Windows 10 Free Extended Security Updates in EU (NO ONEDRIVE BACKUP / FEE / REWARD POINTS REQUIRED)

jj880

https://www.windowscentral.com/microsoft/windows-10/major-backtrack-as-microsoft-makes-windows-10-extended-security-updates-free-for-an-extra-year-but-only-in-certain-markets

We are pleased to learn that Microsoft will provide a no-cost Extended Security Updates (ESU) option for Windows 10 consumer users in the European Economic Area (EEA). We are also glad this option will not require users to back up settings, apps, or credentials, or use Microsoft Rewards.

This article is dated 2 days ago.

However all I get is this in Windows Update:

Apparently there should be an option to "Enrol" at the bottom of the above screen snip without having to backup settings to onedrive, pay a fee or use Microsoft reward points…

Anyone managed to get the 12 month Win 10 ESU for free as outlined in the above article?

Capt'n Midnight

If you live outside the EEA you can also extend Windows 10 for a year by signing up for Microsoft Reward Points for Windows Backup for OneDrive free. Perhaps with a new user account that you don't use for anything else.

https://www.theregister.com/2025/06/25/microsoft_free_esu_tier/

If you are already paying for OneDrive or 365 then you should already have enough Reward Points.

EEA includes EU countries and also Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. But not Brexitland.

jj880

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123857369#Comment_123857369

Are you saying the article I posted is accurate? Because the free ESU option without any conditions isnt showing for me unfortunately.

Ive been paying for extra hotmail storage for about 4 years but it only got me up to 200 points.

The article you posted is from June and I was aware of the ESU options until I saw the article I posted above from 2 days ago.

Apparently after pressure MS has allowed 12 months ESU for Win 10 for free with no conditions (one drive backup, reward points etc.). That was my query: has anyone managed to get it for free without satisfying the conditions from your article? Which, unless Im picking things up wrong, should now be possible in Ireland.

I'll keep checking over the next fortnight. Maybe it will become available to me soon...

EDIT: for some reason my Microsoft account location was set to United States. Updated it to Ireland to hopefully get free ESU before Oct 14th.

User567363

Lol the subject reminds me of early morning spam

Slightly delighted if this is true

jj880

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123857867#Comment_123857867

Sounds legit. Here's similar from PcMag (article dated 25th Sep):

https://www.pcmag.com/news/microsofts-windows-10-extension-is-now-absolutely-free-in-europe

Windows 10 users in the European Economic Area can now receive an extra year of security updates without using reward points or buying additional storage.

…

In response to the group's concerns, Microsoft has decided to make the extended security updates for Windows 10 completely free in the European Economic Area (EEA): no reward points or backups required.

Apparently the consumer group "Euroconsumers" initially wanted free security updates until 2030.

My PC is still a good spec so if above is not true I'll be paying the fee at end of October anyway…

Morris Code

I read about this over a week ago….followed the instrictions and signed up without a problem .I declined the Drive backup thing….again no problem

jj880

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123857913#Comment_123857913

Without having to pay / backup / give reward points?

Feck sake. Maybe they're staggering the roll out. Ive not gotten any option for ESU at all so far…

Esel

MS may well have been facing a hefty fine from EU if they didn't do this.

Morris Code

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123857984#Comment_123857984

Yes-read about this online maybe 10 days ago and it was true. I have just checked again and it's telling me I have ESU for next 12 months…I did not have to pay and did not have points….and final step -to back up to Cloud…but with a decline option. I declined.

If u are in Ireland I don't know why u wouldn't have it.

jj880

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123859463#Comment_123859463

Maybe I messed up having my Microsoft account region set to United States until today.

If I don't get it I'll be on to MS support.

jimjangles

I don't like the fact that you have to sign in to a Microsoft account to avail of this extension. Why are they forcing that? Why is the EU not looking into that? I've always used a local account to sign into my PC. Why are Microsoft forcing this online logged in only bs. So if I sign out of the Microsoft account I have to sign in again within 60 days to keep it updating, is that right? It feels like Microsoft want to track everything we do and market bs to us at every opportunity. Sure it'd be handy keeping Windows 10 for another year and not having to move to Linux but it feels like you're giving Microsoft permission to bombard you with marketing bs and spy on you so I don't know if this is a good idea at all for me. I don't want to be connected all the time I'm using my computer. I have privacy concerns.

User567363

You do need to sign in to a Microsoft account to click enroll, this doesn't change you devices account type or password

odyssey06

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123892230#Comment_123892230

Stupid question time... How / where do you sign in to Microsoft account from? Where should I be looking?

I dont see an option to enrol just says coming soon

User567363

About half the computers i checked had an obvious enroll link in settings, windows update

jj880

Mine is the same as 12 days ago when I check Windows Updates in Settings.

Enrollment for Windows 10 Extended Security Updates will be coming soon.

No option to enrol.

Capt'n Midnight

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123892169#Comment_123892169

Setup a second user account for that.

Microsoft keep pushing things like Recall too, it's not just Ads.

jj880

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123892241#Comment_123892241

Go to Windows Button ⇒ Settings (might be a cog icon) ⇒ Accounts

My microsoft account details are there with an option to "Sign in with a local account instead".

If I was signed in with a local account I'd probably see "Sign in with an online Microsoft Account" or similar.

So I assume this means Im already signed in with an online Microsoft account and should be good to see an enrol option for the free 12 months ESU soon.

odyssey06

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123893324#Comment_123893324

Snap here, ok guess it's just a case of holding tight and waiting for the option to appear.

jimjangles

I went to enroll and it's asking me to backup my pc settings which I don't want to do.

z80CPU

Enrolled my 11 year old Asus x550 this morning on windows 10 extended support. All set.

jimjangles

Have you all been forced to do the 1 of 3 options after signing in basically having to backup your settings and apps to get it for free?

That crap has popped up for me so I'm stuck.

Looks like I will be moving to Linux on October 14th.

jj880

Windows 10 free 12 months ESU appeared for me this morning in Windows Update:

Easy enough to get the free 12 months.

Glaceon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123896817#Comment_123896817

Check what your install region is, if it's set to US then it may not give you the European ESU options. Check the registry value named DeviceRegion at "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Control Panel\DeviceRegion". The values correspond with the table below:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/intl/table-of-geographical-locations

If this isn't set to an EEA country, you won't get it.

Microsoft make it awkward to edit this value but it is possible, here's how I do it in an admin command prompt:

cd \windows\system32
copy reg.exe reg2.exe
reg2 add "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Control Panel\DeviceRegion" /v DeviceRegion /t REG_DWORD /d 0x44 /f
del reg2.exe

jimjangles

Thanks but I managed to fix it earlier by going into registry editor when logged into my Microsoft account and deleting that Device Region registry key.

Then I went into enroll and it worked.The registry key was regenerated by Windows, no need to recreate it.

ItHurtsWhenIP

I hadn't managed to get around to enrolling my Win10 laptop to receive Extended Security Updates … and yet … 😏

Glaceon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123999828#Comment_123999828

This is an “out of band” bug fix to resolve an issue where some users couldn’t enroll in ESU. KB5068781 is the actual November update.

ItHurtsWhenIP

Aha … it did install very quickly, so it clearly wasn't a normal batch.

I'm replacing the 256GB SSD in this laptop with a bigger one I have lying around and was going to do a fresh install and then properly enroll in the updates then.