In 2026, it’s time to say goodbye again—to popular programs that we’ve been working with day in and day out. Microsoft is discontinuing several versions of Windows, Office, and other products this year. Here’s what you need to know if you’re still using these products.
Windows 11 24H2
Microsoft is discontinuing support for Windows 11 24H2—both Home and Pro editions—according to this support page, with the end date slated for October 13th, 2026. That’s when the next major Windows 11 update will be released. (This was also the case in 2025 when support for Windows 11 23H2 ended in the fall.)
On October 13th, 2026, expect to receive the very last update for Windows 11 24H2. After that, you should update to a newer Windows version, which will likely be Windows 11 25H2. (Windows 11 25H2, which released last fall, will receive updates until October 12th, 2027.)
Windows 11 24H2, which brought several new features to the operating system, also caused headaches for many users. For some, the installation failed; for others, there was a hail of error messages and crashes; for others yet, the taskbar kept freezing, frame rates dropped drastically in some video games, and some Office apps stopped working.
Windows 11 SE
The end of support for Windows 11 24H2 has a side effect: Windows 11 SE is also finally coming to its end.
Microsoft touted Windows 11 SE as an alternative to Google’s Chrome OS back in November 2021, but Windows 11 SE was unable to establish itself in the market. SE was primarily intended for inexpensive notebooks for school use. We reported on this discontinuation last year:
Windows 11 SE was announced in late 2021 and launched in January of 2022, explicitly designed for the education market. While it shares most of the codebase and features of Windows 11, it’s also far more locked down, with standard users unable to install third-party 32-bit apps or even apps from the Windows Store without admin assistance. Windows 11 SE lacks widgets and some Snap Layout options for the sake of being “distraction-free,” it’s even more insistent upon Microsoft applications like Office and Edge, and it needs to be managed via the Intune system.
Windows 11 SE was meant to be a successor to Windows 10 S, which didn’t make a particularly big splash, either. It’s easy to imagine how school administrators, used to standard Windows 10/11 or Google’s popular and cheap Chromebook education setup, wouldn’t be keen on sacrificing advanced features.
Microsoft will provide updates for the last time in October 2026, as explained on this support page. Afterwards, there will be no more support or updates for Windows 11 SE.
Windows 11 23H2
November 10th, 2026 also marks the end of support for Windows 11 23H2 Enterprise, Education, and IoT Enterprise, according to this support page. Meanwhile, Windows 11 23H2 Home and Pro were already discontinued back in November 2025.
Microsoft Office 2021
Microsoft Office 2021, which was released back in October 2021 and is the predecessor to the now-current Office 2024, will also be discontinued on October 13th, 2026 alongside Windows 11 24H2. That includes discontinued support for Office LTSC 2021 and Office LTSC 2021 for Mac, as reported by Windows Latest.
Although you can continue to use Office 2021 after the end of support, the software won’t be getting new updates, which means any newly discovered security vulnerabilities will remain unfixed. In other words, it’s a security risk to keep using Office 2021 post-support.
Affected customers should therefore switch to either Microsoft Office 2024 (a non-subscription one-time payment with only security updates) or Microsoft 365 (a subscription payment that includes both feature and security updates). Unfortunately, Microsoft doesn’t offer a discount for upgrading from Office 2021 to Office 2024.
Not sure which way to go? Learn more about whether you should subscribe to Microsoft 365 or buy Microsoft Office 2024.
Various Windows features
In addition to the above products being discontinued, Microsoft has also removed several features from Windows over 2025. Here are the most notable ones worth knowing about:
Location History (API for Cortana)
Line Printer Daemon (older printer protocol)
Windows UWP Map Control and Windows Maps Platform API (replaced by Azure Maps)
Windows Maps (replaced by Bing Maps)
Device Metadata (partially replaced by INF)
Dev Home (partially moved to Settings)
Windows PowerShell 2.0 (newer versions still available)
Windows Management Instrumentation Command-Line (has been replaced by Windows PowerShell for WMI)
Legacy Web Components (partially replaced by WebView2)
What features will be removed from Windows in 2026? Well, that remains to be seen.
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