Windows Server End of Life Date

Windows Server, formerly known as Windows NT Server, is a series of operating systems created by Microsoft, first released in 1991 with "Windows NT 3.1 Advanced Server". As the name suggests, these are the server variations of Microsoft Windows, and are intended for mission critical tasks.

Stable releases of Windows Server are typically every 3-4 years, and versions of Windows Server are typically supported for about 10 years. Certain versions of Windows Server allow users to purchase a paid support plan which will extend the updates by up to 4 years. This plan is included with Microsoft Azure purchases.

You can check what Windows Server version you have by opening cmd and typing.

EOL dates
Legend:
 * Red = Unsupported version
 * Yellow = Supported version, EOL coming soon (within 6 months)
 * Green = Supported version, EOL not for at least 6 months

Servicing channels
Windows Server has the following release channels available. They are:


 * Long-Term Servicing Channel (LTSC)
 * Semi-Annual Channel (SAC)

The Windows Server Semi-Annual Channel (SAC) is no longer available as of August 9, 2022 - there will be no future SAC releases for Windows Server.

Long-Term Servicing Channel (LTSC)
The Long-Term Servicing Channel is the release cycle most Windows Server releases follow. Typically, the LTSC channel sees a new major release every 2-3 years. Users are entitled to 5 years of mainstream support, and 5 years of extended support, for a total of 10 years of support.

Semi-Annual Channel (SAC)
The Semi-Annual Channel was intended to allow Windows Server customers to take advantage of newer operating system capabilities at a faster pace, focused mainly on containers and microservices. Each release in the SAC was supported for 18 months from the initial release. As of August 9, 2022, this channel has been retired and no future releases will be made.