Microsoft gives Windows laggards the 'gift of time' wrapped in licensing fees
(2026/02/24)
- Reference: 1771945272
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2026/02/24/microsoft_windows_support/
- Source link:
Microsoft is giving Windows customers the "gift of time" but expects compensation for its generosity.
In a community post, Microsoft [1]confirmed it is making up to three years of Extended Security Updates (ESU) available for aging Windows installations, while remaining coy about pricing for Windows Server 2016.
Most major versions of Windows 10 reached the end of support in 2025. On October 13, 2026, it is the turn of Windows 10 Enterprise 2016 LTSB and Windows IoT Enterprise LTSB 2016. Windows Server 2016 comes to the end of the road on January 12, 2027.
[2]
Microsoft's preferred path for Windows Server 2016 customers is an upgrade to Windows Server 2025. For Windows 10 holdouts, the options are Windows 11 with its [3]controversial hardware requirements or the final LTSC release, Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC 2021.
[4]
[5]
ESU for Windows 10 2016 LTSB is priced at $61 per device for the first year, a figure that will inexorably rise. A discount to $45 is available for customers managing devices through Intune or Windows Autopatch.
The absence of official pricing for Windows Server 2016 is frustrating for administrators unwilling or unable to move their workloads. Budgets don't plan themselves.
[6]
It is unlikely to come cheap. For Windows Server 2012, Microsoft [7]said the first year was charged at 100 percent of the full license price. The second and third years were the same and will end on October 13, 2026.
[8]Why does the Windows 11 taskbar hurt me like that?
[9]If Microsoft made a car... what would it be?
[10]Microsoft dials up the nagging in Windows, calls it security
[11]Microsoft starts the countdown for the end of Exchange Web Services
SQL Server 2016, for which support ends on July 14, 2026, [12]starts at 75 percent of the full annual license price, rising for each subsequent year.
The final ESU cost will depend on an organization's specific licensing agreement, but customers seeking to keep security updates flowing will undoubtedly pay handsomely for the privilege.
Microsoft made plenty of noise about the end of Windows 10 support last year. The Windows Server 2016 deadline has crept up more quietly, yet administrators who need breathing room to plan a migration will welcome the extra years, even at a price.
A "gift of time." Just not a free one. ®
Get our [13]Tech Resources
[1] https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/windows-itpro-blog/plan-for-windows-server-2016-and-windows-10-2016-ltsb-end-of-support/4496136
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aZ3ZMqCBdMEen3oeUojIcgAAARg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://www.theregister.com/2025/02/05/windows_11_hardware_requirement_workaround/
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aZ3ZMqCBdMEen3oeUojIcgAAARg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aZ3ZMqCBdMEen3oeUojIcgAAARg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aZ3ZMqCBdMEen3oeUojIcgAAARg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/lifecycle/faq/extended-security-updates#esu-for-windows-and-sql-server
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2026/02/16/former_windows_manager_explains_the/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2026/02/15/if_microsoft_made_a_car/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2026/02/10/microsoft_windows_security/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2026/02/06/microsoft_ews_shutdown/
[12] https://www.atlassystems.com/blog/sql-server-2016-cost-vs-upgrade-migration
[13] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
In a community post, Microsoft [1]confirmed it is making up to three years of Extended Security Updates (ESU) available for aging Windows installations, while remaining coy about pricing for Windows Server 2016.
Most major versions of Windows 10 reached the end of support in 2025. On October 13, 2026, it is the turn of Windows 10 Enterprise 2016 LTSB and Windows IoT Enterprise LTSB 2016. Windows Server 2016 comes to the end of the road on January 12, 2027.
[2]
Microsoft's preferred path for Windows Server 2016 customers is an upgrade to Windows Server 2025. For Windows 10 holdouts, the options are Windows 11 with its [3]controversial hardware requirements or the final LTSC release, Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC 2021.
