- Microsoft has been urged to offer more free support for Windows 10 devices
- 400 million can’t update due to hardware limitations, generating e-waste
- European customers have already been granted an extra year’s support
It’s no secret that Microsoft has been struggling to shift people away from Windows 10 and onto Windows 11, but even with ample warning, many are still reluctant or unable to upgrade.
With Windows 10 reaching end of life on October 14, 2025, millions of PCs will be left without free security updates. An estimated two in five PCs can’t upgrade to Windows 11 due to hardware issues, making the upgrade far more costly than many had anticipated.
With this in mind, nearly 400 repair businesses and other public representatives have signed a letter urging Microsoft to extend its Windows 10 free updates.
The Windows 10 upgrade is still troubling consumers and businesses
The letter was signed by 382 repair businesses and nonprofits globally, as well as 19 libraries and school officials, 83 state and local elected officials and 49 environmental and consumer advocacy organizations.
Organized by America’s Public Interest Research Group (PIRG), Senior Director for the Campaign for the Right to Repair Nathan Proctor also noted the organization’s petition, signed by over 16,000 consumers, and a similar French petition signed by 43,000 citizens.
“People are tired of short-lived electronics that force us to upgrade, take away software support, or create unexpected paywalls to basic features,” PIRG SVP and COO Andre Delattre explained.
The PIRG also noted the sustainability issues tied to forced OS upgrades – with “up to 400 million computers… on the losing end” and unable to upgrade to Windows 11, e-waste is set to spike in the coming months.
“Less than a quarter of electronic waste is recycled, so most of those computers will end up in landfills,” the letter reads.
Proctor criticized Microsoft for offering European customers an extra year of support on the quiet to comply with EEA laws, but not mirroring that in other markets including thehttps://proof.vanilla.tools/techradar/regionsets US.
With Windows 10’s end of support less than two weeks away, the operating system’s market share continues to decline. As of September 2025, Windows 10 had a 40.5% slice of the Windows market, compared with 48.9% for Windows 11 (via Statcounter).
Microsoft reminded us of its long-standing commitment to sustainability, and although it designs devices for repair, reuse and recovery, there ultimately comes a time where hardware and software have evolved so much that legacy devices are no longer suitable.
Redmond claims it's seen a 62% drop in security incidents and a 3x reduction in firmware attacks in Windows 11 compared with Windows 10.
Users who are unable to update to Windows 11 for hardware reasons can still get a year's Extended Security Updates (ESU) – enterprises can get up to three years' ESUs.
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