Microsoft Will End All Support For Windows 7 and 8 Today: Upgrade To Windows 11 Only Option?

Microsoft has confirmed that it will end all support for Windows 7 and Windows 8 operating systems. This essentially means computers running these retired and obsolete operating systems won't get any service or security updates. Apart from Windows 7 and 8, Microsoft is also ending support for all editions of Windows Server 2012 and Windows Server 2012 R2. Let's see how this will impact PC users.

Windows 7, 8, and Server 2012 Operating Systems Are Now Completely Unsupported

Microsoft is finally shuttering any and all support for legacy operating systems, which include Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows Server 2012. This means users of these operating systems will have to migrate to later editions of Windows OS which are still supported or remain vulnerable to any and all newly discovered security exploits.

Incidentally, Microsoft officially ended security support for Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 in January 2020. However, the company continued to offer "Extended Security Updates (ESU)", which was a paid subscription.

By enrolling in the ESU program, PC users could still run these old operating systems on their devices. As the name implies, the ESU program offered critical security updates and patches for discovered exploits.

The ESU ensured crucial security updates were still flowing to Windows 7 systems. Microsoft has confirmed that it will not extend a similar ESU program for Windows 8 or 8.1. This means Windows 7 and 8 are now unsupported.

Should Windows 7 and 8 Users Upgrade To Windows 11?

Windows 11 is the only officially supported operating system for general or non-industrial / non-commercial users. Hence users are strongly advised to upgrade their operating systems to Windows 11 if they want to receive security and feature updates.

Windows 7 and 8 users could upgrade to Windows 10 if they find a legitimate copy. Support for Windows 10 will end on October 14, 2025. However, it is possible that Windows 7 computers might not meet the hardware requirements for upgrading to Windows 11. Such PC users could consider switching to the Linux operating system. Linux "distros" such as Ubuntu have been designed for Windows OS users who wish to jump into a Linux environment.