Microsoft warns admins about upcoming Server retirements

Martin Brinkmann
Jul 4, 2022
Updated • Jul 4, 2022
Microsoft
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Several of Microsoft's Server products will reach end of support in 2022 and 2023. The products are Windows Server 2012 and 2012 R2, and SQL Server 2012. Additionally, Windows Server 2008 and 2008 R2, and SQL Server 2008 and R2, are in their last year of extended security updates.

The lifetime of all products may be extended further. For the 2012 Server products, Microsoft is offering three years of free Extended Security Updates, if machines are migrated to Azure. Only select customers may purchase on-premise extensions. Payments increase from 75% of the full license price in the first year to 125% of the full license price in the third year in that case.

Server 2008 products are already in their last year of Extended Security Updates. Customers may get a free 1-year extension if they migrate to Azure.

Microsoft clarifies that "free" means that there won't be additional charges "above the cost of running the virtual machine".

Here is a quick overview of the important Server deadlines:

  • Windows Server 2008 and 2008 R2 remain supported with Extended Security Updates until January 10, 2023.
  • Windows Server 2012 and 2012 R2 reach end of support on October 10, 2023.
  • SQL Server 2008 and 2008 R2 reached end of support on July 12, 2022.
  • SQL Server 2012 reached end of support on July 12, 2022.

Server products that run out of support won't receive any more updates, including security updates but also non-security updates, or technical support.

ProductReleaseMainstream support endExtended support endESU
Windows Server 2008May 6, 2008January 13, 2015January 14, 2020January 9, 2024
Windows Server 2008 R2October 22, 2009January 13, 2015January 14, 2020January 9, 2024
Windows Server 2012October 30, 2012October 9, 2018October 10, 2023October 13, 2026
Windows Server 2012 R2November 25, 2013October 9, 2018October 10, 2023October 13, 2026
Windows Server 2016October 15, 2016January 11, 2022January 12, 2027
Windows Server 2019November 13, 2018January 9, 2024January 9, 2029
Windows Server 2022August 18, 2021October 13, 2026October 14, 2031
SQL Server 2008November 6, 2008July 8, 2014July 9, 2019July 11, 2023
SQL Server 2008 R2July 20, 2010July 8, 2014July 9, 2019July 11, 2023
SQL Server 2012May 20, 2012July 11, 2017July 12, 2022July 8, 2025
SQL Server 2014June 5, 2014July 9, 2019July 9, 2024
SQL Server 2016June 1, 2016July 13, 2021July 14, 2026
SQL Server 2017September 29, 2017October 11, 2022October 12, 2027
SQL Server 2019November 4, 2019January 7, 2025January 8, 2030

Microsoft is offering an Extended Security Updates extension for customers who run SQL Server 2008/R2 or Windows Server 2008/R2. This time though, customers need to move servers to Microsoft's Azure platform to receive "one additional year of free ESUs" according to Microsoft.

For Windows Server 2012 and 2012 R2, and SQL Server 2012, the situation is similar. Customers may get up to three years of Extended Security Updates, but they need to migrate to Azure virtual machines for that. The extended security updates come at no cost in that case, according to Microsoft.

Only "eligible customers with Software Assurance under an Enterprise Agreement can purchase Extended Security Updates for Windows Server 2012/2012 R2 and SQL Server 2012 running on-premises".

Customers may also upgrade to newer Server releases. Microsoft recommends Windows Server 2019 and SQL Server 2019 as the main upgrade targets, and to test Windows Server 2022.

Server administrators may want to check the Extended Security Updates page on Microsoft's website for additional information on the upcoming changes.

Unlike Server products, Microsoft's Windows 7 operating system won't receive an extension for another year.

Summary
Microsoft warns admins about upcoming Server retirements
Article Name
Microsoft warns admins about upcoming Server retirements
Description
Several of Microsoft's Server products will reach end of support in 2022 and 2023. Here is what you need to know about the retirement.
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Ghacks Technology News
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Comments

  1. Some Dude said on March 19, 2023 at 11:42 am
    Reply

    Are these articles AI generated?

