End of support
Australia's 14 October 2026 IT deadline, explained.
Microsoft publishes its lifecycle dates in US Pacific time, so 13 October 2026 lands here on the 14th — and five separate support cliffs land on that one day. This page tracks every dated deadline that matters to Australian businesses, each with a plain-English guide. Dates checked July 2026.
The pile-up
Five support cliffs, one Tuesday.
14 October 2026 (AEDT)
Windows 10 commercial ESU Year One ends
The first paid Extended Security Updates year for Windows 10 closes. Year Two roughly doubles the per-device price and requires Year One cumulatively. Consumer ESU runs free until October 2027.
Windows 10 after October 2026→14 October 2026 (AEDT)
Office 2021 and Office LTSC 2021 end of support
The bought-outright Office that thousands of Australian businesses chose to avoid subscriptions stops receiving security updates — including the per-app 2021 SKUs and Project and Visio LTSC 2021. There is no ESU program for Office.
Office 2021: your three options→14 October 2026 (AEDT)
Windows Server 2022 leaves mainstream support
Not a security cliff — free security updates continue to 2031. But Microsoft 365 Apps support on Server 2022 ends the same day, which starts a two-year countdown on a frozen Office build for RDS and terminal-server fleets.
What actually stops on Server 2022→14 October 2026 (AEDT)
Windows 11 24H2 Home & Pro end of servicing
Unmanaged machines that blocked or silently failed the 25H2 feature update stop receiving security patches the same day everyone is staring at Windows 10.
The Windows 11 date nobody is watching→14 October 2026 (AEDT)
Windows Server 2012 R2: final ESU ends
The last Extended Security Updates for Server 2012 and 2012 R2 finish, in Azure and on-premises alike. Microsoft offers no fourth year at any price.
Server 2012 R2: the four exit paths→Same season
The deadlines around it — some already passed.
Already unsupported (since 15 July 2026 AEST)
SharePoint Server 2016 & 2019, Project Server, SQL Server 2016
Extended support for all four ended on the same July day. Internet-reachable SharePoint is a proven ransomware entry point, and none of these products has a published ESU price.
SharePoint 2016/2019: what now→1 October 2026
Exchange Web Services begins tenant-by-tenant shutdown
Legacy integrations that still talk EWS to Exchange Online start failing per tenant, with a full stop in April 2027.
EWS retirement: what breaks→13–14 October 2026
Microsoft Publisher retires
Publisher leaves Microsoft 365 and 2021 perpetual support ends. Templates and .pub files need a migration path, not a shrug.
What replaces Publisher→No published date — targeted H1 2027
Exchange Server SE CU2 blocks coexistence with 2016/2019
The update that ends the on-prem holdout pattern: CU2 setup will refuse to install while unsupported Exchange servers remain in the organisation.
The Exchange deadline with no date→12 January 2027 (13 January AEDT)
Windows Server 2016 end of support
Extended support ends with ESU pricing not yet published by Microsoft. Budget the replacement this financial year, not next.
Server 2016: budget it this FY→Further out: .NET 8 and .NET 9 both leave support on 10 November 2026, PHP 8.2 security support ends on 31 December 2026, and Dynamics NAV 2017 reaches end of support on 11 January 2027. This page is updated as Microsoft publishes changes — last checked July 2026.
Want the migration plan, not just the deadlines?
Frontrow runs a fixed-scope end-of-support review: an inventory of what's actually still running, upgrade paths for each workload, the ESU maths where Microsoft publishes them, and a costed plan you can take to the board before October.