Microsoft today issued the final security updates for Windows 10 Home 1703 and Windows 10 Pro 1703, the feature upgrades that launched 18 months ago.
Microsoft labels its feature upgrades in a yymm format to identify their purported production dates, or when the code was finished. But contrary to the mm part of the ID, the upgrades typically begin rolling out in April and October of each year.
Windows 10 1703 debuted April 5, 2017.
Customers running Windows 10 Enterprise 1703 or Windows 10 Education 1703 will continue to receive operating system patches for another year, with the last update for them scheduled for Oct. 8, 2019. Support for the upper-end SKUs (stock-keeping units) was recently extended by 12 months, from the once-standard 18 months to 30. Starting with Windows 10 Enterprise 1809 – currently in limbo after Microsoft halted distribution because of a flaw that deleted user files – the 30-month support will be awarded only to the xx09 upgrades, or those launched in the fall. But the additional Enterprise/Education support was handed out to all already-released-and-still-supported versions, including 1617, 1703, 1709 and 1803, as a kind of grandfather clause.
Windows 10 Home, Windows 10 Pro and Windows 10 Pro for Workstation retained the 18-month support lifecycle. Users running one of those editions’ 1703 build need to upgrade to the newer 1709, 1803 or 1809 to continue to receive security and non-security bug fixes.
Although Microsoft halted distribution of Windows 10 1809 earlier this week, it nonetheless provided security patches for that version, presumably for those who did install the upgrade but who did not encounter the deleted files bug.This article originally appeared on the IDG Network by Gregg Keizer