    Now the duplicates are more obvious.

    1. boris said on March 19, 2023 at 11:48 pm
      Reply

      This is below AI generated crap. It is copy of Microsoft Help website article without any relevant supporting text. Anyway you can find this information on many pages.

  2. Paul(us) said on March 20, 2023 at 1:32 am
    Reply

    Yes, but why post the exact same article under a different title twice on the same day (19 march 2023), by two different writers?
    1.) Excel Keyboard Shortcuts by Trevor Monteiro.
    2.) 70+ Excel Keyboard Shortcuts for Windows by Priyanka Monteiro

    Why oh why?

    1. Clairvaux said on September 6, 2023 at 11:30 am
      Reply

      Yeah. Tell me more about “Priyanka Monteiro”. I’m dying to know. Indian-Portuguese bot ?

  3. John G. said on August 18, 2023 at 4:36 pm
    Reply

    Probably they will announce that the taskbar will be placed at top, right or left, at your will.

    Special event by they is a special crap for us.

  4. yanta said on August 18, 2023 at 11:59 pm
    Reply

    If it’s Microsoft, don’t buy it.
    Better brands at better prices elsewhere.

  5. John G. said on August 20, 2023 at 4:22 am
    Reply

    All new articles have zero count comments. :S

  6. Anonymous said on September 5, 2023 at 7:48 am
    Reply

    WTF? So, If I add one photo to 5 albums, will it count 5x on my storage?
    It does not make any sense… on google photos, we can add photo to multiple albums, and it does not generate any additional space usage

    I have O365 until end of this year, mostly for onedrive and probably will jump into google one

  7. St Albans Digital Printing Inc said on September 5, 2023 at 11:53 am
    Reply

    Photo storage must be kept free because customers chose gadgets just for photos and photos only.

  8. Anonymous said on September 5, 2023 at 12:47 pm
    Reply

    What a nonsense. Does it mean that albums are de facto folders with copies of our pictures?

    1. GG said on September 6, 2023 at 8:24 am
      Reply

      Sounds exactly like the poor coding Microsoft is known for in non-critical areas i.e. non Windows Core/Office Core.

      I imagine a manager gave an employee the task to create the album feature with hardly any time so they just copied the folder feature with some cosmetic changes.

      And now that they discovered what poor management results in do they go back and do the album feature properly?

      Nope, just charge the customer twice.

      Sounds like a go-getter that needs to be promoted for increasing sales and managing underlings “efficiently”, said the next layer of middle management.

  9. d3x said on September 5, 2023 at 7:33 pm
    Reply

    When will those comments get fixed? Was every editor here replaced by AI and no one even works on this site?

  10. Scroogled said on September 5, 2023 at 10:47 pm
    Reply

    Instead of a software company, Microsoft is now a fraud company.

  11. ard said on September 7, 2023 at 4:59 pm
    Reply

    For me this is proof that Microsoft has a back-door option into all accounts in their cloud.
    quote “…… as the MSA key allowed the hacker group access to virtually any cloud account at Microsoft…..”
    unquote

    so this MSA key which is available to MS officers can give access to all accounts in MS cloud.This is the backdoor that MS has into the cloud accounts. Lucky I never got any relevant files of mine in their (MS) cloud.

  12. Andy Prough said on September 7, 2023 at 6:52 pm
    Reply

    >”Now You: what is your theory?”

    That someone handed an employee a briefcase full of cash and the employee allowed them access to all their accounts and systems.

    Anything that requires 5-10 different coincidences to happen is highly unlikely. Occam’s razor.

  13. TelV said on September 8, 2023 at 12:04 pm
    Reply

    Good reason to never login to your precious machine with a Microsoft a/c a.k.a. as the cloud.

  14. Anonymous said on September 18, 2023 at 1:23 pm
    Reply

    The GAFAM are always very careless about our software automatically sending to them telemetry and crash dumps in our backs. It’s a reminder not to send them anything when it’s possible to opt out, and not to opt in, considering what they may contain. And there is irony in this carelessness biting them back, even if in that case they show that they are much more cautious when it’s their own data that is at stake.

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