Windows 10 End of Support: Keep Backups Running with MSP360

October 13, 2026, was a significant day for businesses that depend on Windows 10 Enterprise 2016 LTSB or Windows 10 IoT Enterprise 2016 LTSB. On that date, Microsoft support for both (which Microsoft continued to support even after deprecating other Windows 10 releases a year ago) has ended.

But that doesn’t mean that Windows 10 will stop working, or that organizations will no longer depend on it. On the contrary, a December 2025 report cited Dell’s estimate that roughly one billion PCs continue to run the operating system – and while many of those were likely personal devices, Mondoo’s October 2025 report found that 5.25% of the workloads it scanned were running Windows 10.

For this reason, continuing to back up Windows 10 systems (including Windows 10 LTSB as well as other versions) will remain important for the foreseeable future for IT departments, managed service providers (MSPs) and everyone else involved in supporting infrastructure that includes the operating system.

That’s why we’re happy to report that, even as official Microsoft support for Windows 10 comes to an end, MSP360 will continue offering robust support for Windows 10 backups, while also making it easy to upgrade to Windows 11 (if desired) without making changes to backup tools or processes.

What’s Changing With Windows 10 LTSB End-of-life

Windows 10 LTSB (which stands for Long-Term Servicing Branch, later renamed to LTSC) is an enterprise version of Windows 10. As we mentioned, Microsoft has continued to support it over the past year despite ending support for other Windows 10-based products in October 2025.

On October 13 of this year, however, Windows 10 LTSB will also reach its end-of-life from a Microsoft support perspective. So, too, will Windows 10 IoT Enterprise LTSB, a sub-variant of Windows 10 LTSB.

As a result, regular Microsoft support will end for these two 2016 releases. However, eligible devices enrolled in the paid Extended Security Updates (ESU) program can continue receiving critical and important security updates.

Windows 10 Is Not Going Away

The end of regular support carries security risks, particularly for systems that no longer receive security updates. PCs and servers that run the operating system will continue to work. So will applications installed on them.

Hence why the end of Windows 10 support will not mean the end of Windows 10. Millions of endpoints are likely to continue using the system for the foreseeable future, either because admins lack the capacity to upgrade to Windows 11 (the current version) or because they worry that doing so will cause software compatibility issues.

It’s impossible to predict how long companies will continue to rely on Windows 10, but history suggests it will be a long while indeed. Take the example of Windows XP, for instance: Microsoft ended extended support for the operating system on April 8, 2014. Even before that deadline, Microsoft reported that some customers planned to keep using Windows XP until the hardware it ran on failed.

Optimists might assume that IT professionals know more today than they did a decade ago about the security and reliability risks they face when systems run unsupported operating systems. But a realist may point out that, even if they want to upgrade Windows 10, it may take years for some to do so. The issue is not mainly finding the time to perform the upgrade process (which is relatively simple), but rather contending with software compatibility risks and validating systems post-upgrade to ensure that nothing breaks.

MSP360 Backup Will Continue Supporting Windows 10

Although businesses that depend on unsupported versions of Windows 10 will no longer receive security patches or bug fixes from Microsoft, they can continue to enjoy the assurance of securely backing up their data. 

That’s because MSP360 Backup’s support for Windows 10 is not changing. Organizations that manage backups locally can continue using MSP360 Backup Pro  for file-level protection and image-based backups of complete Windows systems. Existing plans can keep running with automated scheduling, client-side encryption, and customizable retention settings. Microsoft’s deadline therefore does not create a separate cut-off date for MSP360 backup and recovery operations on Windows 10 systems that meet MSP360’s system requirements. That said, backups help with recovery, but they do not address unpatched operating-system vulnerabilities.

For larger and multi-customer environments, MSP360 Managed Backup provides the same continuity through a centralized management console. IT teams and MSPs can manage Windows 10 and Windows 11 endpoints side by side, deploy and update backup plans, monitor job status, and receive reports and alerts across the environment. Available data-protection controls include Object Lock for supported storage destinations, configurable retention policies, consistency checks, and restore verification.

A key advantage of both Backup Pro and Managed Backup is MSP360’s bring-your-own-storage (BYOS) approach. Organizations can connect storage they already control, including accounts with leading public-cloud and S3-compatible providers, alongside local and network destinations. They are not required to move their Windows 10 backups into vendor-controlled storage, giving them greater control over data location, security settings, retention strategy, and storage costs.

This allows organizations to maintain consistent backup and recovery processes while moving to Windows 11 according to their own operational schedules. For this reason, continuing to back up and restore Windows 10 systems will remain important for the foreseeable future – whether those systems stay in production temporarily or remain part of a longer, phased migration.

Keeping the Door Open to Windows 11 Upgrades

What’s more, because MSP360 also supports Windows 11 via the same platforms, there’s no need to keep all systems on Windows 10, or upgrade all of them to Windows 11, in order to maintain backup continuity and protect data.

That flexibility gives IT teams room to plan the move in stages, whether they are upgrading existing Windows 10 systems or replacing them with new Windows 11 PCs. Each stage should include hardware and application compatibility checks, a current backup, and a recovery test, followed by confirmation that backup jobs complete successfully after the upgrade.

And that preparation takes time. Businesses need to check that their applications will work and validate systems after the change. MSP360’s support for both operating systems allows teams to keep using the same backup tools while they work through that process.

Managing Windows support lifecycles is tough. Protecting data doesn’t have to be

We can’t control when Microsoft chooses to stop supporting its products. But we can offer IT professionals a way to keep data safe via efficient, secure, scalable data backup processes no matter which versions of Windows they’re using.

That’s precisely what we’re doing by continuing to offer support for Windows 10 even as the final support deadline for the operating system looms.

To see for yourself how easy it is to protect data on Windows 10 (or any modern version of Windows, for that matter) using the MSP360 product line, you can install MSP360 Backup Free on eligible standalone Windows devices, or start a free trial of Backup Pro or Managed Backup.