Microsoft’s 2025 product sunsetting is not a single headline—it’s a sustained, cross‑product sweep that touches operating systems, developer tools, Office suites, Azure services, and enterprise server products, and it will force choices that range from simple in‑place upgrades to large-scale migration programs for businesses and public sector institutions. The calendar of retirements centers on October 14, 2025—the date Microsoft will end mainstream support for Windows 10—but that date is only the most visible milestone in a year of phased deprecations that began in January and continues through late 2025. This article breaks down what’s being retired, why Microsoft is doing it, the security and operational risks, and practical migration and mitigation guidance for consumers, IT teams, and developers.
Microsoft maintains two principal support models: the Modern Lifecycle Policy, where support depends on staying current with updates and valid licensing, and the Fixed Lifecycle Policy, which sets explicit mainstream and extended support dates at product launch. The 2025 retirements include items from both policies, and they span cloud services, on‑premises server products, desktop OSes, developer suites, and a raft of smaller Azure services and SDKs. A consolidated list circulated in the press and community summaries lays out dozens of products with end‑of‑servicing or retirement dates through 2025; many of the headline items are captured in that list.
The single most consequential date for most readers is October 14, 2025, when Microsoft will stop providing security and quality updates for Windows 10. Microsoft’s lifecycle pages and support documentation make this explicit, and they also spell out options for staying protected temporarily—most notably the Windows 10 Consumer Extended Security Updates (ESU) program and migration paths to Windows 11. (support.microsoft.com)
At the same time, Microsoft has scheduled retirements for many other products in 2025: Visual Studio 2015 follows its Fixed Lifecycle timeline to October 14, 2025; Office 2016 and Office 2019 are scheduled to lose support on the same October date; several Azure services (including unmanaged disks and other targeted services) have retirement dates in September 2025; and multiple Dynamics, SQL Server, and specialized enterprise products are set to exit support throughout the year. The publicly circulated consolidated lists—compiled from Microsoft lifecycle notices—provide month‑by‑month detail of these retirements.
For consumers, the path is straightforward: check upgrade eligibility and prepare to move to Windows 11 where feasible; use ESU only as a short bridge. For SMBs and enterprises, the challenge is organizational: treat the 2025 retirements as a program with governance, timelines, and measurable milestones. For cloud customers, retiring older Azure services is both an operational imperative and an opportunity to modernize and reduce maintenance overhead—if migrations are started soon.
The immediate takeaway is simple and urgent: inventory, prioritize, and act now. The window for calm, orderly migration closes as 2025 progresses; after that, choices become constrained, costs rise, and your attack surface widens. Microsoft’s lifecycle pages and Azure retirement notices are the canonical sources for exact dates and migration guidance—use them as the north star for planning and procurement. (support.microsoft.com, azure.microsoft.com)
Microsoft’s list of 2025 retirements should be treated as a planning imperative, not a distant event: the time for inventorying, testing, and budgeting is now.
Source: Neowin Here is the complete list of Microsoft products being killed off in 2025
Background and overview
Microsoft maintains two principal support models: the Modern Lifecycle Policy, where support depends on staying current with updates and valid licensing, and the Fixed Lifecycle Policy, which sets explicit mainstream and extended support dates at product launch. The 2025 retirements include items from both policies, and they span cloud services, on‑premises server products, desktop OSes, developer suites, and a raft of smaller Azure services and SDKs. A consolidated list circulated in the press and community summaries lays out dozens of products with end‑of‑servicing or retirement dates through 2025; many of the headline items are captured in that list.The single most consequential date for most readers is October 14, 2025, when Microsoft will stop providing security and quality updates for Windows 10. Microsoft’s lifecycle pages and support documentation make this explicit, and they also spell out options for staying protected temporarily—most notably the Windows 10 Consumer Extended Security Updates (ESU) program and migration paths to Windows 11. (support.microsoft.com)
At the same time, Microsoft has scheduled retirements for many other products in 2025: Visual Studio 2015 follows its Fixed Lifecycle timeline to October 14, 2025; Office 2016 and Office 2019 are scheduled to lose support on the same October date; several Azure services (including unmanaged disks and other targeted services) have retirement dates in September 2025; and multiple Dynamics, SQL Server, and specialized enterprise products are set to exit support throughout the year. The publicly circulated consolidated lists—compiled from Microsoft lifecycle notices—provide month‑by‑month detail of these retirements.
