Windows 10: Microsoft won't extend Windows 7 Extended Security Updates. Server gets another year

Microsoft's popular Windows 7 operating system reached the end of its support lifecycle in January 2020. The company launched ESU, Extended Security Updates, for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 at the same time. Officially only available for businesses and Enterprise customers, ESU guaranteed a support extension by up to three years.



January 2022 marks the end of the second year of ESU for Windows 7, and the year that begins afterwards will be the last. Microsoft announced this week that it won't extend the ESU program for Windows 7 after January 2023. Organizations and businesses that still use Windows 7 devices won't receive updates anymore for the operating system after January 2023.

For Windows 7 SP1 and Windows 7 Professional for Embedded Systems, the Extended Security Update (ESU) Program will be entering its third and final year of extended support beginning on February 8, 2022 and ending on January 10, 2023.
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For Server, things are a bit different. Windows Server 2008 products will receive an extension, by a year, according to Microsoft.

For Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1, Windows Server 2008 SP2, Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 for Embedded Systems and Windows Server 2008 SP2 for Embedded Systems if running on Microsoft Azure, ESU will have one additional year of extended support available beginning on February 14, 2023, ending on January 9, 2024.
​

It is unclear at this point whether the price of a year 4 ESU subscription will double again. When Microsoft launched ESU, it revealed that the pricing of it would double each year. The cost of ESU for Windows 7 Professional is $200 per device in the third year, for Windows 7 Enterprise $100 per device in the third year.

The Enterprise edition costs for ESU are also the costs that Windows Server customers have to pay to extend support for a server product. Microsoft did not reveal if it plans to double the price in the fourth year again; this would reach $200 for the fourth year if true.

Closing Words

Support for Windows 7 ends on January 10, 2023 and it looks as if there is no option to extend support further. While Microsoft did release security updates for out of support devices occasionally in the past, there is no guarantee that it will do so for Windows 7. Third-party options, like the one provided by 0Patch, may be worth a look if support needs to be extended.

Now You: which version of Windows do you run? (via Dr. Windows)

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Windows 7 Extended Security Updates

Windows 7 extended security updates are available to organizations, who will pay dearly for them. If you can convince Microsoft that you're an organization, you too can pay dearly for them.

I suggest this information from Microsoft: FAQ about Extended Security Updates for Windows 7

 

Windows 7 Extended Security Updates

There seems to be some confusion about this, so this is from Microsoft Last Updated: Last Updated: 10 Jan 2020 .

Home users are excluded from this offer

N.B. Volume Licensed

https://support.microsoft.com/en-au/help/4497181/lifecycle-faq-extended-security-updates

How can I purchase ESUs?

Extended Security Updates are available through specific volume licensing programs. Contact your Microsoft partner
or account team to learn more. ESUs for select Embedded products are available via your embedded device manufacturer.

Coverage will be available in three consecutive 12-month increments following End of Support. Customers cannot buy partial periods (e.g., only 6 months). Extended Security Updates are transacted per year (12-month period), commencing with the End of Support
date.

Eligible customers can use the
Azure Hybrid Benefit (available to customers with active Software Assurance or Server Subscriptions) to obtain discounts on the license of Azure Virtual Machines (IaaS) or Azure SQL Database Managed Instance
(PaaS).

___________________________________________________

FAQ about Extended Security Updates for Windows 7: Last Updated: Last Updated: 9 Jan 2020

FAQ about Extended Security Updates (ESU) for Windows 7 | Microsoft Docs

This article is intended for use by IT professionals. If you're looking for information for home users, see

Windows 7 support will end on January 14, 2020.

__________________________________________________

Now we also have this at October 9, 2019, 6:40am EDT :

https://www.howtogeek.com/443573/how-windows-7s-extended-security-updates-will-work/

The average Windows 7 user can’t buy these updates, however. They’re only available to businesses and other organizations.

Some good news: Instead of just being available to large companies with volume licensing agreements, Windows 7 Extended Security Updates (ESUs) will be available to businesses of any size—even small or mid-size companies.

Microsoft won’t sell you these updates directly, and they’re not available through normal retail channels. According to

Mary Jo Foley, Microsoft officials said these ESUs must be purchased “from qualified Cloud Solution Provider partners.” A

Microsoft blog post about Windows 7 support invites interested parties to “Please reach out to your partner or Microsoft account team for further details.”

Cheers.

 

Windows 7 Extended Security Updates

It is not for Retail or OEM licenses.

It is for Volume Licensing for large corporations.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/mic.../helping-customers-shift-to-a-modern-desktop/

Windows 7 Extended Security Updates

As previously announced, Windows 7 extended support is ending January 14, 2020. While many of you are already well on your way in deploying Windows 10, we understand that everyone is at a different point in the upgrade process.

With that in mind, today we are announcing that we will offer paid Windows 7 Extended Security Updates (ESU) through January 2023. The Windows 7 ESU will be sold on a per-device basis and the price will increase each year.
Windows 7 ESUs will be available to all Windows 7 Professional and Windows 7 Enterprise customers in Volume Licensing, with a discount to customers with Windows software assurance, Windows 10 Enterprise or Windows
10 Education subscriptions. In addition, Office 365 ProPlus will be supported on devices with active Windows 7 Extended Security Updates (ESU) through January 2023. This means that customers who purchase the Windows 7 ESU will
be able to continue to run Office 365 ProPlus.

Please reach out to your partner or Microsoft account team for further details.

Microsoft to offer paid Windows 7 Extended Security Updates | ZDNet

This time around, the ESU program is being run out of Microsoft's Volume Licensing Unit and Core Windows Engineering "is producing these updates like a product," Spataro explained.