Microsoft will no longer sell you Windows 10 licenses

What we’re about to tell you right now is really important and should be treated as a priority, especially if you value your online safety.

If you are still interested in buying a licensed Windows 10 copy, you’d better hurry because Microsoft will stop directly selling Windows 10 licenses by the end of the month.

The operating system will still be supported until 2025, but licensed versions of the popular OS will no longer be sold.

No more Windows 10 licenses from Microsoft

January is over, and if you try and navigate to the purchase webpage for Windows 10 Home or Windows 10 Pro, you will be redirected to the Get Windows 11 page.

Once there, you’ll find that there is only a single license purchase link that only allows you to purchase the latest operating system, Windows 11.

To help you out a bit, there is also a list of vendors from where you can buy a Windows 11-compatible PC and there are FAQs for customers who are not tech-savvy too.

However, while Microsoft is no longer selling Windows 10 licenses through its website, you can still buy these at third-party retailers like Newegg and Amazon.

Not to mention the fact that, if you are lucky, you might also find physical copies of Windows 10 in brick-and-mortar stores.

Please keep in mind that, according to notices posted to the Windows 10 Home, Pro, and Workstation pages on Microsoft’s site, the company will stop digital downloads of Windows 10 on Jan. 31, 2023.

As we previously mentioned, Microsoft will still support Windows 10 for a few more years, but we won’t be able to buy a Windows 10 license except through existing stores of licenses at third-party retailers.

Remember that some versions of Windows 10, such as 20H2, have already reached end of support. That’s why we recommend that you upgrade to Windows 10 22H2, the last version of the OS.

In the above-mentioned post, Microsoft says that January 31 (2023), will be the last day this Windows 10 download is offered for sale.

For those of you that didn’t quite catch it, the elimination of the Windows 10 license basically means that Windows 11 will not only be the operating system that Microsoft wants you to buy.

Allow us to rephrase and say that it’s also the only operating system that Microsoft will allow you to buy, therefore the obvious choice.

Don’t worry, we’ll see this again in a few years when the Redmond-based tech colossus will release Windows 12 to the public.

That being said, just because Microsoft won’t sell them anymore, doesn’t mean you can’t still get your hands on a licensed copy of Windows 10.

In fact, the alternative for those wishing to buy a Windows 10 license will be to turn instead to third-party retailers that still have the product in stock.

Keep in mind that OEM copies of Windows 10 are still available at Amazon, although the Windows 10 product listing lacks any indication that Microsoft itself will soon stop selling Windows 10 licenses.

There’s also the option to install Windows 10 on your machine without paying for it, but you will lose the ability to personalize your PC and we don’t recommend it at all.

There will also be a watermark on your desktop asking you to activate Windows, so yet another reason to go official.

On that note, know that this is pretty much the beginning of the end for Windows 10, seven and a half years after it launched, as Microsoft continues to pivot strongly towards Windows 11 as the preferred OS. 

A lot of new functionalities are primarily being added to Windows 11 and it’s also being pitched as the most secure version of Windows.

Have you already migrated to the newer Windows 11? Share your experience with us in the comments section below.