What’s being retired in 2025: the headline items
October 14, 2025 — a “big wave” of retirements
- Windows 10 (all mainstream SKUs) — Microsoft will end technical, feature, and security updates on October 14, 2025. Continued operation is possible, but unsupported. (support.microsoft.com)
- Microsoft 365 / Microsoft 365 Apps on Windows 10 — Microsoft has clarified that Microsoft 365 Apps will no longer be supported on Windows 10 after that date, though security updates for the 365 apps will be provided for a limited period to assist transitions. (support.microsoft.com)
- Office 2016 and Office 2019 — fixed‑policy end of support on October 14, 2025; no further security or quality updates after that date. (support.microsoft.com)
- Visual Studio 2015 — Extended support scheduled to end October 14, 2025 under the Fixed Lifecycle Policy. Developers using legacy tooling should plan upgrades or migration to supported Visual Studio releases. (learn.microsoft.com)
September 2025 (selected Azure and cloud retirements)
- Azure unmanaged disks — retirement date: September 30, 2025. Microsoft has been asking customers to migrate to Managed Disks for reliability, scalability, and reduced management overhead. The retirement was announced in Microsoft’s Azure updates. (azure.microsoft.com)
- A set of targeted Azure services — items such as Azure Basic Load Balancer, Azure Remote Rendering, Azure Service Map, Azure SQL Edge, Azure vFXT, and several others show September 30, 2025 retirement/retirement windows in consolidated lists circulated by tech outlets and lifecycle dashboards. Administrators using niche Azure services must check the official retirements for migration guidance and timelines.
Other fixed‑policy dates through 2025 (representative)
- Dynamics CRM/NAV/C5/SL 2015 — multiple Dynamics 2015 releases hit end of support early in 2025 under Fixed Lifecycle rules.
- SQL Server 2012 / 2014 Extended Security Updates — extended update programs for older SQL Server releases have staged cutoffs in mid‑2025; organizations still on legacy SQL Server SKUs should treat these as hard migration deadlines.
Why Microsoft is consolidating and retiring so much in 2025
Microsoft’s rationale is consistent across the retirements:- Security and modernization — consolidating to supported baselines reduces the attack surface and lets Microsoft focus security investment on modern platforms and cloud services. That’s explicitly communicated in Microsoft lifecycle advisories. (support.microsoft.com)
- Cloud first and managed services — Azure managed services (e.g., Managed Disks) replace older, self‑managed primitives that are costly to maintain and less resilient. The Azure update announcing unmanaged disk retirement is a clear example. (azure.microsoft.com)
- Developer and product simplification — older dev toolsets and server products have multiplicative maintenance costs; sunsetting older versions allows product engineering to focus on a smaller set of supported targets and modern CI/CD paths.
What this means in practice: security, compliance, and operational impacts
- Security risk escalates immediately after end-of‑support — once mainstream security patches stop, new vulnerabilities discovered in the retired product will go unpatched for non‑ESU customers. Unsupported systems become high‑value targets. Microsoft explicitly warns that Windows 10 devices will be at greater risk after October 14, 2025. (support.microsoft.com)
- Compliance and audit fallout — enterprises subject to regulatory controls or standards (PCI, HIPAA, GDPR audits) will need documented remediation plans if they continue to operate unsupported software. Unsupported platforms can break compliance certifications.
- Application and driver compatibility — older operating systems or SDKs may not be compatible with new peripherals, drivers, or cloud connectors. Over time, key business applications risk breakage or degraded reliability. (support.microsoft.com)
- Cost and supply‑chain timing — mass hardware refreshes to replace non‑compatible PCs (e.g., devices that lack TPM 2.0 or other Windows 11 requirements) will create procurement load and budgetary stress. Channel partners and resellers are already preparing migration strategies. (itpro.com)
Mitigation and migration: practical playbooks
The action path differs for consumers, SMEs, and large enterprises. The following checklists and steps are pragmatic and ordered by priority.Consumer / home user checklist
- Inventory — note the exact Windows version (Settings → System → About), and note critical applications that must keep working.
