Windows 11 version 24H2 reaches end of support on 13 October 2026 for Home, Pro, Pro Education and Pro for Workstations. That is roughly two months away. 24H2 became available on 1 October 2024 and was the shipping general-availability version of Windows 11 for the following year, so a great many PCs bought in that window are still on it. After that date, Microsoft stops shipping monthly security updates, bug fixes and technical support for those editions. Here is exactly what happens, who is affected, and the one upgrade path that actually works.
Windows 11 24H2 end of support: the dates that matter
Microsoft’s own release-information page lists the deadlines by edition. There are two different dates and they are a year apart, so check which one applies to your PC before panicking:
- Home, Pro, Pro Education, Pro for Workstations — end of updates 13 October 2026
- Enterprise, Education, IoT Enterprise, Enterprise multi-session — end of updates 12 October 2027
- Enterprise LTSC 2024 (also built on 24H2) — mainstream support until 9 October 2029; IoT Enterprise LTSC 2024 extends to 10 October 2034
For context, the versions either side of it: 23H2 has already stopped receiving updates on Home and Pro, while 25H2 runs to 12 October 2027 on consumer editions and 26H1 to 14 March 2028.
What actually stops working
Nothing dramatic happens on 14 October. Your PC boots, your apps run, your files are intact. What ends is the security servicing: no more monthly patches for newly discovered vulnerabilities, no fixes for known bugs, no technical support. On a machine you use for banking, work or anything connected to the internet, that gap widens every month. It is the same slow-burn risk that Windows 10 users hit in October 2025 — and unlike Windows 10, there is no consumer Extended Security Updates programme announced for 24H2. With Windows 10 you could at least pay (or enrol free) for extended updates; on 24H2 there is no such option to buy time.
The upgrade path: 25H2, and only 25H2
This is the part most coverage glosses over. Windows 11 26H1 exists, it is newer, and you cannot have it. Microsoft’s release-information page is blunt about why:
“Windows 11, version 26H1 is scoped to support new devices that come to market in early 2026 and is not designed as a feature update for existing devices. This version is not offered as an in-place update from 24H2 or 25H2 on existing devices.”
— Microsoft, Windows 11 release information
So if you are on 24H2 today, your destination is 25H2. That buys you until October 2027 on Home and Pro.
The good news is that this is nothing like the Windows 10 to Windows 11 jump. Microsoft documents that devices moving from 24H2 to 25H2 use an enablement package: the files are already sitting on your PC if you have kept up with monthly updates, and most 25H2 features are physically present on 24H2 already, just switched off. In Microsoft’s words, they “remain dormant until they’re turned on through the enablement package, a small, quick-to-install switch that activates all of the Windows 11, version 25H2 features.”
In practice that means a small download and one restart, not a multi-gigabyte reinstall. It is genuinely one of the least painful Windows upgrades in years.
How to check which version you are on
- Right-click Start and choose Settings.
- Select System, then About.
- Under Windows specifications, read the Edition and Version lines. Version will say 23H2, 24H2, 25H2 or 26H1.
The quicker route: press Windows key + R, type winver and press Enter. The About Windows box shows your version and OS build in one line.
For reference, after August’s Patch Tuesday the current builds are 26100.9168 on 24H2 and 26200.9168 on 25H2 — the same revision number on both, which tells you how closely the two are related.
How to get 25H2
- Open Settings, then Windows Update.
- Install every pending update first. The enablement package relies on files already delivered to your PC by recent monthly updates, so a 24H2 machine that has fallen behind is not in a position to take it.
- Restart, return to Windows Update and select Check for updates. Where 25H2 is offered, it appears as an optional feature update you choose to download and install.
- If nothing appears, wait. Microsoft staggers feature-update rollouts by hardware configuration, and forcing it early via the Installation Assistant or an ISO is worth doing only closer to the deadline, not now.
Microsoft’s release-health dashboard currently lists no open consumer-facing issues on 25H2 — the two entries on the page, a WSUS synchronisation problem and a Dell-specific Intel driver bug, are both marked resolved. That is a reasonable sign the upgrade is safe to take when it arrives.
Should you upgrade now or wait?
There is no reward for waiting. 25H2 is not a redesign that will disrupt your workflow — it is the same operating system with a switch flipped. If your PC offers it, take it and stop thinking about October. If you manage several machines at home or in a small office, work through them now rather than in the first week of October, when every unpatched Windows PC in the world is trying to do the same thing.
The one group with a real decision to make is anyone on a 24H2 machine that is old enough to be creaking. This is not that deadline — 25H2 will not cut you off — but it is a reasonable moment to check whether the hardware has another two years in it. If you want to see what the monthly servicing you would be giving up actually delivers, our coverage of August 2026’s Patch Tuesday is a fair sample.
Sources: Microsoft Windows 11 release information, Microsoft Lifecycle, What’s new in Windows 11, version 25H2
