Windows 11 LTSC is Coming in Late 2024

As I pointed out in the past, Microsoft can’t expect its enterprise customers to adopt Windows 11 until it offers a Long-Term Servicing Channel (LTSC) version of the product. Well, that time is coming. Not soon. But it’s coming.

“We realize that a clear Windows client roadmap update helps consumers and organizations with planning their Windows release activities,” Microsoft’s Jason Leznek writes in a new blog on the firm’s Windows IT Pro blog. “Today we’ll provide a brief update on the latest version of Windows 10, as well as share more on the time frame for the next Long-Term Servicing Channel (LTSC) release of Windows 11.”

And by “the next LTSC release of Windows 11,” we of course mean “the first LTSC release of Windows 11.” (I assume he means “the next LTSC release of Windows.”) But I digress.

As I’m sure you know, Windows 10 Home, Pro, Enterprise, and Education exit support on October 14, 2025. What you may not know is that the current Windows 10 version, 22H2, is the final Windows 10 version, and that it will be supported with monthly security updates until that October 2025 date.

Separate from this, Microsoft also creates special Long Term Servicing Channel (LTSC) versions of Windows 10 Enterprise that have longer, five-year support life cycles and are aligned with perpetual Microsoft Office releases. The current version is called Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC 2021, and it will be supported by Microsoft until January 1, 2027. (There is also a Windows 10 IoT Enterprise LTSC 2021 release for embedded systems that we will ignore here as it is aimed at specialty devices like medical equipment and ATM machines.)

Today, Microsoft confirmed that the next LTSC release of Windows will be based on Windows 11 (along with a separate IoT Enterprise LTSC release too). And while there is no other information right now, Windows 11 Enterprise LTSC will ship in the second half of 2024 and will thus be based on Windows 11 version 24H2. Leznek says that Microsoft will “provide more details as we get closer to availability,” and that companies waiting for Windows 11 LTSC should begin testing applications and hardware with Windows 11 version 22H2 today.

Additionally, Microsoft will update its Windows release health page to include information about Windows 11 Enterprise LTSC soon.