Overview - Product End of Support & Retirements

Please go here to search for your product's lifecycle.

For a comprehensive list of Microsoft products and their lifecycle policy timelines, including migration options, please visit the Microsoft Product Lifecycle Search page. If you have any questions regarding support for a product, please contact your Microsoft Account Representative. If you need technical support, visit the Microsoft Support website.

Overview

Once a product reaches the end of support, or a service retires, there will be no new security updates, non-security updates, or assisted support. Customers are encouraged to migrate to the latest version of the product or service. Paid programs may be available for applicable products.

Most commercial products and services are governed by either the Fixed Policy or the Modern Policy, which determines support and servicing timelines.

  • Modern Policy. Product governed by the Modern Policy follow a continuous support and servicing model. Customers must take the latest update to remain supported. Products and services will provide a minimum of 12 months' notice prior to retirement.

  • Fixed Policy. Product governed by the Fixed Policy will have published end of support dates at the time of launch. These products typically have 5 years of mainstream support followed by 5 years of extended support (exceptions may apply).

    • When a product reaches the end of the mainstream support phase, customers will no longer be able to receive non-security updates or make requests to change product design and features.
    • When a product reaches the end of the extended support phase, the product has reached the end of support.
  • Service Packs. For Fixed Policy products, customers are required to move to the latest service pack to remain in support. When a new service pack is released, customers will be supported on the prior service pack for 12 or 24 months to allow time to move to the latest service pack.

For migration help, enterprise customers can utilize App Assure (part of FastTrack) - an application compatibility program that helps to unblock application issues when moving to the latest versions of Microsoft products. Learn more about this program and what products are included at aka.ms/AppAssure.

For customers requiring more time to move to the latest product, the Extended Security Update (ESU) program is available for certain legacy products as a last resort option. The ESU program provides security updates only for up to 3 years, after the end of support. Contact your account manager, partner, or device manufacturer for more information.