- Check upgrade eligibility — run Microsoft’s PC Health Check / Windows Update to confirm Windows 11 eligibility; if eligible, plan an upgrade during a maintenance window. (support.microsoft.com)
- Back up everything — use Windows Backup (or third‑party tools) and store backups off‑device (cloud or external drive). (support.microsoft.com)
- Consider Consumer ESU for one year — Microsoft offers a consumer ESU option to receive security updates through a limited period after October 14, 2025; options include a one‑time fee or enrollment through specific Microsoft account methods. Consumers should treat this as a temporary stopgap, not a permanent fix. (support.microsoft.com, tomsguide.com)
- If hardware is incompatible — consider alternatives: buy a modern Windows 11 PC, migrate to a supported platform (Linux, ChromeOS) if possible, or continue with strict compensating controls (segmentation, up‑to‑date antivirus, limited network access) and plan replacement.
Small and medium business (SMB) roadmap
- Rapid asset discovery — use automated tools to inventory OS versions, software dependencies, hardware compliance, and virtualization hosts.
- Risk classification — categorize endpoints into high, medium, low risk based on exposure and business criticality.
- Pilot upgrades — choose representative users or roles and test Windows 11 upgrades or Office replacements to identify compatibility issues.
- Use ESU only where necessary — purchase ESU coverage for small sets of legacy devices while migrating critical apps. Treat ESU as an insurance policy, not a long‑term plan.
- Cloud migration consideration — evaluate moving desktops to Windows 365 Cloud PC if hardware refreshes are cost prohibitive or for short‑term capacity.
Enterprise and public sector program (recommended sequence)
- Governance and sponsor — assign executive sponsor and form migration program office with security, compliance, and procurement representation.
- Comprehensive discovery and dependency mapping — map application dependencies (line‑of‑business apps, custom integrations, on‑prem servers) and test on Windows 11 images in a sandbox.
- Phased migration plan with SLAs — prioritize mission‑critical systems and regulatory workloads; set migration waves and rollback plans.
- Vendor engagement — work with ISVs to obtain supported builds or patches; test certified drivers and sign‑off.
- Patch, secure, and decommission — post‑migration, ensure retired systems are decommissioned, data archived appropriately, and access revoked. Document decisions for auditors.
Azure‑specific considerations: migrate before cloud retirements bite
Azure retirements in late‑September 2025 are a different flavor of risk: they can cause service disruption if dependencies remain unaddressed.- Managed Disks migration — if VMs still use unmanaged disks, migrate to Azure Managed Disks well ahead of the September 30, 2025 retirement to avoid outages and to benefit from features like snapshots, bursting, and easier scaling. Microsoft published a notice advising migration steps and a hard retirement date. (azure.microsoft.com)
- Check for deprecated Azure services — run a cloud asset inventory and identify whether any tenant or automation uses services listed for retirement (Azure Service Map, Remote Rendering, Basic Load Balancer variants, etc.). If so, follow Microsoft migration guidance or transition to the recommended replacement services.
Developer tooling and server products: upgrade, refactor, or isolate
- Visual Studio and TFS — legacy Visual Studio versions (notably Visual Studio 2015) and Team Foundation Server SKUs are nearing or reaching the end of extended support in 2025; organizations using these should plan for migrations to supported Visual Studio releases, Azure DevOps, or GitHub‑centric workflows. Visual Studio 2015’s lifecycle dates are documented on Microsoft Learn. (learn.microsoft.com)
- Exchange and Skype for Business — Exchange Server 2016/2019 and Skype for Business Server variants also hit end‑of‑support windows in 2025; these product retirements require email and communications migration paths (to Exchange Online, Teams, or modern SIP solutions), and careful planning to preserve historical data and continuity.
Financial and sustainability angles: costs, e‑waste, and procurement timing
- Short‑term costs — ESU subscriptions and emergency hardware replacements impose immediate expenses. Consumers can buy a one‑year ESU as a stopgap; businesses may face multi‑year ESU pricing that scales with device counts. Microsoft’s consumer ESU options and sign‑up approaches are detailed in its support guidance. (support.microsoft.com, tomsguide.com)
- Long‑term costs vs. benefits — migrating to supported platforms reduces cumulative security and maintenance costs and enables access to newer productivity and security features (e.g., built‑in virtualization security in Windows 11). Over time, the TCO for keeping legacy systems often exceeds the refresh cost when accounting for risk and staff hours.
