The time has finally arrived. Microsoft Windows 7 and multiple versions of Windows Server 2008 have reached end of support January 14, 2020. As a result, customers will no longer receive technical support and software updates for those products as of today.
Microsoft first released Windows 7 on October 22, 2009 and has supported the long-running operating system for over 10 years. Microsoft and multiple security experts have been urging customers for quite some time that the end of service date was coming.
“Technical assistance and software updates from Windows Update that help protect your PC are no longer available for the product. Microsoft strongly recommends that you move to Windows 10 to avoid a situation where you need service or support that is no longer available,” Microsoft said in the announcement on Tuesday.
So the announcement should not come as any surprise.
In addition, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2 and other Server 2008 products have also reached end of life today.
Microsoft confirmed they will no longer offer:
- Free security updates on-premises
- Non-security updates
- Free support options
- Online technical content updates.
However, Microsoft did offer customers the ability to migrate their Windows Server 2008 systems to Azure “to take advantage of 3 additional years of Critical and Important security updates at no additional charge.”
It is important to note that historically attackers have exploited end of life (EOL) systems in the past such as WannaCry ransomware attacks.
Organizations should make sure to upgrade their systems to supported OS versions as soon as possible.