Home users who sign in to Windows 10 with a Microsoft account can register for Extended Security Updates (ESU) at no cost and continue receiving free updates until October 14th, 2026. The first updates have been available since November 11th, 2025 (i.e. one month after the official end of support). That all sounds promising, but in practice things don’t always work as expected.
For many users, the option to register with Windows 10 ESU doesn’t appear in the system. If the option does appear, users receive cryptic error messages. We’ll walk you through how to fix these issues.
Prerequisite: All available updates must be installed
Before activating the ESU, make sure all updates are installed on the PC and that the message “Your version of Windows is no longer supported” appears in the Windows Update settings.
Foundry / Ashley Biancuzzo
The option to register for Windows 10 ESU doesn’t appear
To register for ESU in Windows 10, you must first ensure that Windows 10 is activated. You can check this in Settings under Update & Security -> Activation. Another requirement is that you’re signed in with a Microsoft account, which you can do under Accounts.
If everything is set up correctly, you should not only see the message “Your version of Windows is no longer supported” under Update & Security -> Windows Update, but also a link at the bottom of the window to register for ESU.
If the link doesn’t appear, open Microsoft Edge in Windows 10 and enter the following command in the address field:
ms-settings:windowsupdate-esu?OCID=WEB_EOS_CY25_ESU&source=WEB
Confirm the prompt to open it. The ESU registration wizard should then appear.
Foundry / Ashley Biancuzzo
The next page of the wizard checks whether your PC meets the requirements. If it does, you can complete the ESU setup. If it fails, additional steps are required.
ESU connection: Something did not work
Unfortunately, the connection doesn’t always succeed, and the message “Something did not work” may show up. This message isn’t very helpful on its own, so you’ll need to try a few different approaches to resolve the issue.
The first thing you should do is restart the PC and run the command in Edge again. If that doesn’t work, sign in to account.microsoft.com with your Microsoft account and go to Devices. It’s possible that too many devices are associated with your account, including ones you no longer use. In some cases, you may also see a message during the ESU registration stating that you’ve reached your device limit.
Remove all devices that you don’t recognize or need. If you accidentally remove a device that you’re still using, simply log back in to this device with your account.
Ashampoo Windows 10 ESU Login helps with these issues
The small Windows 10 ESU Login program from Ashampoo can also help with these issues. You can use the tool free of charge to connect to Windows 10 ESU.
Foundry / Ashley Biancuzzo
However, the tool doesn’t work reliably in our tests. Still, it’s worth a try.
Clean up incorrect region settings
If the free ESU registration option is still missing, or only paid options appear, Windows may have assigned your device to the wrong region. Microsoft only offers the free ESU program in the European Economic Area (EEA).
Under Time & Language -> Region, make sure that your system is set to an EEA country (such as Germany). Then delete the key HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Control Panel\DeviceRegion (if present) in the registry. This will be recreated with the correct region code after the next restart.
Windows 10 Enterprise and Education do not receive a free ESU
If the error message “Something didn’t work” continues to appear in the ESU wizard, there may be a mix-up with a company device. Windows 10 Enterprise and Education editions are excluded from the free ESU program.
Windows 10 is incorrectly recognized as a company device
However, even a Windows 10 Home or Pro system can be blocked if it was linked to a work or school account. In this situation, Windows incorrectly categorizes the device as a company PC and denies private ESU login.
Open Accounts -> Access to work or school area in the settings and disconnect any work or school accounts you see there. Also note that private ESUs are only available for domain-independent computers. Domain- or MDM-managed devices only receive ESUs via company accounts. After removing any corporate account links, restart the PC and try the enrollment again.
Last resort: Inplace upgrade
If none of the previous steps work, you can try a repair in-place upgrade of Windows 10. Download the latest Windows 10 installation (via Media Creation Tool or ISO) and run an upgrade from the active system. Programs and data will be retained, while Windows itself is refreshed.
In our tests, this resolved all ESU problems, allowing the registration to complete successfully. After completing the ESU registration, you’ll receive a message in the Windows update display that your PC is now registered for Extended Security Updates.
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