{"id":58533,"date":"2025-05-15T15:06:57","date_gmt":"2025-05-15T13:06:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.schneider.im\/?p=58533"},"modified":"2026-03-02T17:06:55","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T16:06:55","slug":"microsoft-windows-10-cloud-enabled-extended-security-updates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.schneider.im\/lu\/microsoft-windows-10-cloud-enabled-extended-security-updates\/","title":{"rendered":"Microsoft Windows 10 Extended Security Updates (ESU): Comparing all Licensing Options"},"content":{"rendered":"

Windows 10 will retire on October 14, 2025<\/strong>. After that date, most versions of Windows 10<\/strong> (Windows 10 Enterprise and Education, Windows 10 Home and Pro, Windows 10 IoT Enterprise) will not get any security updates anymore<\/strong>, endangering your Windows 10 environments.<\/p>\n

To extend your security updates on Windows 10 PCs<\/strong>, Microsoft offers Extended Security Updates (ESU)<\/strong>, which can be licensed in various ways<\/strong>. These updates are essential for organizations that need extra time to transition to newer versions<\/strong> of Windows or to manage legacy applications that are not yet compatible with Windows 11.<\/p>\n

In this article<\/strong>, you will learn about your options, and how to license correctly<\/strong> to save costs<\/strong> while securing your Windows 10 environments<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Overview<\/h2>\n
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  1. Virtualize in Azure<\/a><\/li>\n
  2. Standard ESU (“Windows 10 ESU” license)<\/a><\/li>\n
  3. Cloud Managed (“Windows 10 ESU Cloud Managed” license)<\/a><\/li>\n
  4. Windows 365<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

     <\/p>\n

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     <\/p>\n

    Licensing Options for Windows 10 Extended Security Updates (ESU)<\/h2>\n

    There are four options<\/strong> to license Windows 10 Extended Security Updates<\/strong> (ESU), as shown below:<\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/p>\n

    Let\u2019s explore the available licensing options<\/strong> for Windows 10 ESU, in the order shown in the screenshot<\/strong>, with a clear explanation<\/strong> of what<\/strong> each option is, how<\/strong> it works, and who<\/strong> it is for:<\/p>\n

    \n

    1. Virtualize in Azure<\/strong><\/h3>\n