Microsoft says Windows 10 Extended Security Updates (ESU), which can be updated for free by signing into your Microsoft account, will expire if you don’t sign in to your account at least once every 60 days. This was confirmed by Microsoft in a statement to Windows Latest.
Windows 10’s support ends on October 14, 2025, but you can already activate Extended Security Updates (ESU) through Windows Update. Windows 10 ESU works on all PCs with recent cumulative updates installed, unless you’re in the EU, where the rollout begins in the first week of October.
As you can see in the GIF above, ESU is activated instantly after you open the wizard-based process, and Windows is already signed in to your Microsoft account. In the United States, you just need a Microsoft account, and then you sync Settings to OneDrive. In the EU, you only need to link your Microsoft account. OneDrive sync is not needed.
At the end of the day, a Microsoft account is more or less the only “free” path to Windows 10 Extended Security Updates. But what if you use an MSA account to activate Windows 10 ESU and then log out or create a separate local account with administrator privileges? This way, you can avoid using a Microsoft account after all. Smart, right? Wrong.
You might wonder what really happens to Windows 10 ESU in that specific case. In a statement to Windows Latest, Microsoft clarified that Windows 10 extended updates will expire if you don’t play by the rules. You’ll need to use or sign in to your Microsoft account on the PC once every 60 days to retain ESU.
If you don’t use a Microsoft account at all, ESU will expire, and you’ll need to repeat the entire process. Microsoft says it periodically scans to see if you’re meeting the ESU requirements.
“If your MSA is not used to sign in for a period of up to 60 days, ESU updates will be discontinued, and you’ll need to re-enroll by signing in using the same MSA,” Microsoft told Windows Latest in a statement.
It’s unclear if Microsoft will also kill your ESU if you stop syncing Settings to OneDrive, but stay signed into your Microsoft account. We also don’t know whether the 60-day requirement would be relaxed in future or become stricter.
Only time will tell, but I don’t think these “requirements” are a big deal. We do use a Samsung account, an Apple account or a Google account on our mobile devices. Is it really a big trouble if we have to use a Microsoft account every 60-day for ESU to work? I don’t think so, but what about you?
