Microsoft quietly updated its Windows 10 product pages a few days ago. There is one major change: Microsoft will soon stop selling downloadable versions of the operating system to the public. This means that for the foreseeable future there will only be one version of a Microsoft operating system to buy – Windows 11.
“January 31, 2023 will be the last day this Win10 download is offered for sale. Win10 will remain supported with security updates that help protect your PC from viruses, spyware, and other malware until October 14, 2025.”
Windows 10 Home product page from Microsoft
If you buy directly from Microsoft, Windows 10 Home currently costs $139 and Win 10 Pro $199. In fact, you only buy a Win 10 license, the downloads for the Home and Pro versions remain available. Of course, as always, you can also create a Windows 10 installation image via the Microsoft support page. The same still works with Windows 8.1 if you have valid concerns about the future.
Microsoft Windows 11
However, Microsoft is not the only source for Windows 10 downloads and licenses. Retailers like Amazon are still selling the software and will continue to do so while there are still keys in the digital warehouse. You can also find Win 10 in stationary retail. Despite the sales and download freeze, there will still be security updates for two years – until October 14, 2025 – that protect PCs and notebooks from viruses, spyware and other malware.
As a reminder, earlier this month Microsoft ended support for Windows 8.1. In December 2022, the same thing happened with Windows 10 21H1. By the way, the latter is still one of the most popular operating systems in the world today. As you can imagine, that will change in a few months.
