Will there be another Windows 10 feature update?

Martin Brinkmann
Nov 24, 2022
Windows 10
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Microsoft released the Windows 10 2022 Update last month and with its release comes the question regarding future updates for the operating system. Will Microsoft release additional feature updates for Windows 10, or is the Windows 10 version 22H2 update the last for the operating system?

windows 10 version 22h2 about support

Last month's feature update was a significant update for Windows 10. Not because of the features and changes it introduced, which Microsoft still has not revealed and likely won't, because there are not many, but because of its meaning for the support of the operating system.

Microsoft plans to support Windows 10 until October 14, 2025. The Home and Pro editions of last month's Windows 10 2022 Update release reach end of support on May 14, 2024 according to Microsoft. The Enterprise and Education editions of the Windows 10 2022 Update reach end of support on May 13, 2025. Only Enterprise Long-Term Servicing Channel and IoT Enterprise Long-Term Servicing Channel and Long-Term Servicing Branch editions are supported for longer. Version 21H2 will be supported until January 13, 2032 by Microsoft.

If you look at the dates, you may notice that there is not a lot of room left for future feature updates, provided that these follow the same support lifecycle. The Home editions could see an update in the second half of 2023, which would then be supported until October 2025. The Enterprise and Education editions, on the other hand, have no room left for a feature update that follows Microsoft's current support lifecycle. A 2023 update for Enterprise and Education would push support into 2026 under current terms.

Microsoft could adjust the support lifecycle again, or, decide to make Windows 10 2022 Update the last update for Windows 10, as Martin Geuß over at Dr. Windows suggested.  There is still the six months period to consider between support end for Windows 10 version 22H2 and the end of support for the operating system.

Microsoft has yet to reveal its plans, and it seems unlikely that Microsoft will reveal how it plans to proceed in the coming months. I expect an update closer to the potential 2023 feature update release, if it will ever happen.

When you look at last month's feature update for Windows 10, you may come to the conclusion that it does not really matter if Microsoft releases another one. The last was unspectacular and there is a great chance that any other feature update that Microsoft may release will be equally unspectacular. Most Windows 10 customers may not even mind if Microsoft won't release another feature update, considering that it is unclear what the last feature update included.

Now You: will there be another feature update for Windows 10?

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Will there be another Windows 10 feature update?
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Will there be another Windows 10 feature update?
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Will Microsoft release additional feature updates for Windows 10, or is the Windows 10 version 22H2 update the last for the operating system?
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Ghacks Technology News
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Comments

  1. in the pipe 5 by 5 said on November 25, 2022 at 6:51 am
    Reply

    = Microsoft data breach exposes customers’ contact info, emails
    https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/microsoft-data-breach-exposes-customers-contact-info-emails/

    Leaked data allegedly linked to 65,000 entities worldwide

  2. M$ has ROOT! Never forget that! said on November 25, 2022 at 5:01 am
    Reply

    Privacy cannot exist in a proprietary Operating System/Applications.

  3. Tachy said on November 25, 2022 at 12:47 am
    Reply

    At this point, I don’t really care. I just want to avoid W11 as long as possible.

    1. John G. said on November 25, 2022 at 8:50 am
      Reply

      W11 is the worst own enemy of itself, and the best friend of W10 forever, LOL. I still haven’t found a happy user of W11 without using Valinet’s Explorer or other third party software tuning the OS like a W10 one. So sad indeed.

  4. TelV said on November 24, 2022 at 3:29 pm
    Reply

    @ Martin,

    In your article on Windows 10 Privacy, there’s a screenshot under the heading “Speech, inking & typing” which has the recommendation to turn it off. But in the screenshot I don’t see a means of doing that. There’s no button or slider and no dropdown menu and only a button called “Get to know me”. I don’t want to click that for fear of transmitting God knows what to M$.

    Maybe it’ll become obvious once my new laptop with W10 Pro gets delivered next week, but in the meantime I’m copying everything I can from your valuable site.

    From the available privacy tools at https://www.ghacks.net/2015/08/14/comparison-of-windows-10-privacy-tools/ “W10Privacy” looks like the best one since it’s a one-man operation by the looks of it which is what I prefer. I just downloaded it anyway.

    1. Martin Brinkmann said on November 24, 2022 at 3:42 pm
      Reply

      In the latest version of Windows 10, you find Inking & Typing, and Speech separated. Both have options to toggle the functionality easily.

      1. TelV said on November 25, 2022 at 3:44 pm
        Reply

        Thanks for the clarification Martin.

      2. alan77 said on November 24, 2022 at 3:51 pm
        Reply

        Martin I’m sticking with Windows 10 IoT Enterprise LTSC 2019. It has no non sense featured updates at all. By the way you do a great job on keeping people informed on here.

  5. TelV said on November 24, 2022 at 3:04 pm
    Reply

    Not specifically related to updates, but I read in Privacy Statement at https://privacy.microsoft.com/en-us/privacystatement the following statement: “Many of our products require some personal data to provide you with a service. If you choose not to provide data required to provide you with a product or feature, you cannot use that product or feature.”

    Does this mean that if I refuse to provide data for use in Edge, I won’t be able to use it? Which is exactly what I want! Same goes for Cortana which is going to be disabled anyway along wih the rest of the junk M$ installs.

