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 today, 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.
The news was buried in yet another long-winded post on the Windows Blog that sings the praises of 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
Today’s 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) 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.
How the sign-up process for consumers will work
“An enrollment wizard will be available through Notifications and in Settings, making it easy to enroll in ESU directly from your personal Windows 10 PC,” the company says. At that point, consumers will be able to choose from three options:
- Use Windows Backup to sync your settings to the cloud.
- Redeem 1,000 Microsoft Rewards points.
- Pay $30 (local pricing may vary).
“Once you select an option and follow the on-screen steps, your PC will automatically be enrolled,” the announcement continues. “ESU coverage for personal devices runs from October 15, 2025, through October 13, 2026.”
The enrollment wizard is available in Windows Insider builds today, and the company says it will begin rolling out to selected Windows 10 PCs in July, with broad availability expected by mid-August.
Also: How to upgrade your ‘incompatible’ Windows 10 PC to Windows 11 – 2 free options
As I’ve previously noted, this option is available only for “personal use,” a move that’s obviously designed to discourage business customers from trying to get security updates at a discount. In small businesses that aren’t part of a managed Microsoft environment, it will be impossible to enforce that restriction, and it’s unlikely that Microsoft will even try.
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What’s the catch with the free options?
Using Windows Backup to “sync your settings to the cloud” sounds like a simple option, but that depends on how it’s implemented. As it currently exists, the Windows Backup option also copies personal data to the OneDrive cloud storage service. If you have a substantial amount of data and haven’t paid for a Microsoft 365 Home or Personal subscription or a standalone storage upgrade, you’ll burn through the 5GB of default storage and possibly wind up with a big mess.
Also: Can’t upgrade your Windows 10 PC? Here are your options before it all ends in 3 months
Redeeming 1,000 Microsoft Rewards points is a simpler option. If you’ve already created a personal profile using your Microsoft Account in Edge, you might have already amassed enough points to cover that cost (those points would be worth a little under $1 if redeemed for an Amazon gift card). If your Microsoft Rewards count is starting from zero, you can quickly cover the bill by downloading the Bing app for mobile and using it for two days (500 points), then doing a series of search-based quizzes, polls, and other silly tasks for a few days to accumulate 100–200 points per day on the Microsoft Rewards site.
Also: 400 million Windows PCs vanished in 3 years. Where did they all go?
Today’s announcements represent a pretty big climb-down for Microsoft and a tacit acknowledgment that the population of Windows 10 PCs still in use in October is likely to be much larger than expected. The new ESU options won’t change the end-of-support date for Windows 10, but they do offer a one-year reprieve for price-sensitive consumers and a chance for Microsoft to soften the inevitable PR hit it will take at the end of the year.
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