Support has ended, the machines keep running
Windows 10 has not been supported since 14 October 2025. It is an end-of-support date, not a date when things stop working: the machines still boot, connect, print and run the usual applications. That is precisely what makes the situation misleading: nothing signals the problem visually, while exposure to vulnerabilities grows every month without standard patches, and no internal indicator makes it visible before an incident occurs.
A global installed base still largely on Windows 10
Statistics from early 2026 show that the transition is far from over, confirming that the subject is still current for many businesses. Depending on the source, Windows 10 still accounted for between a quarter and around 40% of the global installed base in early 2026 (around 26% according to StatCounter, more than 41% according to other measurements at the end of 2025), compared with more than 80% at its peak. The gap between these figures ultimately matters less than the shared conclusion: hundreds of millions of machines still run a system now deprived of standard security patches.
Windows 10 market share in early 2026: around 26 to 41% depending on the source
Windows 11 market share in early 2026: now the majority
Historical peak of Windows 10: more than 80%
Machines still concerned worldwide: several hundred million
Many organisations have opted for gradual migration plans stretching into 2026, or even 2027, relying on Extended Security Updates to buy time. This is not an isolated anomaly: it is the de facto situation of a significant share of business estates, which changes nothing about the individual level of risk of each company concerned.
What end of support means in practice
No more security patches through the standard channel.
No more new features or ordinary functional fixes.
Third-party vendors gradually scaling back their testing on Windows 10.
Increased risks regarding cyber insurance, compliance and customer requirements.
A possible dependency on the paid, time-limited Extended Security Updates (ESU) programme if the migration cannot be completed right away.
The realistic options in 2026
Migrate to Windows 11
This is the target path for most compatible machines. It requires checking TPM 2.0, processor, memory, storage, drivers, encryption and business applications.
Replace incompatible machines
Part of the Windows 10 estate does not meet Windows 11 requirements, especially on TPM 2.0 and processor generation: the oldest hardware fails the compatibility checks. In that case, it is better to plan a renewal in batches rather than multiply exceptions.
Use ESU as a temporary safety net
Extended Security Updates can be useful for a few machines blocked by a business constraint, but they must not become a long-term strategy. They buy time, not modernisation.
Isolate machines that cannot migrate
For an industrial machine, legacy software or specific equipment, exposure must be reduced: network segmentation, limited accounts, logging, backup, controlled access and a replacement plan.
Why 2026 is the year it all plays out
Many companies postponed the migration on the grounds that it still works. The problem is that the longer the estate ages without standard patches, the more the migration becomes urgent rather than planned. With several hundred million machines still on Windows 10 worldwide in early 2026, the window to catch up is narrowing, and companies that wait expose themselves to growing pressure on providers' prices and lead times as the collective urgency rises.
What ESU really covers, and what it does not
The Extended Security Updates programme deserves to be understood precisely before it becomes a strategy, even a temporary one. ESU only provides critical and important security patches, with no new features and no fixes for non-security bugs. Nor does it restore standard Microsoft technical support for compatibility or performance problems. For a business, this means that a machine under ESU remains protected against the most serious flaws but keeps accumulating invisible technical debt: drivers no longer updated, growing incompatibilities with recent third-party software, and none of the structural security improvements introduced in newer versions of Windows.
Not every machine migrates the same way
A prior compatibility audit makes it possible to distinguish machines that can migrate, machines to replace and special cases. This step avoids discovering blockers one machine at a time in the middle of the migration. It also helps anticipate the impact on users: profiles, software, printers, VPN, encryption, local rights, file access and business tools.
Plan rather than endure
A well-planned estate migration greatly limits the impact: systematic backup, migration in batches, application validation, communication with users and profile restoration. For larger estates, a master image or automated deployment speeds up the move to Windows 11 (see our article on deployment with a master image).
Migration, an opportunity not to waste
An estate migration is demanding, but it opens a rare window: the chance to overhaul how IT is managed. Since every machine is being touched to move it to Windows 11, you might as well take the opportunity to lay the foundations of healthier administration, rather than reproducing an ageing organisation identically. It is the right moment to enrol machines in a centralised management tool, apply a consistent security baseline and standardise configurations once and for all.
Many companies also seize the opportunity to move to cloud management of their estate through Microsoft 365 and Intune, which avoids redoing this work manually at the next renewal (see our article on managing an IT estate without an in-house IT department). The migration then stops being a mere update you have to put up with and becomes a modernisation investment whose benefits extend well beyond the move to Windows 11.
Do not wait for an incident to act
The real risk of end of support is not immediate, it is cumulative. Every month spent on a system without standard patches widens the attack surface, and on the day an incident occurs, the company often discovers at the same time that its cyber insurer is reluctant to cover an obsolete estate and that its customers expected a level of compliance it did not have. Add to this economic pressure: the closer the collective deadline, the more demand floods in to providers, with lead times lengthening and prices rising. Migrating early means choosing your timetable rather than having it imposed. Conversely, migrating in a hurry, under the twin pressure of an incident and a saturated market, combines stress, extra cost and hasty decisions.
We offer a Windows 11 migration and estate modernisation service with a prior compatibility audit, price tiers based on the size of the estate, and the option to start with the audit alone. The audit and preparation are carried out remotely; on-site work is possible on quotation. Contact us to review your estate.
Sources: Computerworld, Windows 10's market share is more than hanging in there · Microsoft Lifecycle, Windows 10 Home and Pro