  6. Jek Tono Porkins said on November 24, 2022 at 1:20 pm
    Reply

    I don’t think Windows 10 will get any more love going forward. What I’m seeing is they adds bits and pieces of the new design style present in Windows 11 with rounded corners, gradients and colorful icons, but they feel to me like they only serve as a tease to get people to develop a subconscious desire to upgrade to Windows 11 to get all of the visual eye candy.

  7. James said on November 24, 2022 at 11:21 am
    Reply

    “If you look at the dates, you may notice that there is not a lot of room left for future feature updates, provided that these follow the same support lifecycle”

    I think the author is getting confused. The support lifecycle for each feature update is independent of the feature release cadence. In other words, there will be another release in a year (23H2), prior to the end of support for 22H2.

    1. R. said on November 27, 2022 at 1:08 pm
      Reply

      I think the point this post is making is that
      (1) Windows 10 EOL is announced for October 2025
      (2) Feature updates have a 18 months (Home / Pro) or 30 months (Enterprise / Education) lifecycle.
      (3) If these rules stay the same, the 23H2 release would have to be supported until early 2026, which is after the EOL.

      So, what will MS do?

      1. alan77 said on November 30, 2022 at 7:05 am
        Reply

        R. Windows 10 IoT Enterprise LTSC 2019 gets security updates up to Jan 9th of 2029. Like I said before sticking with Windows 10 IoT Enterprise LTSC 2019 all the way. So no sense of ever going with with Windows 11 ever.

    2. alan77 said on November 24, 2022 at 3:41 pm
      Reply

      James I’m sticking with Windows 10 IoT Enterprise LTSC 2019 all the way. It has no stupid feature updates. Which amounts to more bloatware and telemetry being installed on your pc. Windows 10 IoT Enterprise LTSC 2019 does security updates only with some bug fixes. It’s best slim down version of Windows to get. Be aware Windows 10 IoT Enterprise LTSC 2019 does have unwanted Apps but not as many compared to Windows 10 Pro. There are debloat tools for getting rid of unneeded apps though.

      1. Jody Thornton said on November 26, 2022 at 5:17 pm
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        Same here. I still use Windows 8, but I’ve set up a machine with LTSC 2019 this past week, for use in the future. It’s the only release of Windows 10 that I can even halfway see myself getting behind.

  8. ilev said on November 24, 2022 at 10:13 am
    Reply

    Sorry but this is nonsense.
    Each year until end of support there will be feature updates for Windows 10.
    One in 2023, one in 2024, one in 2025.

    1. R. said on November 27, 2022 at 1:10 pm
      Reply

      But:
      (1) Windows 10 EOL is announced for October 2025 (https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/lifecycle/products/windows-10-enterprise-and-education).
      (2) Feature updates have a 18 months (Home / Pro) or 30 months (Enterprise / Education) lifecycle (https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/lifecycle/faq/windows).
      (3) If these rules stay the same, the 23H2 release would have to be supported until early 2026, which is after the EOL.

      So, what will MS do?

    2. John G. said on November 24, 2022 at 11:16 am
      Reply

      Where can I found such that information about the future feature updates?

      1. James said on November 24, 2022 at 11:23 am
        Reply

        This is the official page:

        https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/release-health/release-information

        Note at the beginning it states:

        “Beginning with Windows 10, version 21H2, feature updates for Windows 10 release are released annually, in the second half of the calendar year…”

  9. aaa said on November 24, 2022 at 9:17 am
    Reply

    Please no more feature updates.

    What we need is bugfixes and stability & security updates.

    1. SevenPointOne said on November 30, 2022 at 1:40 am
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      I wish it were similar to Windows 7. Security upgrades only over the past 13 years. Microsoft’s pointless Windows 11 Hello Kitty features are unnecessary.

    2. Searcher said on November 25, 2022 at 2:50 am
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      then you don’t want Windows 10 to support new technologies? for example support for new CPUs or even the new Direct Storage.

      1. DaveyK said on November 26, 2022 at 5:32 pm
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        You don’t need feature updates to support new CPUs though. When Windows XP was released, the Pentium 4 and Athlon XP were the top CPUs, yet XP installed and worked just fine on later CPUs such as Core 2 Duos and Athlon 64s without needing a “feature update” to support them.

        New hardware can be supported by drivers, or by adding support via the monthly quality patches.

    3. alan77 said on November 24, 2022 at 3:33 pm
      Reply

      aaa then use Windows 10 IoT Enterprise LTSC 2019 problem solved. It’s the best version of Windows 10 you don’t get any stupid feature updates. Which amounts to more bloatware and telemetry.

  10. John G. said on November 24, 2022 at 9:09 am
    Reply

    No more updates for W10? It’s just the amazing glory for my eyes. Thanks for the article.

    1. Searcher said on November 25, 2022 at 2:50 am
      Reply

      you don’t want Windows 10 to support new hardware then?

      1. John G. said on November 25, 2022 at 8:46 am
        Reply

        @Searcher, I meant features updates. Obviously security and drivers updates are welcome.

      2. Sam said on November 25, 2022 at 10:38 am
        Reply

        I just got yet another update today:
        Feature update to Windows 10, version 22H2.

        Did you guys get this too?

        I’m just wondering if it’s a legitimate update, and can’t find any official info
        on when this update is supposed to be released.

        And yes, my Windows 10 was fully up to date yesterday.

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