i3 Processors and Microsoft Security Updates – EOL November 2026

[JazzFlute]

I’m just wondering how many people are affected by i3 processors no longer receiving Microsoft security updates after November 2026 (or effectively last November if you only had a Pro licence rather than EDU).

 

Normally I have the budget to replace machines entirely, but unfortunately this year I only have enough funding to upgrade the processor. To be fair, we’ve had good value out of these computers – they’re around 9 years old, and we’ve already upgraded the memory and hard drives over the years – but this time there’s only budget available for CPUs.

 

Is anyone else in the same position or planning to do the same this year?

[DavR]

Do you have any further reading on this one? It's a new one on me. There's unsupported (on paper but will install with tweaks) and then there's unsupported (won't actually install or get Windows Updates).

 

Personally I'd say replacing processors on machines that are nearly end of life is a waste of time and money, but, depends on what prices you're getting on processors. If you can find a stack of good second hand ones, maybe it's worth the time. 

 

We're hoping to phase out most of our PCs with i3s this summer I think, but might not get all of them. 

[robintech]

Not heard of this is there a Microsoft thing about it? 

I'd rather live it out on i3 Windows 10 ESU than upgrade the processor to get another couple of years , for ones I have to replace it'll be whatever is the cheapest desktop from Dell/Lenovo or i3-14100 usually

 

[paulkerton]

I haven't read anywhere that i3 processors will no longer be supported. Are you sure you're not conflating the CPU generation issue (ie anything lower than 8th Gen isn't supported)?

[JazzFlute]

12 minutes ago, DavR said:

Do you have any further reading on this one? It's a new one on me. There's unsupported (on paper but will install with tweaks) and then there's unsupported (won't actually install or get Windows Updates).

 

Personally I'd say replacing processors on machines that are nearly end of life is a waste of time and money, but, depends on what prices you're getting on processors. If you can find a stack of good second hand ones, maybe it's worth the time. 

 

We're hoping to phase out most of our PCs with i3s this summer I think, but might not get all of them. 

I should probably have worded this better.

 

Microsoft isn’t ending updates for “i3 CPUs” specifically. The issue is that older i3 systems can’t officially move to Windows 11, and Windows 10 security support (even with ESU) effectively ends in October 2026.

 

From my own testing some time ago, once an unsupported PC is “tweaked” to run Windows 11 using a Pro licence, it eventually stopped receiving security updates. However, when I changed the product key to an EDU licence, the machine immediately started pulling down security updates again.

That said, those EDU-based updates will also end in November, so it’s only a temporary extension rather than a long‑term solution.

 

Intel i3 Processors – Security Update End Dates

Intel i3 Generation	Example Models	Approx. Age	Windows 11 Supported?	Security Updates End
4th Gen (Haswell)	i3‑4130, i3‑4160	10–11 years	No	Oct 2025 (Windows 10) / Oct 2026 (paid ESU)
5th Gen (Broadwell)	i3‑5005U, i3‑5010U	9–10 years	No	Oct 2025 / Oct 2026 (paid ESU)
6th Gen (Skylake)	i3‑6100, i3‑6300	8–9 years	No	Oct 2025 / Oct 2026 (paid ESU)

Edited April 23 by JazzFlute

[JazzFlute]

5 minutes ago, paulkerton said:

I haven't read anywhere that i3 processors will no longer be supported. Are you sure you're not conflating the CPU generation issue (ie anything lower than 8th Gen isn't supported)?

Yes this.

[robintech]

ESU ends October 2028 i thought

[itskdog]

9 minutes ago, JazzFlute said:

I should probably have worded this better.

 

Microsoft isn’t ending updates for “i3 CPUs” specifically. The issue is that older i3 systems can’t officially move to Windows 11, and Windows 10 security support (even with ESU) effectively ends in October 2026.

 

I'd still like a source for this - AFAIK, Windows 10 ESUs are available for 3 years for all hardware supported by Windows 10. Only individuals got ESUs for 1 year, everyone else can purchase up to 3 years, with schools getting a heavy discount.

[JazzFlute]

2 minutes ago, robintech said:

ESU ends October 2028 i thought

I think it’s 2026, unless Copilot was lying to me again 🤣

 

I remember reading about this on a forum a while back, so I tested it myself. I upgraded a PC with a low‑generation i3 processor to Windows 11 using the usual tweaks, running a Pro licence, and it couldn’t download Windows security updates – it just showed “No updates available”.

