Updated: July 15, 2020 (January 26, 2015)

Products Leaving Extended Support in 2015 and 2016

As managing vice president, Rob Helm covers Microsoft collaboration services and client software. His 25-plus years of experience analyzing Microsoft’s... more

Windows Server 2003 and 2003 R2 leave Extended support July 14, 2015. Shown here are software versions leaving Extended support in 2015 and 2016. Microsoft’s general policy is that after Extended support ends, any support (including security fixes) requires custom support contracts, which are expensive and not available in all circumstances. Consequently, organizations running products after Extended support face considerable risks or costs.

Windows Server 2015 will probably arrive after Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2003 R2 leave support on July 14, 2015, so many organizations will want to migrate systems running on those OS versions to Windows Server 2012 R2. Windows 7 left Mainstream support Jan. 13, 2015. OS versions in Mainstream support are eligible for some free support, and new Microsoft application versions are typically supported on them. OS versions in Extended support require paid support contracts for most support other than security updates, and the company will often not support new application versions on them.

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