Windows 10 given an extra year of supported life, for $30

The Register ^ | Oct 31, 2024 | iain Tomson

[dayglored]

Microsoft has thrown a lifeline to Windows 10 users ahead of the OS going end-of-life, by offering an extra year of patches for $30.

Support for Windows 10 ends in October 2025 and Redmond is pushing people to upgrade to Windows 11, with mixed success to date – as of last month, Windows 10 had 62.75 percent of Redmond's OS market share, compared to 33.42 percent for the newer version ago.

Perhaps that’s why the software behemoth has decided to offer Extended Security Updates - previously only available for business, education, and government users - to anyone who wants them.

"For the first time ever, we’re introducing an ESU program for personal use as well," wrote Yusuf Mehdi, consumer chief marketing officer at Microsoft. "The ESU program for consumers will be a one-year option available for $30. Program enrollment will be available closer to the end of support in 2025."

This will be a boon to those who don't care to upgrade or who can't because their PCs aren’t capable of running Windows 11.

Enterprise users can pay $61 per device for an extra year of support, but that doubles the next year to $122, and again to $244 in year three. Users in the education sector have it much easier - they pay $1 per license for the first year, then $2, and then $4 per Windows 10 machine.

Windows 11 is one of Microsoft's most poorly performing operating systems, in part due to the powerful hardware it requires. Chipmakers and PC players expect the need for upgrades to bring a payday, but that hasn't happened yet.

Part of the problem, as The Register readers have noted on our forums, is that Windows 11 isn’t a significant improvement over its predecessor. While Redmond repeatedly touts the benefits of Copilot and AI, it doesn't seem to be an incentive for many people to rip and replace their hardware to take care of it.

Microsoft also risks driving users to non-Windows machines. With Apple's market share steadily growing in the US - and the iPhone's popularity - many may consider making the switch.

Or perhaps 2025 will be the year of Linux on the desktop. ®

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Note: My prior attempt to post this thread threw an error that caused there to be no initial "Comment" and no way to reply. Hopefully this one will work.

[Bikkuri]

They are in Hong Kong, but they are legit.

[Bikkuri]

BTW, I also bought MS Office 2021 (not the lease version) for around $29 from there too.
Sadly, they don’t have Photoshop, lol.

[Bob434]

Dnag, I’d buy photoshop in a heartbeat if they did lol- but sadly photoshop went to a monthly fee- too rich for my blood, so I stick with the second to last version that could be bought outright and owned.

[Bob434]

Dang- i like,using gift cards instead of credit cards- much safer- but can only use gift cards in the US.

[Bikkuri]

yeah, I use CS6 specifically because of that.

How is your progress with creating your Win ISO?

[linMcHlp]

bttt

[Bob434]

uggh- terrible- I’m givign up- might try again with fresh install in vm as I’ve messed up some thigns in the current vm - been workign all day to no avail- I have to figure out how to create the vm and add another ‘disk’ to the vm disk in order to move the info from the installed windows onto the new blank disk- then get it onto a thumbdrive- brain is too tired to continue tonight though-

[Bob434]

I FINALLY got virtualbox running and the usb recognized, and a separate disk created so i can convert the running image disk in vm to an iso file. Took me a few days as it was very difficult getting VirtualBox to even recognize the USB. Had to run terminal command to sign me into VirtualBox groups, which took me a long time to find out about- it was a nightmare- it shouldn’t be that hard or the info so buried that the average user will not be able to find it. (I really probably shoulda used VMWare instead- but i was stubborn and wanted virtualbox to run as it should-)

Anyways- now I’m updating the windows install znd adding in a few programs like photoshop, tweaking it how i like it, and then gonna try to convert the vm image to an iso following the video from brightec09 here (i might given the link before?)

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XmIT1oSkdSk&t=206s&pp=2AHOAZACAQ%3D%3D

Will update if I am successful, but will be a few days

[Bikkuri]

Good luck with Photoshop on there.. it will be very slow and clunky.. (remember I mentioned VB is like an 18 wheeler with 15 wheels?)
The problem is that it creates its own virtual PC (obviously) that is missing out on the use of many of the actual PC's capabilities (so some programs won't even work), so it is limited on resource use.

VMWare is better, but is is a MAJOR PITA... (was for me, anyway)
(Remember Kinguin? VMWare was on sale for under $1! Don't have to buy it, but it would get you better tech support, and more options):

















I still recommend trying out Lutris, which PS ran smooth as a hot knife through butter for me.

[Bob434]

Thanks- im looking into Lutris for sure- but basically i just want photoshop installed on the vm so i can then turn the whole vm into an .iso which i can then install my custom windows onto an actual computer environment , not in a vm environment- so i can reinstall windows with my programs already installed, and tweaked- incase i have to reinstall or get a new hard drive or something-

[Bikkuri]

Ok, like a backup ISO.

