Windows 10 End of Life — Planning Your Windows 11 Upgrade (2026)

Windows 10 reaches end of support on 14 October 2025. After this date Microsoft will no longer provide security updates, bug fixes or technical support for Windows 10. This guide covers everything IT administrators need to know about planning and executing a Windows 11 upgrade in 2026.

Windows 10 End of Life — Key Dates

• 14 October 2025 — Windows 10 end of mainstream and extended support
• After October 2025 — Extended Security Updates (ESU) available for purchase for up to 3 years
• 14 October 2028 — Final ESU year ends — all Windows 10 support completely ends

Windows 11 Hardware Requirements

Check Windows 11 Compatibility via PowerShell

# Check TPM version on local machine
Get-WmiObject -Namespace "root\cimv2\security\microsoft\tpm" -Class Win32_Tpm | Select-Object IsActivated_InitialValue, IsEnabled_InitialValue, SpecVersion

# Check if Secure Boot is enabled
Confirm-SecureBootUEFI

# Get processor details for compatibility check
Get-WmiObject Win32_Processor | Select-Object Name, NumberOfCores, MaxClockSpeed

# Run Windows 11 compatibility check via PC Health Check
# Download from Microsoft and run silently:
# WindowsPCHealthCheckSetup.msi /quiet

Find Incompatible Machines via SCCM

-- SCCM WQL query - find machines without TPM 2.0
SELECT SMS_R_System.Name, SMS_G_System_TPM.SpecVersion
FROM SMS_R_System
INNER JOIN SMS_G_System_TPM ON SMS_G_System_TPM.ResourceID = SMS_R_System.ResourceId
WHERE SMS_G_System_TPM.SpecVersion NOT LIKE "2.0%"
OR SMS_G_System_TPM.SpecVersion IS NULL

Upgrade Options for Incompatible Hardware

• Enable TPM in BIOS/UEFI — many machines have a TPM chip that is disabled by default. Check BIOS/UEFI settings under Security for TPM or PTT (Platform Trust Technology for Intel) and enable it
• Enable Secure Boot — convert the disk from MBR to GPT if required (use MBR2GPT.exe) and enable Secure Boot in UEFI
• Replace hardware — machines from before 2017 are unlikely to meet Windows 11 requirements and should be replaced
• Purchase ESU — for machines that cannot be upgraded, purchase Extended Security Updates to maintain security patching on Windows 10 until 2028

Deploy Windows 11 via SCCM

1. Download the Windows 11 media from the Microsoft Volume Licensing Service Centre
2. In SCCM go to Software Library → Operating Systems → Operating System Images → Add
3. Create a task sequence using Upgrade an Operating System from upgrade package
4. Target the task sequence to a collection of compatible machines
5. Use a phased deployment — pilot group first, then broader rollout

About The Author

Andrew Armstrong

Andrew Armstrong is a UK-based IT professional with 26+ years of hands-on experience in Windows, Windows Server, SCCM/ConfigMgr, Active Directory, PowerShell, and enterprise infrastructure.

He founded TechyGeeksHome in 2010 and has published over 1,500 practical guides covering real-world IT problems and solutions. When not solving IT problems,

Andrew develops free Windows utilities including Ultimate Settings Panel, which has been downloaded over 850,000 times.

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