture before selecting media. Installation media and an enablement package are different methods.
If the hardware does not qualify
Microsoft’s unsupported-hardware notice warns that these devices do not receive support and are not guaranteed updates, including security updates. A workaround does not make the machine supported. Our PC Health Check guide helps identify which requirement failed; our 25H2 installation guide discusses a separate, unsupported path and its limits.
Windows 10 consumer ESU is a different program and is not an extension for Windows 11 24H2. See the ESU overview if you are actually running Windows 10. For selected-hardware 26H1 versus ordinary feature-update releases, use our version comparison.
If the version you need is not offered, use our 26H2 missing-update checklist to separate gradual rollout, a compatibility notice, a managed deployment and an actual installation error.
