Windows 10 builds stop booting when they expire
Microsoft published several Windows 10 preview builds of its upcoming operating system that give interested users a preview of things to come, Microsoft much needed feedback and companies options to test software and services in the new environment.
These builds are not final and improved builds are published by Microsoft regularly which update older builds to the newest version when downloaded.
Beta software, and the tech previews of Windows 10 are that technically, expire especially when the software is commercial in nature.
This is true for all Windows 10 builds that Microsoft has released so far. A support engineer published expiration dates of builds on the Microsoft Answers website.
| Build number | Expiration warnings begin | License expiration date | Windows will stop booting |
| 9841 | 4/2/15 | 4/15/15 | 4/30/15 |
| 9860 | 4/2/15 | 4/15/15 | 4/30/15 |
| 9879 | 4/2/15 | 4/15/15 | 4/30/15 |
| 9926 | 9/17/15 | 10/1/15 | 10/15/15 |
| 10041 | 9/17/15 | 10/1/15 | 10/15/15 |
| 10049 | 9/17/15 | 10/1/15 | 10/15/15 |
In case you are wondering, yesterday's 10061 build expires on October 2, 2015.
If you look at the expiration dates you will notice that some builds expire at the end of April. All builds go through three expiry stages that begin with two weeks of expiration notifications and another two weeks of automatic reboots every three hours before the computer will stop booting completely.
The message displayed by the system:
Install a new build of Windows now
This build of Windows has expired, so your PC will restart every few hours and will eventually fail to start. Go online for more information.
The license expires approximately two weeks after expiration warnings are displayed on the PC running a build of the operating system that is about to expire. The two week grace period afterwards has been designed to give users enough time to upgrade the system to a newer build.
Builds 9841, 9860 and 9879 are already in that grace period. These builds will expire in seven days which means that PCs still running them won't boot into the operating system anymore.
Microsoft notes that a different computer needs to be used to download installation media for the PC running the expired version of Windows 10.
Windows users who are stuck on older builds, because Windows Update won't download or install newer builds for whatever reason, are encouraged to download the preview ISO from Microsoft's website and use it to upgrade the system to a newer build.
The next three builds that Microsoft released, builds 9923, 10041 and 10049 will expire October 1, 2015.  Expiration notifications are shown two weeks before and systems running those builds become inoperable on October 15, 2015.
It is interesting to note that these builds will expire after the official release of the Windows 10 operating system.
Display the expiration date
Do the following to look up the expiration date of your Windows version:
- Tap on the Windows-key to open the start screen.
- Type winver and hit enter.
- This opens "about Windows" information that highlights the expiration date.
Closing Words
Expiration dates block users from running preview builds forever and enforce upgrades to newer versions at the same time which help in the feedback process as bugs and issues may have been resolved in newer versions of the operating system.
Windows 10 will be a free upgrade in the first year if a legitimate license is provided.
What mental age of reader are you targeting with the first sentence? 10?
Why not write an article on how to *avoid* upgrading from W10 to W11. Analogous to those like me who avoided upgrading from 7 to 10 for as long as possible.
If your paymaster Microsoft permits it, of course.
5. Rufus
6. Ventoy
PS. I hate reading these “SEO optimized” articles.
I used Rufus to create an installer for a 6th gen intel i5 that had MBR. It upgraded using Setup. No issues except for Win 11 always prompting me to replace my local account. Still using Win 10 Pro on all my other PCs to avoid the bullying.
bit pointless to upgrade for the sake of upgrading as you never know when you’ll get locked out because ms might suddenly not provide updates to unsupported systems.
ps…. time travelling?
written. Jan 15, 2023
Updated • Jan 13, 2023
This happens when you schedule a post in WordPress and update it before setting the publication date.
Anyone willing to downgrade to this awful OS must like inflicting themselves with harm.
I have become convinced now that anybody who has no qualms with using Windows 11/10 must fit into one of the following brackets:
1) Too young to remember a time before W10 and W11 (doesn’t know better)
2) Wants to play the latest games on their PC above anything else (or deeply needs some software which already dropped W7 support)
3) Doesn’t know too much about how computers work, worried that they’d be absolutely lost and in trouble without the “”latest security””
4) Microsoft apologist that tries to justify that the latest “features” and “changes” are actually a good thing, that improve Windows
5) Uses their computer to do a bare minimum of like 3 different things, browse web, check emails, etc, so really doesn’t fuss
Obviously that doesn’t cover everyone, there’s also the category that:
6) Actually liked W7 more than 10, and held out as long as possible before switching, begrudgingly uses 10 now
Have I missed any group off this list?
You have missed in this group just about any professional user that uses business software like CAD programs or ERP Programs which are 99% of all professional users from this list.
Linux doesn’t help anyone who is not a linux kid and apple is just a fancy facebook machine.
Microsoft has removed KB5029351 update
only from windows update though
KB5029351 is still available from the ms update catalog site
1. This update is labaled as PREVIEW if it causes issues to unintelligent people, then they shouldn’t have allowed Preview updates ot install.
2. I have installed it in a 11 years old computer, and no problems at all.
3. Making a big drama over a bluescreen for an updated labeled as preview is ridiculous.
This is probably another BS internet drama where people ran programs and scripts that modified the registry until they broke Windows, just for removing stuff that they weren’t even using just for the sake of it.
Maybe people should stop playing geeks and actually either use Windows 10 or Windows 11, but don’t try to modify things just for the sake of it.
Sometimes removing or stopping things (like defender is a perfect example) only need intelligence, not scripts or 3rd party programs that might mess with windows.
Windows 11 was a pointless release, it was just created because some of the Windows team wanted to boost sales with some sort of new and improved Windows 10. Instead, Microsoft cannot support one version well let alone two.
Windows 11 is the worst ugly shame by Microsoft ever. They should release with every new W11 version a complete free version of Starallback inside just to make this sh** OS functionally again.
motherboard maker MSI has recently released a statement regarding the “unsupported processor” blue screen error for their boards using Intel 600/700 series chipsets & to avoid the KB5029351 Win11 update:
https://www.msi.com/news/detail/MSI-On–UNSUPPORTED-PROCESSOR–Error-Message-of-Windows-11-Update-KB5029351-Preview-142215
check out the following recent articles:
Neowin – Microsoft puts little blame on its Windows update after UNSUPPORTED PROCESSOR BSOD bug:
https://www.neowin.net/news/microsoft-puts-little-blame-on-its-windows-update-after-unsupported-processor-bsod-bug/
BleepingComputer – Microsoft blames ‘unsupported processor’ blue screens on OEM vendors:
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/microsoft/microsoft-blames-unsupported-processor-blue-screens-on-oem-vendors/
While there may be changes or updates to the Windows 10 Store for Business and Education in the future, it is premature to conclude that it will be discontinued based solely on rumors.
My advice, I left win 15 years ago. Now I’m a happy linux user (linuxmint) but there is Centos, Fedora, Ubuntu depending on your needs.
motherboard maker MSI has recently released new BIOS/firmware updates for their Intel 600 & 700 series motherboards to fix the “UNSUPPORTED_PROCESSOR” problem (Sept. 6):
https://www.msi.com/news/detail/Updated-BIOS-fixes-Error-Message–UNSUPPORTED-PROCESSOR–caused-BSOD-on-MSI-s-Intel-700-and-600-Series-Motherboards-142277
I try to disable the Diagnostics Tracking Service (Connected Devices Platform User Services) but it wont let me disable it, any help will be greatly appreciated.
Tank you for your help