 

As soon as I changed the product key to an EDU licence, the PC pulled down security updates straight away. However, as mentioned previously, those updates will still end in October, based on the testing I did while it was running the Pro licence.

[itskdog]

6 minutes ago, JazzFlute said:

unless Copilot was lying to me again

 

Probably. Just as I'm sure you tell the teachers and the teachers tell the students, never trust an LLM, always check the sources to make sure it backs it up.

 

LLMs are less reliable than Wikipedia. It's probably mixing up consumer ESUs or the free EU ESUs with commercial ESUs, which are configured entirely differently.

 

My source for all ESU info is Microsoft themselves, who say nothing about this: Extended Security Updates (ESU) program for Windows 10 | Microsoft Learn

Edited April 23 by itskdog

[JazzFlute]

Anyone else got a low‑generation i3 processor they can try this on?

I tested it on two PCs, and neither would pull down security updates while running a Pro licence. As soon as I changed the product key to an EDU licence, security updates downloaded straight away.

 

That said, I’m fairly sure this support still ends around October/November 2026, so it only seems to be a short‑term workaround.

 

Intel i3 Processors – Security Update End Dates

Intel i3 Generation	Example Models	Approx. Age	Windows 11 Supported?	Security Updates End
4th Gen (Haswell)	i3‑4130, i3‑4160	10–11 years	No	Oct 2025 (Windows 10) / Oct 2026 (paid ESU)
5th Gen (Broadwell)	i3‑5005U, i3‑5010U	9–10 years	No	Oct 2025 / Oct 2026 (paid ESU)
6th Gen (Skylake)	i3‑6100, i3‑6300	8–9 years	No	Oct 2025 / Oct 2026 (paid ESU)

[JazzFlute]

4 minutes ago, itskdog said:

 

Probably. Just as I'm sure you tell the teachers and the teachers tell the students, never trust an LLM, always check the sources to make sure it backs it up.

 

LLMs are less reliable than Wikipedia. It's probably mixing up consumer ESUs or the free EU ESUs with commercial ESUs, which are configured entirely differently.

 

My source for all ESU info is Microsoft themselves: Extended Security Updates (ESU) program for Windows 10 | Microsoft Learn

 

Reading that though does it mean you have to be on Windows 10 or if you have tweaked your PC's to install Windows 11 then that doesn't apply?

[itskdog]

If you're using unsupported hardware on Windows 11 (i.e. anything before Intel 8th Gen or Ryzen 2nd Gen) then MS have always said that updates could stop at any time, and Feature Updates have always required you to bypass again each year.

 

It's nothing to do with the grade of CPU. If MS were stopping support for i3s and Celeron/Pentium/Processor then we'd all know and it would be in the tech news, and I doubt MS want to give that market segment away to Apple (with the new Macbook Neo) and Google.

[JazzFlute]

1 minute ago, itskdog said:

If you're using unsupported hardware on Windows 11 (i.e. anything before Intel 8th Gen or Ryzen 2nd Gen) then MS have always said that updates could stop at any time, and Feature Updates have always required you to bypass again each year.

 

It's nothing to do with the grade of CPU. If MS were stopping support for i3s and Celeron/Pentium/Processor then we'd all know and it would be in the tech news, and I doubt MS want to give that market segment away to Apple (with the new Macbook Neo) and Google.

Yes, I’m using unsupported hardware (a low‑generation i3 processor), but as I mentioned earlier, I’ve tested this myself.

 

I installed Windows 11 24H2 using the usual tweaks. While running a Pro licence, it wouldn’t download security or feature updates at all. As soon as I swapped the product key to an EDU licence, it immediately pulled the updates down.

 

From what I understand (after a bit of Co-piloting), this only seems to extend security updates by around another 12 months. If you’re saying security updates could last until 2028 on tweaked installations , I’ll need to do some more research on that.

 

That said, because I’ve tweaked Windows to run on unsupported hardware—like many people may have—if Microsoft does eventually stop security updates on unsupported systems, we won’t really have any comeback. I’m just trying to get ahead of the game, so I don’t suddenly end up with no plan if updates stop altogether.

[itskdog]

Generally I'd advise against doing the tweaks at work.