- E‑waste and procurement strategy — organizations should first assess hardware upgrades (RAM/SSD/firmware) that make devices Windows 11‑capable before wholesale replacement. When replacement is unavoidable, stagger procurement to avoid supply shocks and engage recycling/repurposing programs to reduce e‑waste.
Strengths of Microsoft’s approach — what admins should acknowledge
- Clarity of timelines — Microsoft has provided concrete end dates and migration guidance for many major items, enabling planning. Official lifecycle pages and Azure updates document these timelines. (support.microsoft.com, azure.microsoft.com)
- Managed cloud alternatives — for many deprecated on‑prem features, there are mature Azure managed replacements (Managed Disks, Azure SQL alternatives, Microsoft 365) that reduce operational overhead. (azure.microsoft.com)
- A temporary safety net — ESU programs and phased Microsoft 365 app security updates on Windows 10 give organizations breathing room to stage migrations responsibly. (support.microsoft.com)
Risks and shortcomings — where the plan falls short
- Cost and access inequity — organizations and consumers with older hardware or limited budgets face disproportionate burden. The requirement to link devices to Microsoft accounts for some ESU enrollment options has stirred concern among privacy‑conscious users. Independent reporting on ESU logistics highlights friction and potential backlash. (tomshardware.com, tomsguide.com)
- Timing compression for complex estates — enterprises with long‑tail dependencies (custom apps, embedded systems, medical or industrial devices) will find the ramp tight; some mission‑critical devices cannot be upgraded or replaced readily.
- Third‑party ecosystem lag — ISVs and hardware vendors often follow Microsoft’s timetable but sometimes lack timely updates for niche hardware or legacy drivers, creating bottlenecks in migration plans.
Red flags and unverifiable claims (cautionary notes)
- Some community posts and secondary reporting circulate precise ESU enterprise pricing schedules or claims about permanent free upgrade windows to Windows 11 that have fluctuated in Microsoft public statements. Where a claim cannot be corroborated by Microsoft’s official lifecycle pages, treat it with caution and consult Microsoft’s support or account teams for contractual pricing and terms. If a quoted price appears in press coverage but not on Microsoft’s official pages, classify that number as provisional until Microsoft confirms it. (tomsguide.com)
Quick action checklist (what to do in the next 90 days)
- Run full inventory and dependency scans across endpoints and servers.
- Flag all systems with lifecycles expiring in 2025 and create migration waves.
- Start pilot Windows 11 upgrades and app compatibility testing.
- For Azure, identify use of services listed for retirement (e.g., unmanaged disks) and begin migration to recommended managed services. (azure.microsoft.com)
- Budget for ESU only as temporary protection when absolutely necessary; document a definitive decommission timeline. (support.microsoft.com)
Final analysis and verdict
2025 is a transition year more than a single event: October 14 is the marquee date, but the riskiest outcomes come from poorly executed migrations, fractured inventories, and underestimation of application dependencies. Microsoft’s approach is pragmatic from an engineering and security perspective—focusing development effort on a smaller set of modern, secure platforms and managed services—but it also externalizes costs and decision pressure onto customers who haven’t been able to upgrade hardware, refactor legacy applications, or budget for phased refresh programs.For consumers, the path is straightforward: check upgrade eligibility and prepare to move to Windows 11 where feasible; use ESU only as a short bridge. For SMBs and enterprises, the challenge is organizational: treat the 2025 retirements as a program with governance, timelines, and measurable milestones. For cloud customers, retiring older Azure services is both an operational imperative and an opportunity to modernize and reduce maintenance overhead—if migrations are started soon.
The immediate takeaway is simple and urgent: inventory, prioritize, and act now. The window for calm, orderly migration closes as 2025 progresses; after that, choices become constrained, costs rise, and your attack surface widens. Microsoft’s lifecycle pages and Azure retirement notices are the canonical sources for exact dates and migration guidance—use them as the north star for planning and procurement. (support.microsoft.com, azure.microsoft.com)
Microsoft’s list of 2025 retirements should be treated as a planning imperative, not a distant event: the time for inventorying, testing, and budgeting is now.
Source: Neowin Here is the complete list of Microsoft products being killed off in 2025
