I'm working with some small businesses that want to purchase
Win10 ESU for at least a year for their older PCs to give them
some breathing space before replacement.
After searching for quite a while I have not been able to find
where to actually purchase Windows 10 ESU licenses for business.
I have found that it's supposed to be available through Volume
Licensing, which is now part of Microsoft 365 Admin.
Can't find
it anywhere in there, and using the MS 365 Admin site search
function to find "ESU" or "Volume Licensing" doesn't come up
with anything useful.
I may well be missing something obvious, but is there a link that
will go to the actual ESU for business purchase page, or a description
of where it's hiding inside Microsoft 365 Admin?
I'm working with some small businesses that want to purchase
Win10 ESU for at least a year for their older PCs to give them
some breathing space before replacement.
After searching for quite a while I have not been able to find
where to actually purchase Windows 10 ESU licenses for business.
I have found that it's supposed to be available through Volume
Licensing, which is now part of Microsoft 365 Admin. Can't find
it anywhere in there, and using the MS 365 Admin site search
function to find "ESU" or "Volume Licensing" doesn't come up
with anything useful.
I may well be missing something obvious, but is there a link that
will go to the actual ESU for business purchase page, or a description
of where it's hiding inside Microsoft 365 Admin?
For business(not consumer)the ESU is offered for Volume Licensing subscriptions and only via Cloud Service Providers beginning Sept 1.
Load this url
<https://blogs.windows.com/windowsexperience/2025/06/24/stay-secure-with-windows-11-copilot-pcs-and-windows-365-before-support-ends-for-windows-10/>
'Windows 10 Extended Security Updates: A bridge to your Windows 11 experience'
Where have these companies been?
I hate it when M$ forces you to *click* *click* *click* etc. to get to
some critical info you need. And they seem to delight in obscuring information like this.
On 2025-09-02, ...winston <winstonmvp@gmail.com> wrote:
For business(not consumer)the ESU is offered for Volume Licensing
subscriptions and only via Cloud Service Providers beginning Sept 1.
Specifically what "Cloud Service Providers"?
Load this url
<https://blogs.windows.com/windowsexperience/2025/06/24/stay-secure-with-windows-11-copilot-pcs-and-windows-365-before-support-ends-for-windows-10/>
'Windows 10 Extended Security Updates: A bridge to your Windows 11
experience'
Thanks, but still lacking details on where to purchase.
Are these small businesses using volume licensed Windows 10 products?
or
Are these small business using retail(or OEM)versions of Windows
10(Home, Pro)?
On 2025-09-03, ...winston <winstonmvp@gmail.com> wrote:
Are these small businesses using volume licensed Windows 10 products?
or
Are these small business using retail(or OEM)versions of Windows
10(Home, Pro)?
OEM Windows 10 that came preloaded on the PCs, a mix of Home and
Pro versions. For the most part the only other Microsoft product
in use is MS Office for Word, Excel, etc. (Some have a standalone
version of Office, some Microsoft 365 subscriptions.)
Those are consumer, thus Volume Licensing and Cloud services do not apply.
The consumer ESU version is the only route.
<https://www.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/end-of-support?r=1#FAQ3>
John C. wrote:
I hate it when M$ forces you to *click* *click* *click* etc. to get to
some critical info you need. And they seem to delight in obscuring
information like this.
It's like being caught in a maze of twisty little passages.
It seems that Microsoft is really making this more difficult and obtuse
than it needs to be. All they need to do is provide a link or links
labeled "Purchase ESU here", but that would make things way too easy.
Well, let's face it, M$ doesn't want anybody to continue using W10. They
want everybody to move to the hated W11.
Roger Blake wrote:
John C. wrote:
I hate it when M$ forces you to *click* *click* *click* etc. to get to
some critical info you need. And they seem to delight in obscuring
information like this.
It's like being caught in a maze of twisty little passages.
It seems that Microsoft is really making this more difficult and obtuse
than it needs to be. All they need to do is provide a link or links
labeled "Purchase ESU here", but that would make things way too easy.
Well, let's face it, M$ doesn't want anybody to continue using W10. They
want everybody to move to the hated W11.
On 2025-09-04, John C. <r9jmg0@yahoo.com> wrote:
Well, let's face it, M$ doesn't want anybody to continue using W10. They
want everybody to move to the hated W11.
I do find Windows 11 to be obnoxious as hell right out of the box,
but that's another discussion entirely...
Always set aside an hour of your time. Go through ALL the settings and
turn off the hundreds of bullshit items which microsoft runs by default.
Another option is to wipe your system and install linux.
You'll have to learn to use it, so be patient.
On 2025/9/2 3:30:6, Roger Blake wrote:
I'm working with some small businesses that want to purchase
Win10 ESU for at least a year for their older PCs to give them
some breathing space before replacement.
[]
Despite being one who really _hates_ the rolling update model M$ have
now been operating for several years (with, as far as I'm concerned, the change from 10 to 11 just being part of that), I have to ask:
Where have these companies been? It's not as if the change to 11 has
been a secret for, I think, at least two years; if a company is using
Windows for their business, surely they should have been planning for it
as part of the rolling refresh they should be used to (for _business_ purposes a sort of 3-year redundancy seems to be what we have to work
with), rather than at this late stage in the game suddenly realising
they need some "breathing space".
Roger Blake wrote on 9/3/2025 8:05 PM:
On 2025-09-04, John C. <r9jmg0@yahoo.com> wrote:
Well, let's face it, M$ doesn't want anybody to continue using W10. They >>> want everybody to move to the hated W11.
I do find Windows 11 to be obnoxious as hell right out of the box,
but that's another discussion entirely...
Always set aside an hour of your time.ÿ Go through ALL the settings and
turn off the hundreds of bullshit items which microsoft runs by default.
Always make a backup image so you can reload the system if there is a
future problem.ÿ You won't have to install from scratch.ÿ And you won't
have to whine on usenet.
Another option is to wipe your system and install linux.
You'll have to learn to use it, so be patient.--Daniel70
We're likely talking about small businesses - which are the vast majority - that live year to year and don't have multi-year business plans with
capital and software refresh cycles.
On 2025-09-04, Chris <ithinkiam@gmail.com> wrote:
We're likely talking about small businesses - which are the vast majority - >> that live year to year and don't have multi-year business plans with
capital and software refresh cycles.
That's the deal. Frequently such businesses are on about a 10-year
cycle for replacing PCs. ("It still works, why spend money on a
new one?")
If, as "...winston" mentioned in this thread, PCs running OEM
pre-installed Win10 are only eligible for consumer ESU regardless
of business use or not, that's the way forward for small businesses
that don't want to replace PCs yet.
Consumer editions are Retail and OEM.
Windows 10 Home
Windows 10 Pro
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