 

On a personal device, sure. But on the fleet you're managing at your school I'd advise against it, you're just asking for trouble.

 

The 2028 I gave was for the ESUs on Windows 10 that you get from your licencing provider. Bypassing to Windows 11 was always going to be using hacky workarounds, and as I mentioned (though given the layout of your responses I'm assuming you're not even reading what we're saying with a critical eye and just passing everything we say to an LLM to answer for you), my understanding is that you'd have to re-do the bypass for every feature update anyway.

 

The issue you probably ran into is that 24H2 Home, Pro, and Pro Education reach end of support in October, so you'll need to be on 25H2 by then if your licencing doesn't give you Enterprise or Education editions which get an extra 12 months. (Source, good page to keep in your bookmarks for this stuff: Windows 11 - release information)

[JazzFlute]

So what I now believe to be true is below and security updates will stop OCT 2027 with 24H2 (On 23H2 its NOV 2026).  The caveat always being they can pull security updates anytime on unsupported hardware and if that does happen for any reason then it becomes an issue.

 

Important caveat because your CPU is unsupported

Your 6th‑gen i3 isn’t on Microsoft’s supported CPU list for Windows 11. This means:

• Microsoft does not guarantee future feature upgrades (e.g. to 25H2 or 26H1) will install automatically.
• If you stay on 24H2, you’ll get security updates until Oct 2027.
• If Windows Update blocks future upgrades on that hardware, you won’t be able to extend support past that date using official means.

Microsoft explicitly warns that unsupported hardware installs may lose update entitlement at any time. [learn.microsoft.com]

[JazzFlute]

3 minutes ago, itskdog said:

Generally I'd advise against doing the tweaks at work.

 

On a personal device, sure. But on the fleet you're managing at your school I'd advise against it, you're just asking for trouble.

 

The 2028 I gave was for the ESUs on Windows 10 that you get from your licencing provider. Bypassing to Windows 11 was always going to be using hacky workarounds, and as I mentioned (though given the layout of your responses I'm assuming you're not even reading what we're saying with a critical eye and just passing everything we say to an LLM to answer for you), my understanding is that you'd have to re-do the bypass for every feature update anyway.

 

The issue you probably ran into is that 24H2 Home, Pro, and Pro Education reach end of support in October, so you'll need to be on 25H2 by then if your licencing doesn't give you Enterprise or Education editions which get an extra 12 months. (Source, good page to keep in your bookmarks for this stuff: Windows 11 - release information)

 

Yup agree with what you said and definitely need to stop using Copilot and do proper research from time to time 😂

[DavR]

18 minutes ago, JazzFlute said:

From what I understand (after a bit of Co-piloting), this only seems to extend security updates by around another 12 months. If you’re saying security updates could last until 2028 on tweaked installations , I’ll need to do some more research on that.

 

I think you were confusing the Windows 10 extended support, and support for the specific processor ranges, on some of this. Or at least Co-Pilot was doing that for you.

 

Windows 10 extended support runs until October 2026 commercially, or until I think 2028 on Edu or Enterprise licensing.

 

Those models of processor were never supported by Windows 11, so, to the best of my knowledge there is no official word of when they might stop getting Windows Updates. Personally, I've not seen any scenario yet where a Windows 11 machine has stopped getting updates, based on an unsupported processor. There's still time, of course!

[JazzFlute]

2 minutes ago, DavR said:

 

I think you were confusing the Windows 10 extended support, and support for the specific processor ranges, on some of this. Or at least Co-Pilot was doing that for you.

 

Windows 10 extended support runs until October 2026 commercially, or until I think 2028 on Edu or Enterprise licensing.

 

Those models of processor were never supported by Windows 11, so, to the best of my knowledge there is no official word of when they might stop getting Windows Updates. Personally, I've not seen any scenario yet where a Windows 11 machine has stopped getting updates, based on an unsupported processor.

 

yep I definitely need to check official online Microsoft sources instead of Microsoft Co-Pilot

 

Definitely tested the scenario here with 2 PCs with unsupported hardware (processor) with specs below

 

i3 Win11 24H2 - Home or Pro licence: doesn't download updates

i3 Win11 24H2 - EDU  licence: does download updates (ends Nov 2027 I beleive)

[DrBeaker]

If this is true, plus the fact the hardware is 9x years old the kit no longer meets the DfE guidelines so needs replacing.

