What Happens When Windows Server OS Reaches End of Life?

No matter what type of technology you’re using, it’s important to stay up to date with the latest updates and security patches. That applies to servers, as well: If your business is using an outdated version of Windows Server OS, such as Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2012, it puts your network in jeopardy.

Microsoft no longer supports Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2012

Microsoft officially ended support for Windows Server 2012/R2 on October 10, 2023, and Windows Server 2008/R2 on January 14, 2020. These OSes don’t reach end of life abruptly: For example, Microsoft announced ending support for Windows Server 2012 five months before the OS’ end of life date, giving users time to prepare and decide on next steps.

Of course, once that end of life date does pass, it doesn’t stop the OSes from working. On the contrary, you may have had no issue running your servers with Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2012 for some time following their end of life dates. It seems easy, then, to continue one as usual: If there are no major issues on the surface, and you can continue your work as you’re used to, why not keep these servers running these versions of Windows Server?

Unfortunately, the answer is it just isn’t safe. Windows Server OS, like any software, needs to be regularly updated with security patches in order to protect your devices and data from bad actors. Once Microsoft dropped support for these versions of Windows Server, any vulnerabilities discovered will never be patched. That means bad actors can exploit these vulnerabilities on any server running Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2012, forever.

The exception to this rule is if you have Extended Security Updates through Microsoft. Under this plan, Microsoft will continue issuing security patches for Windows Server 2012 for an additional three years (October 13, 2026). However, you either need the right plan to access these updates for free, or you need to pay for them. We discuss this more in the section below.

Aside from the critical security concerns, running an outdated server means you won’t have access to non-security updates, either. Even if you don’t think your organization would benefit from new features in Windows Server 2022, Microsoft won’t issue any bug fixes to patch annoying or frustrating problems with your version of Windows Server.

What should you do following Windows Server end-of-life?

If your server is now running out of date software, and you’d like to keep your network protected, Microsoft has suggestions for what to do next.

For starters, you can update to Windows Server 2022. That could involve updating your organization to a PaaS (platform as a service) platform, like Azure SQL Managed Instance of Azure App Service. A PaaS server platform means you offload your management services to a cloud-based server, rather than running everything locally. You let Microsoft take care of the server components, including keeping things up to date and fully patched.

You could also migrate your platform to Azure, such as through Azure Virtual Machines, Azure Dedicated Host, Azure VMware Solution, and Azure Stack HCI. When you do this, you’ll receive free Extended Security Updates, which means Microsoft will continue to support Windows Server 2012 until October 13, 2026.

Finally, you can choose to buy Extended Security Updates through Azure Arc. After onboarding your servers to Azure Arc, you’ll need to provision Windows Server 2012 Arc ESU licenses in Azure, then link those licenses to your servers to start receiving patches. You can view the different pricing options below, and can find more information on pricing here: