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Windows 10

2015 → 2025 · Windows

Released on 29 July 2015 with the Start menu back and Cortana. New versions came until 2022, and support ended on 14 October 2025.1, 2

Info only Sources See every Windows version →

Released
29 July 20151, 3
Upgrade
Free for a limited time on Windows 7 and 8.1 PCs1
Last version
22H2, from October 20222, 3
Support ended
14 October 20252

Start is back

Windows 10 brought back the Start menu, with Live Tiles that showed updates as they happened. It also had a new web browser, Microsoft Edge.1 Cortana, Microsoft's first digital personal assistant, made her first appearance on a PC.4 Before the launch, people could try early versions through the Windows Insider Program, and more than 5 million fans gave feedback.1, 4

A Windows 10 desktop with a dark blue wallpaper and soft beams of light. The dark Start menu is open: on the left, the user Visitor, a Most used list with Get Started, People, Maps, Calculator, Alarms and Clock and Voice Recorder, then File Explorer, Settings, Power and All apps. On the right, square and wide tiles in two groups, Life at a glance and Play and explore, with the pointer on the Mail tile. Behind the menu, a File Explorer window shows Quick access with four folders and three recent files. The black taskbar has the Start button, a search box, a globe and a folder button, notification icons and the clock.
Illustration · not a screenshot Our drawing of Windows 10 in 2015: the Start menu with a list of apps and live tiles. While the menu is open, the File Explorer window behind it is inactive. See the real screen

Windows as a service

Windows 10 moved away from big releases with long gaps between them, and toward frequent, automatic improvements.4 Microsoft kept releasing new versions of it, from the first in July 2015 to version 22H2 in October 2022.2

Close-up of the Windows 10 Start menu: the app list on the left and blue, green and red tiles on the right for Calendar, Mail, Photos, Weather, Camera, Phone Companion, Settings, Sports, Music, Movies and TV, Money and News. The pointer rests on the wide Mail tile, which has a light frame.
Illustration · not a screenshot Close-up of our drawing: the Start menu, with apps on the left and live tiles on the right. The Mail tile is framed because the pointer is on it. See the real screen

The end of support

Windows 10 reached end of support on 14 October 2025. Microsoft directed people to upgrade to the latest Windows 11 if their PC could run it, or to get a new Windows 11 PC. An Extended Security Updates program let PCs that joined it keep getting security updates.2

Close-up of the bottom right of the Windows 10 screen: the black taskbar with small white icons for hidden icons, network, volume and notifications, and the clock showing 3:15 PM and 7/29/2015, above it the dark blue wallpaper.
Illustration · not a screenshot Close-up of our drawing: the taskbar clock shows 7/29/2015, the American way of writing 29 July 2015, the day Windows 10 came out.1 See the real screen

Key moments