Windows 11 24H2 end of life: Oct 13 (Pro, Home)

Windows 11 24H2 end of life is not one date — it's two, a year apart, and which one applies to your fleet depends entirely on edition. Microsoft's lifecycle pages set October 13, 2026 as the last day version 24H2 gets updates on Home, Pro, Pro Education, Pro for Workstations, and SE. The same version 24H2, on Enterprise, Education, and Enterprise multi-session, keeps getting updates until October 12, 2027. Pro is the edition to check for first — if any of your devices run it, the earlier date is the one that governs them, not the later one.

Two lifecycle pages, two different dates, one version number

Microsoft documents Windows 11 Home and Pro on one lifecycle page and Windows 11 Enterprise and Education on a separate one, and the version 24H2 row reads differently on each:

• Home, Pro, Pro Education, Pro for Workstations, SE — the 24H2 row's End Date is listed as 10/14/2026 6:59:59 AM Pacific Time. That timestamp marks the start of the first unsupported day, so the last day of support is October 13, 2026.
• Education, Enterprise, Enterprise multi-session — the 24H2 row's End Date is listed as 10/13/2027 6:59:59 AM Pacific Time, so the last day of support is October 12, 2027.

Microsoft's Windows 11 release-information page states the same split in plain calendar dates rather than timestamps: version 24H2's "End of updates" column reads 2026-10-13 for "Home, Pro, Pro Education, and Pro for Workstations" and 2027-10-12 for "Enterprise, Education, IoT Enterprise, and Enterprise multi-session" — the same two dates, from a second Microsoft source. That same page also states the general rule behind the gap: Windows 11 feature updates come with 24 months of support for Home, Pro, Pro for Workstations, and Pro Education editions and 36 months of support for Enterprise and Education editions. It's not a one-off for 24H2 — it's how every annual Windows 11 release is documented.

26H2 is now the target for 24H2 devices

Until now, the practical move off 24H2 on an existing Home or Pro device was version 25H2. That has widened. Microsoft's Windows 11 25H2 release-health page, as we read it on October 5, 2026, states that version 26H2 is available on eligible Windows 11, version 25H2 and version 24H2 devices for users who have turned on the setting Get the latest updates as soon as they're available, and that the rollout is phased and will expand over the next few months. So a 24H2 Home or Pro device can go straight to 26H2, and 25H2 remains a supported option. Because the rollout is phased, not every eligible device will see the offer on the same day, so confirm each device's current version before you plan around it.

For end-of-servicing dates, use the Version 26H2 row in Microsoft's lifecycle tables for Home and Pro and for Enterprise and Education. Version 26H2 has a longer runway than 24H2 on both edition groups; check the row for your edition before you plan the next move.

What "end of updates" means, and what these pages don't say

Microsoft's lifecycle tables don't use the phrase "end of life" — they list a "Retirement Date" for the product overall (Windows 11 Home and Pro, and Windows 11 Enterprise and Education, are both listed simply as "In Support" with no retirement date of their own) and an "End Date" for each individual version. The release-information page calls the same version-level cutoff "end of updates." What both pages document is that a version stops receiving updates on its listed date. Neither page states what happens to a device still running that version afterward, and we're not going to guess — if you're searching "Windows 11 24H2 end of life" because you want to know what breaks on the date itself, Microsoft's own pages don't say, so we won't either.

One edition-specific note worth flagging separately: the Home and Pro lifecycle page states that Windows 11, version 24H2 was the last supported version for Windows 11 SE edition. If any device in your fleet runs Windows 11 SE — the education-focused edition — 24H2 isn't just its current version, it's the last one it will ever run.

Why you can't assume either edition

Windows 11 ships in both Pro and Enterprise editions, and nothing about a device's age or hardware tells you which one is installed. If any of your devices run Pro, Pro Education, Pro for Workstations, Home, or SE, October 13, 2026 is the date that governs them — not October 12, 2027. If you've seen "Windows 11 24H2 supported until 2027" somewhere, that's the Enterprise and Education answer, and it doesn't automatically carry to a Pro device.