 

Bounce it up the chain to SLT, it's their problem. Especially if they won't provide you budget to replace them.

[Ditto]

On 23/04/2026 at 14:11, JazzFlute said:

 

yep I definitely need to check official online Microsoft sources instead of Microsoft Co-Pilot

 

Definitely tested the scenario here with 2 PCs with unsupported hardware (processor) with specs below

 

i3 Win11 24H2 - Home or Pro licence: doesn't download updates

i3 Win11 24H2 - EDU  licence: does download updates (ends Nov 2027 I beleive)

Honesty from the outset - this is largely ChatGPT thinking, but....

 

Changing the licence triggered a system/activation refresh, which coincided with Windows Update working again.

—not:

“EDU licences enable updates that Pro blocks”.

 

A suggested idea is

Start with Pro (unsupported hardware)
Confirm “no updates”
Without changing edition, try:
Reboot
“Check for updates” multiple times
Reset Windows Update components (or even just wait for next Patch Tuesday)
Then:
Switch to EDU → note behaviour
Then (this is key):
Switch back to Pro
See if updates now still work
What this would show
If updates continue working after switching back to Pro:
→ That disproves the “EDU unlocks updates” theory
If updates stop again only on Pro:
→ That would be genuinely interesting (and unusual) - but given the amount of users out there, would be reported on in the real world.

 

Now, my thoughts, with no AI input - take note of the previous post. Bounce it up the management chain, stop trying to spend your time trying to make a silk purse out of pig's ear and spend the time instead telling your SLT the need to invest in IT and make them aware of DfE guidelines. Too many of us in edu try to hard to do the ridiculous with diddly-squat investment. We as an industry sector need to break the cycle. And the old 'we don't have the budget...'. Pah! There's plenty of budget (maybe I'm pushing it here!), but ultimately it's a choice of priorities on where money goes, and IT has been bottom of the pile for far too long. Surmon over 😂

[DrBeaker]

1 hour ago, Ditto said:

...Too many of us in edu try to hard to do the ridiculous with diddly-squat investment. We as an industry sector need to break the cycle. And the old 'we don't have the budget...'. Pah! There's plenty of budget (maybe I'm pushing it here!), but ultimately it's a choice of priorities on where money goes, and IT has been bottom of the pile for far too long. Surmon over 😂

 

 

For my 2 cents... Spent far too much time and effort over the years in education trying to save them a buck in numerous, multiple, different ways, only for it to come back and bite me in the ass......all whilst I see the money being wasted everywhere else.

 

So along with the backing from DFe IT guidelines we now have, do it properly. If they don't, it's an SLT/management issue not yours.

 

[DavR]

On 25/04/2026 at 13:59, DrBeaker said:

If this is true, plus the fact the hardware is 9x years old the kit no longer meets the DfE guidelines so needs replacing.

 

Bounce it up the chain to SLT, it's their problem. Especially if they won't provide you budget to replace them.

 

Out of interest, what part of the DfE Standards would you be failing this hardware on?

 

Guidance around devices seems to mainly be around ensuring they have adequate support etc at time of purchase, not specifying a limit to years in service anywhere. The only "hard" spec I can see is around what wifi standards devices should support.

[KK20]

sometimes there is kit that has a decent amount of life left in them.  We have a few dell precision laptops with Xeon E's in them - officially not supported in windows 11.  Yet they are functionally identical (sans ECC) on i7-8700 s with 6 cores/12 threads and the 8700 are supported.  So we run W11 on them anyway as technically unsupported (until the updates dont run due to being unsupported, then they will go in the bin).   These laptops are just as quick as other more modern offerings and have much better screens (plus are built pretty well).

 

I actually wonder if it is the iGPU that stopped the support for the Xeon Es, being workstation drivers.

[DavR]

I think the 8th Gen or above requirement for Windows 11 is just a very broad brushstroke, a line in the sand to say they aren't supporting anything older than a certain date. Plenty below that works fine, but Microsoft don't want the hassle of supporting older hardware long term.

 

As you've noted, older processors functionally identical still work just fine. I'm just today scrapping a laptop with a 6th Gen i5 in it, which while being unsupported, actually still benchmarks higher than some Celerons we have which are supported.