[4]
[5]
ESU for Windows 10 2016 LTSB is priced at $61 per device for the first year, a figure that will inexorably rise. A discount to $45 is available for customers managing devices through Intune or Windows Autopatch.
The absence of official pricing for Windows Server 2016 is frustrating for administrators unwilling or unable to move their workloads. Budgets don't plan themselves.
[6]
It is unlikely to come cheap. For Windows Server 2012, Microsoft [7]said the first year was charged at 100 percent of the full license price. The second and third years were the same and will end on October 13, 2026.
[8]Why does the Windows 11 taskbar hurt me like that?
[9]If Microsoft made a car... what would it be?
[10]Microsoft dials up the nagging in Windows, calls it security
[11]Microsoft starts the countdown for the end of Exchange Web Services
SQL Server 2016, for which support ends on July 14, 2026, [12]starts at 75 percent of the full annual license price, rising for each subsequent year.
The final ESU cost will depend on an organization's specific licensing agreement, but customers seeking to keep security updates flowing will undoubtedly pay handsomely for the privilege.
Microsoft made plenty of noise about the end of Windows 10 support last year. The Windows Server 2016 deadline has crept up more quietly, yet administrators who need breathing room to plan a migration will welcome the extra years, even at a price.
A "gift of time." Just not a free one. ®
Get our [13]Tech Resources
[1] https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/windows-itpro-blog/plan-for-windows-server-2016-and-windows-10-2016-ltsb-end-of-support/4496136
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aZ3ZMqCBdMEen3oeUojIcgAAARg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://www.theregister.com/2025/02/05/windows_11_hardware_requirement_workaround/
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aZ3ZMqCBdMEen3oeUojIcgAAARg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aZ3ZMqCBdMEen3oeUojIcgAAARg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aZ3ZMqCBdMEen3oeUojIcgAAARg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/lifecycle/faq/extended-security-updates#esu-for-windows-and-sql-server
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2026/02/16/former_windows_manager_explains_the/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2026/02/15/if_microsoft_made_a_car/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2026/02/10/microsoft_windows_security/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2026/02/06/microsoft_ews_shutdown/
[12] https://www.atlassystems.com/blog/sql-server-2016-cost-vs-upgrade-migration
[13] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Anonymous Coward
> I get that MS is the bad guy (although I actually lived through the 90s when they really were)
Windows 11 is far worse than anything we dealt with in the 90's or 2000's.
Back then they were just monopolists who wrote shitty code. Now they're data thieves and advertisers.
Alien Doctor 1.1
I used to love it in the late 80's/early 90's when games could be booted directly from the CD without involving DOS: that ability did stop loads of experimental bat and sys file editing trying to maximise the efficiency of hw components.
williamyf
Or, you know migrate to server 2025 with the steping stones of server 2019 and server 2021. No creaking codebase, no outargeous ESU fees. Just work that had/has to be done anyway.
Ditto for client LTSB 2016. Go to LTSC 2019 or server 2019 with desktop experience and be supported until 2029 or 2030 respectively, bvvefore going to something in the Win11 lineage. Work that had/has to be done anyway.
Doctor Syntax
Windows as a subscription.
Microsoft is giving Windows customers the "gift of time" but expects compensation for its generosity.
Or... Microsoft is a business. They expect to be paid for their output.
Microsoft made plenty of noise about the end of Windows 10 support last year. The Windows Server 2016 deadline has crept up more quietly, yet administrators who need breathing room to plan a migration will welcome the extra years, even at a price.
Microsoft made noises about Windows 10 as it's a consumer product, and (not unreasonably) product lifecycles aren't something that consumers really care about.
If you're using a piece of software, especially a critical piece of software like an operating system, in a corporate environment and you're not well aware of things like support lifecycles then you probably have other problems to solve first.
I get that MS is the bad guy (although I actually lived through the 90s when they really were), but seriously, in a corporate world if you're caught out by something like an OS reaching the end of it's supported life (and not learnt from the last time this happened), then I have little sympathy.