Microsoft is keeping to their promise when Windows 10 came out. Even though the name is always ‘Windows 10’, only the current and previous two versions of the operating system will continue to receive updates. This means devices still running the original Windows 10 without any major updates (version 1507, July 2015) will no longer receive Windows Updates after May 9th, 2017.
You can check what version of Windows 10 you are running since it gets confusing between names like “anniversary update” and “creators update” and the build number. The easiest way is to go to the Start Menu and type ‘winver’ without the quotes. This will bring up a window where the second line tells you the version number. In the screenshot below from my computer, it is running the Creators Update, version 1703.
If you are running version 1507 of Windows 10, you should get the latest version of Windows 10. You should be able to do this through Settings, Updates or you can trigger it at the Windows 10 Software Download site.
This end of service impacts all varieties of Windows 10 Home, Pro, Education, and Enterprise (except Windows 10 Enterprise 2015 LTSB and Windows 10 IoT Enterprise 2015 LTSB (Long Term Service Branch)). Microsoft adopted this model with the Windows-As-A-Service approach to have more frequent feature releases. You can learn more from the Microsoft Support page on Windows 10 version 1507’s end of security updates.
With Windows 10, we introduced a new model whereby we release feature updates a few times a year, rather than holding back features for a new release every 2-3 years as in the past. In doing so, it’s important that our customers stay current by installing feature updates as they are released.
While it seems a little silly that Vista was just retired this month and Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 will continue to receive updates longer than a version of Windows 10. You can see the timelines under the Windows life cycle fact sheet. Microsoft will support the current version of Windows 10 and the two most recent previous versions. That means Windows 10 version 1511 will be on the chopping block following the next release.
