Microsoft plans to end support for several products in 2026, and the list of those products also includes Windows 11 24H2. In fact, Windows 11 will be five years old this year, and we might soon start hearing about the company’s future plans (I’ll have more on that later). Other products losing support include Office LTSC 2021 for Windows and macOS.

Microsoft has a long track record of killing products, but at the same time, it’s pretty good with backward compatibility and extended or longer support for products. Each year, some of the company’s products lose official support, and Microsoft starts encouraging customers to upgrade.

Windows 11 24H2 support ends in October 2026

In 2025, Microsoft ended support for Windows 11 23H2, and now Windows 11 24H2 will follow the same suit.

Windows 11 24H2 shipped on October 1, 2024, and it’s now almost a year and a half old at this point. According to the support document, Windows 11 24H2 support is set to end on October 4, 2026. After that day, Windows 11 24H2 will support new updates, and you will be forced to upgrade to Windows 11 25H2.

Is that a bad thing? No. Windows 11 25H2 is an enablement package, and it’s based on the same platform release as version 24H2. So nothing really changes when you upgrade from one release to another, as the underlying codebase is still Windows 11 24H2. You’ll still have the new Start menu, new battery icons, etc.

Microsoft has already confirmed that it’ll begin force-upgrading Windows 11 24H2 PCs to version 25H2 in the coming days.

Windows 11 23H2 23H2 Enterprise, Education, and IoT Enterprise support ends in  November 2026

Windows 11 23H2 support for consumers (Home and Pro) already ceased in November of 2025, but if you have the Enterprise edition installed, your Windows version is still supported. However, starting November 10, 2026, Microsoft will no longer release updates for Windows 11 23H2 Enterprise, Education, and IoT Enterprise.

Office 2021 support ends in October 2026

This year also marks the end of support for Office 2021, which has been succeeded by Office 2024.

Office 2021 launched on Oct 5, 2021, and Microsoft is ending support on October 13, 2026, as per the support documents seen by Windows Latest. Microsoft also confirmed that it will end support for Office LTSC 2021 and Office LTSC 2021 for Mac on October 13, 2026.

This means you have approximately 10 months before you decide whether you prefer Office 2024 (standalone licence) or Microsoft 365 (subscription-based, billed monthly or annually).

You can’t just “upgrade” from Office 2021 to Office 2024 because the two are separate apps and products. You need to purchase an Office 2024 license after support for Office 2021 ends because the latter will stop getting updates. Of course, Office 2021 does not support working after October 13, 2026, but it won’t get critical updates.

If you dislike the Microsoft 365 subscription approach, you can purchase Office 2024, which is supported until October 9, 2029.

Full list of Microsoft products losing support this year (2026):

• .NET 9: support ends on November 10, 2026. After this date, .NET 9 stops getting security fixes and updates. If you are a developer, you will need to upgrade your apps to .NET 10 (LTS) (supported longer) or move to another supported LTS release. (Microsoft Learn)
• .NET 8 (LTS): support ends on November 10, 2026.
• PowerShell 7.4 (LTS): support ends on November 10, 2026.
• Windows Server 2012 / 2012 R2: ESU Year 3 ends on October 13, 2026. After Oct 13, 2026, there are no more ESU security updates for Server 2012/2012 R2. And you will need to upgrade to a newer Windows Server version.

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