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ZDNET's key takeaways

• Windows 10 PCs can receive free security updates until October 2027.
• To qualify for free personal updates, enroll with a Microsoft account.
• Customers in any of the 30 EEA countries automatically qualify.

This month's Windows updates will be delivered automatically on the second Tuesday of the month, aka Patch Tuesday. Unless you have a PC running Windows 10. Support for that operating system has officially ended, and any PC running Windows 10 with its default settings will no longer receive those critical monthly security updates from the Windows Update servers.

But don't start shopping for a replacement PC just yet, as Microsoft offers options that allow you to continue receiving those security updates until October 2027, two full years after the original end-of-support date. The original program was supposed to end in October 2026, but the company quietly extended that deadline by a full year. The new end date is Oct. 12, 2027.

Also: How to upgrade your 'incompatible' Windows 10 PC to Windows 11 - for free

When Microsoft first announced the availability of Extended Security Updates (ESU) for Windows 11, the subscription came with a $30 price tag. Thankfully, someone in Redmond realized that owners of tens of millions of consumer PCs running Windows 10 aren't ready to replace their old computers, and those customers are also not about to fork over $30 for an ESU subscription. So, a few months before the end-of-support date, the company announced new "free enrollment options" for the ESU program. 

Those free ESU subscriptions are now available for any PC running Windows 10, including the tens of millions of consumer PCs that are ineligible for the free Windows 11 upgrade because they don't meet the compatibility requirements.

ESU coverage for personal devices starts immediately and runs through Oct. 12, 2027. On personal devices, the ESU subscription needs to be activated using a Microsoft account. After signing up, the account owner can apply that update eligibility to as many as 10 PCs by signing in to each one using the same account. 

After the ESU subscription is activated on a PC, it continues to be active even if you change the user account associated with that device. After you successfully apply the ESU subscription, you can sign out from that Microsoft account and sign in with another Microsoft account or a local account, and the PC will continue to receive security updates.  

Who's eligible?

The option to sign up for an ESU subscription from a personal Windows 10 PC is now broadly available to any PC running Windows 10, version 22H2, Home, Professional, Pro Education, and Workstation editions, with the latest Windows cumulative update installed. Enterprise and Education editions are not eligible. The option is also unavailable on any PC that is joined to an Active Directory domain, Microsoft Entra ID-joined, or registered with Mobile Device Management software such as Microsoft Intune. 

Also: Microsoft said these 400 readers couldn't upgrade to Windows 11. They did it anyway

You must be signed in with an administrator account, and the account can't be set up as a child account. Because the ESU subscription is tied to a Microsoft account, you will also need to sign in to a Microsoft account as part of the enrollment process -- unless you're located in Europe. (More details on that a little later in this post.)

In addition, Microsoft says consumer ESU program enrollment options and timing "may vary by region," with a list of countries and languages that are eligible. If the consumer ESU program isn't available in your region, there's no easy option to recommend.

You can get all the details in this thorough support article on Microsoft's website: Windows 10 Consumer Extended Security Updates (ESU).

Here's how to sign up

I was able to test the enrollment process on a virtual running the final version of Windows 10 Pro with all updates installed, shortly after the end-of-support date. The sign-up link is available in Settings > Windows Update, as shown next:

Clicking "Enroll now" opens the enrollment wizard shown here. Click Next to continue.

Because I was signed in with a Microsoft account and had previously used the Windows Backup program to save my settings to Microsoft's cloud, I was waved right through with the following message:

If you're signed in with a local account or haven't previously run Windows Backup, you'll need to go through a few extra steps. You'll see this page in the enrollment wizard instead.

If you're willing to try out Microsoft's cloud-based Windows Backup utility or spend a few minutes per day with the Bing search engine over the course of a week, you can avoid that $30 charge and get the subscription for free using the enrollment wizard shown here. The easiest of the free options is to use Windows Backup to sync your settings to the cloud. If you'd rather not do that, you can redeem 1,000 Microsoft Rewards points or pay $30 (outside the US, local pricing varies).

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, enforcing this restriction would be impossible. Therefore, Microsoft has wisely decided to block personal ESU subscriptions only on commercial devices that are part of a managed enterprise network.

If you're in Europe, ESU subscriptions are free

There's one major exception to the above rules. Customers in Europe qualify automatically, no Microsoft account required. Microsoft has confirmed that customers in any of the 30 countries that are part of the European Economic Area (EEA) will qualify for free ESU subscriptions without any additional requirements. That news was announced in a letter published by the Euroconsumers Group and was also confirmed in a statement by Microsoft to Windows Central. 

What about PCs on business networks?

Enterprise customers, alas, are not eligible for these free options and will be required to pay a significantly higher price (starting at $61 per device per year, and then doubling in price each year after that) for up to three years of a commercial ESU subscription. Business ESU subscriptions are available through the Microsoft Volume Licensing Program or through Microsoft's Cloud Service Provider partners.  

What if you're not seeing the ESU offer?

Check that you meet all the requirements, as noted above. In particular, make sure you've installed the latest updates for Windows 10, version 22H2, and that you've signed in with a Microsoft account. You might need to wait for as much as a day for the option to appear.

A little determined searching will turn up instructions for making registry edits and running PowerShell commands that can force the enrollment offer to appear. In my testing, those shortcuts haven't been reliably successful and have mostly been a source of frustration. If you believe your PC is eligible for the free ESU subscription and the offer isn't available, send me an email at Win11Upgrade AT realworldwindows DOT com with as many details as possible.

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 option might not work for you. 

The Windows Backup option also offers to copy data files from your personal folders 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. 

You can avoid that issue by ensuring that you are not signed in to OneDrive before enrolling in the ESU subscription.

Also: Windows 11 upgrade failed? These are my 4 most powerful troubleshooting secrets

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 may have already accumulated enough points to cover the cost (those points would be worth just under a dollar 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 to 200 points per day on the Microsoft Rewards site.

And if none of those options work for you ... well, that will be $30, please.

Also: Can't upgrade your Windows 10 PC? You have 5 options - and must act now

The availability of extended security updates for Windows 10 on consumer PCs is a welcome security measure and a tacit acknowledgment that the population of Windows 10 PCs still in use after the end-of-support date is much larger than they had expected. Note that this is a temporary reprieve -- with an extra reprieve on top of that, courtesy of the one-year extension to the extension -- and you'll need to find a more permanent solution when October 2027 rolls around.