It’s a fair question. You bought the PC a couple of years ago, it says Windows 11 on the start screen, and now someone tells you it’s on Microsoft’s end of support list for October.
The thing that’s ending isn’t Windows 11. It’s one version of it.
Windows 11 has versions, a bit like model years
Microsoft releases a feature update for Windows 11 once a year, in the second half of the year. Each one gets a version name, like 23H2, 24H2 or 25H2. The number is the year it came out, and H2 means the second half of that year.
According to Microsoft’s Windows 11 release information, each feature update gets 24 months of support on Home and Pro editions, and 36 months on Enterprise and Education editions. Separately, every supported version gets security updates on the second Tuesday of each month.
So a PC can be completely “Windows 11” and still be a version or two behind. Once its version’s support ends, those monthly security updates stop arriving.
What ends on 14 October
Microsoft’s lifecycle page for Windows 11 Home and Pro shows version 24H2 ending on 13 October 2026, US Pacific time. In Brisbane that’s 14 October.
The version an existing PC should move to is 25H2, which Microsoft lists as supported until 12 October 2027 (US time) on Home and Pro. There’s also a version called 26H1, but Microsoft says it’s for new devices that came to market in early 2026, and it isn’t offered as an update to PCs already on 24H2 or 25H2.
Enterprise and Education editions of 24H2 get an extra year, to 12 October 2027 US time, per the Enterprise and Education lifecycle page. So this deadline is about Home and Pro, which is what most small business PCs run.
How to check your version
- Open Settings.
- Go to System, then About.
- Scroll to Windows specifications and read Edition and Version.
If it says Windows 11 Pro or Windows 11 Home, and Version 24H2, that PC is on the list.
Why a newish PC ends up on the list
It’s rarely anything dramatic. Usually it’s one of these:
- Updates keep getting snoozed. A feature update needs a restart, and a restart is never convenient. A year of “remind me later” is enough to fall behind.
- The PC is hardly ever switched on. A spare laptop, a training room PC or the machine at a second site can miss months of updates.
- Updates were paused and never resumed. Someone paused them before a busy week and forgot to turn them back on.
- The drive is nearly full. A feature update needs free space to install, and a PC that’s out of room can keep failing quietly.
On a managed PC, device management should be rolling out feature updates and flagging the ones that fail. On an unmanaged PC, it’s up to whoever sits in front of it, and that person usually has other things to do.
In May 2026 a client called us about a laptop still running Windows 10 that they wanted to update. It’s a familiar story. The PC works fine, nobody notices it’s fallen behind, and the question only comes up when something prompts it. A news story about an end of support date is a good prompt.
What happens if you leave it
The PC keeps working. Nothing switches off on 14 October. What changes is that security problems found after that date won’t be fixed on that PC, while every up-to-date machine around it gets patched. Over months, the gap grows, and that PC becomes the easiest way into your network.
Next step
On any PC showing Windows 11 Home or Pro, version 24H2:
- Save your work and plug the laptop into power.
- Open Settings, then Windows Update, and select Check for updates.
- If the feature update to version 25H2 is offered, install it and let the PC restart. It can take a while, so start it at lunchtime or late in the afternoon.
If the update doesn’t appear, or it keeps failing, that’s the PC to send to IT.
If you’ve got several machines to check, or one that won’t budge, get in touch.