The mistake runs the other way too: an Enterprise-licensed machine sitting in an otherwise-Pro fleet could get assumed onto the earlier deadline, when Microsoft's own documentation gives it until October 2027. The edition installed on each device — not an assumption about what your organization typically buys — is what determines which date applies.

What to check this week

• Confirm edition and version on every device, not just a sample. Check the edition and version in Windows Settings or your device-management inventory rather than assuming from the purchase order or the image name. Devices bought outside a standard procurement path are the usual source of an unexpected edition.
• Don't assume Enterprise dates apply to a Pro fleet, or vice versa. The one-year gap between October 13, 2026 and October 12, 2027 is edition-specific, and Microsoft's lifecycle pages document it separately for a reason.
• Move Pro devices still on 23H2 or 24H2 toward a currently supported version. Microsoft's Home and Pro lifecycle page lists version 25H2 with an End Date of 10/13/2027 6:59:59 AM — October 12, 2027 — a full year past the 24H2 Home/Pro date. Note also that Microsoft's release-information page describes version 26H1 as scoped to support new devices that come to market in early 2026 and states it is not offered as an in-place update from 24H2 or 25H2 on existing devices — so 25H2 or, as of October 5, 2026, 26H2 (see above), not 26H1, is the practical move for an existing Pro machine.
• If you're still on 23H2, check both dates. The Home/Pro lifecycle page lists 23H2's End Date as 11/12/2025 6:59:59 AM — November 11, 2025, already past. The Enterprise/Education page lists 23H2's End Date as 11/11/2026 6:59:59 AM — November 10, 2026, a separate deadline that's now less than two months out.

We don't resell Windows licenses — we're not going to tell you which edition to standardize on. What we do recommend, on any version-migration timeline, is confirming edition and version per device before treating any single date as universal. If your organization is also carrying an unfinished Windows 10 migration, the edition split described above governs Windows 11 too, in more detail than fits here, in our companion post on Windows 10 ESU and why the extension doesn't cover managed fleets. October 13, 2026 also isn't only a Windows 11 date — see our roundup of everything Microsoft retires that same day if you want the full list before it arrives piecemeal.

Sources

• Microsoft Learn — Windows 11 Home and Pro lifecycle (retrieved September 27, 2026)
• Microsoft Learn — Windows 11 Enterprise and Education lifecycle (retrieved September 27, 2026)
• Microsoft Learn — Windows 11 release information (retrieved September 27, 2026)
• Microsoft Learn — Windows 11, version 25H2 release health (retrieved October 5, 2026)
• Microsoft Learn — Windows message center (updated October 2, 2026)

The 30-second version

Windows 11, version 24H2 has two end-of-updates dates on Microsoft's own lifecycle pages: October 13, 2026 for Home, Pro, Pro Education, Pro for Workstations, and SE; October 12, 2027 for Education, Enterprise, and Enterprise multi-session. Pro is the edition to check for first, since October 13, 2026 is its date — but mixed estates carry both editions, and the edition installed on the device, not an assumption about your fleet, decides which date applies. Version 25H2 already carries the same one-year edition split forward to October 2027 and October 2028; version 26H1 is for new devices only and isn't offered as an in-place update. Windows 11 SE stopped receiving new versions after 24H2. LTSC runs on its own separate track, with Windows 11 Enterprise LTSC 2024 ending updates in 2029 and only the IoT Enterprise LTSC 2024 edition carrying extended support to 2034. This week's task is simple to state and easy to skip: check edition and version on every device, not a sample.

If you want a senior engineer to inventory edition and version across your fleet and build the migration path off 24H2, the project intake form takes about three minutes. We'll come back with scope and a fixed-fee range.

Pro IT NW helps regulated mid-market organizations plan and execute Windows 11 migrations. Vendor-neutral, labor-only — we don't resell Windows licenses. This post reflects Microsoft's Windows 11 lifecycle pages as read on September 27, 2026, with the 26H2 update added October 5, 2026.