Windows 10 End of Support: Your Windows 11 Migration Options (2026)

Windows 10 support has ended — here’s what to do now

Microsoft ended support for Windows 10 on 14 October 2025. That date has passed — so if any of your business devices are still running Windows 10, they are now an unsupported operating system: no more security updates, no bug fixes, and no technical support from Microsoft.

If that’s you, you’re not alone. At the deadline, roughly half of business Windows devices were still on Windows 10 — many of them because the hardware can’t simply be upgraded. But “common” isn’t “safe”: every month on an unsupported OS widens your exposure. This guide lays out your real options, how to tell which devices can move, and how to run a Windows 11 migration cleanly across offices in Hong Kong, Singapore and Mainland China.

What “end of support” actually means

A Windows 10 device still switches on and runs — that’s what makes this risk easy to ignore. But from 14 October 2025 it:

• Stops receiving security patches — newly discovered vulnerabilities are never fixed, and unsupported machines are a known target for attackers.
• Stops getting fixes and updates, so problems accumulate and compatibility slowly degrades.
• Sits outside what most cyber-insurance policies and regulated-sector requirements expect — supported, patched systems are a baseline assumption. Running unsupported software can complicate a claim or an audit.

The practical takeaway: unsupported endpoints are now the weakest link in your environment, and the fix is a plan — not a panic.

Your three options

There are only three real paths, and most businesses use a mix of all three:

1. Upgrade eligible PCs to Windows 11 (free). If a device meets the Windows 11 hardware bar, the in-place upgrade is free and relatively quick. This covers your newer machines.

2. Replace the devices that can’t run Windows 11. This is the big one. The Windows 11 requirements — particularly TPM 2.0 and the supported-CPU list — mean many devices roughly five years old or older simply aren’t eligible, regardless of how well they still perform. Those need replacing, which makes this as much a hardware-refresh and procurement exercise as a software upgrade.

3. Buy time with Extended Security Updates (ESU) — as a bridge, not a destination. Microsoft’s commercial ESU programme provides critical security updates for up to three years (to October 2028), priced per device — starting at around US$61 for the first year and doubling each year after (so roughly $122, then $244). A consumer ESU option ran for a single year, to October 2026. ESU buys breathing room for devices you genuinely can’t migrate yet, but the doubling price is deliberately designed to push you to migrate — treat it as a stopgap for a defined subset, not a strategy.

Is your hardware ready for Windows 11?

Windows 11 has a firm hardware floor:

• A compatible 64-bit processor on Microsoft’s supported list (1 GHz+, 2+ cores)
• TPM 2.0 and UEFI with Secure Boot enabled
• 4 GB RAM or more and 64 GB storage or more

Microsoft’s free PC Health Check tool gives a quick per-device yes/no. In practice the blocker is rarely RAM or storage — it’s the CPU generation and TPM, which is why fleet age, not spec sheet, usually decides what gets upgraded versus replaced.

How to plan a Windows 11 migration

A migration is a project, not a switch you flip. The sequence we use:

1. Audit your device estate. A full inventory of every Windows device — desktops, laptops, servers, and the edge devices that get forgotten (POS terminals, kiosks, meeting-room PCs) — with make, model, CPU, RAM and OS.
2. Check Windows 11 compatibility. Run each device against the requirements above and split the fleet into upgrade-eligible vs replace.
3. Decide upgrade, replace, or bridge per device. Upgrade eligible PCs in place, schedule ineligible ones for replacement, and flag the few that genuinely need ESU as a short bridge.
4. Procure replacement hardware to a vendor-neutral standard — planning lead times, and for China sites the local invoicing (fapiao) and import logistics.
5. Pilot, then roll out in phases. Validate the build and critical apps with a pilot group, then deploy with Microsoft Intune / Autopilot, prioritising the highest-risk and highest-value teams first.
6. Migrate data, then decommission. Back up and migrate user data and settings, confirm everything works, then securely wipe and retire the old devices.

Don’t forget the rest of the estate

The Windows 10 deadline isn’t only about staff laptops. Check the devices that quietly run Windows in the background:

• Meeting-room and AV systems — room PCs, digital signage and booking panels often run embedded Windows.
• POS terminals, reception kiosks and information screens.
• Servers — Windows Server 2012/2012 R2 is already end-of-life, and older server estates often share the same refresh window.

Bundling these into the same project avoids a second round of disruption later.

Doing it across Hong Kong, Singapore and China

If your business runs in more than one market, a refresh is far smoother as one coordinated project than as three local scrambles. The wrinkles we handle:

• Consistent standards across Hong Kong, Singapore and Mainland China offices, so every site ends up on the same supported build.
• Local procurement in China — RMB invoicing, fapiao, warranty with the local vendor subsidiary, and customs for imported hardware.
• Microsoft 365 considerations for China users, including the 21Vianet tenant question, covered in our Microsoft 365 in China guide.

PTS runs from owned offices in all three markets, so the same team can plan and deliver the whole refresh.

How PTS handles it

This is core managed IT and IT support work for us — we run Windows 11 migrations end to end so your team doesn’t have to:

• Device audit and compatibility assessment across every site
• Vendor-neutral hardware procurement and lifecycle planning
• Intune / Autopilot deployment, data migration and app validation
• Cloud and Microsoft 365 security hardening as part of the rebuild
• ESU set-up for the specific devices that genuinely need a bridge
• The AV and server estate brought along in the same plan

We’ll give you a clear, costed plan that fits your budget and timeline — and gets you off unsupported Windows without grinding the business to a halt.

Common questions

Can I keep using Windows 10? Technically yes, the devices still run — but with no security updates they’re an escalating risk, and increasingly outside what insurers and regulated-sector requirements expect. Treat continued use as a managed, time-boxed exception, not a plan.

Is the upgrade to Windows 11 free? Yes, for devices that meet the hardware requirements — the in-place upgrade carries no licence cost. The cost lands on the devices that don’t qualify and need replacing.

What is Windows 10 ESU and what does it cost? Extended Security Updates deliver critical patches beyond end of support — for businesses, up to October 2028, priced per device starting around US$61 in year one and doubling each year. It’s a bridge for devices you can’t migrate yet, not a long-term fix.

How long does a migration take? It depends on fleet size and how many devices need replacing, but most SME migrations run over several weeks once hardware is in hand — which is exactly why starting now matters.

Related reading: How to plan an IT budget for your Hong Kong office in 2026 · Microsoft 365 in China · IT support in Hong Kong · IT support in Singapore