But you have to also consider that the VM Windows will not have the same drivers that are installed during setup that your actual PC will use.
May be ok (and auto install needed drivers when you use it for your actual PC), but there is also a chance of complications from the incorrect drivers...

Also, in that case, make sure you do NOT register with your key on the VM; wait until you have it on your actual PC, (possible complications with MS themselves with the hardware change).

[Bikkuri]

UNLESS.. you mean to make an actual installation ISO (not a backup ISO)...
Should be no problem there, and would be convenient all around.

Hmm.. never tried that with a vm..

[Bob434]

[[Also, in that case, make sure you do NOT register with your key on the VM; wait until you have it on your actual PC (possible complications with MS themselves with the hardware change).]]

Yup0- good point- thanks for the tip-

Yep- kinda like a backup- but an isntall os too- following the tutorial in the link i posted above from brightec09- don’t know if it’ll work, but gonna try- fun trying anyways

[Bob434]

Semi-quick update on my efforts to make a custom dual boot backup iso- fail-

I ended up just taking some old hard drives I had and using a disk duplicator and duplicating my main HD to those- they work perfectly, and will save a ton of time if I ever have something happen to my current drive.

In the process though, I also tried using macrium reflect to clone one of the backup drives I made to a smaller ssd- which isn’t easy to do, and infsct gave me a lot of trouble, as the process, unbeknownst to me deactivated the drive. I went through 5 days of researching what the error messages I was getting meant, and trying to find out how to correct them, and got all kinds of advice from forums which went nowhere. I spent a lot of time in the windows command cmd app, trying to repair the mbr and boot etc. I can’t count how many times I had to u hook the drive and put my current drive back in just to look up ehat to do next- very frustrating

Anyway, long story short, as a last resort, I went back into the cmd uti,ity, assigned a drive letter to the “dead” drive, then went into disk management uti,ity, and right clicked on the “dead” drive, to see what choices I had, and one was “make active”, so I tried that and lo and behold it worked! All of the other advice I had gotten got me nowhere.

In tne process I made a huge mistake and wiped out my backup drive by mistakenly deleting partitions on the wrong disk in disk management- nearly 2 tb of photos, programs and backup stuff!

What a nightmare that was. Again, several days trying to find out “how to restore accidently deleted HD contents”

Turns out that a program called “Testdisk” which is free saved the day and saw all the files, and was able to restore the info or list of files to the HD

Apparently just because drive partitions gets deleted, they aren’t gone, just the list of the files on the drive is removed, and so the drive appears empty- repopulating the list shows all the files on the drive again.

Anyway, it has been a very interesting and mentally exhausting week or so, but now my main HD is backed up a few times so I can restore my current system and preferred settings and programs anytime I want, bu5 never did get a working custom iso though.

[Bikkuri]

"wiped out my backup drive by mistakenly deleting partitions on the wrong disk"

I've done that more times than I am willing to admit.. (especially since I usually have more than 5 HDs at a time hooked up, and have been that way as far back as I can remember. It can be tedious, especially if you are keeping track of which one is which (notes come in handy in that case).) 🫢

"partitions gets deleted, they aren’t gone"

Not sure if it is still this way (I am sure it is, but haven't messed with that issue in a LONG time), but all that is deleted is the first letter of the name of the file (which is replaced with a question mark until it is overwritten, or restored).

If I was there, I would help out, I hate trying anything over the net or on the phone. Much better to be there to look at the issue first hand.
Great job restoring it pretty much with little (or no) help 😃

[Bob434]

I had 1000’s of photos i had taken (I did photography for several years-) that were gone- it was nerve wracking to say the least. I did have a backup drive of the photos, but hadn’t updated it in a few years, so all the recent photos would have been lost-

Thanks goodness for TestDisk! Great program to,have on hand- I thunk it can even retrieve files from damaged or dead drives and save them wherever you want.

Wish I had known about it many years ago when my HD failed and I lost a bunch of photos then too- back then I didn’t have a backup drive either. I’ve had to learn the hard way a lot of times lol

[Bob434]

Hey just a heads up, opatch, a company that provides extended updates for outdated windows os’s will offer updates for windows 10 until about 2030 I guess. You can read about it here

https://www.ghacks.net/2024/06/28/windows-10-support-until-2030-0patch-makes-it-possible/

IF You decide do a thread about it, can you please ping me?

[dayglored]

I think I will do a thread about 0patch, thanks for the heads-up. Look for a WindowsPingList ping within a day or two.

[Bob434]

Thanks dayglored! i always look forwa4d to yours and shadowace’s threads.