Microsoft: Windows Server 20H2 Reaches End of Service in August

Microsoft has reminded customers today that Windows Server, version 20H2, will be reaching the end of service (EOS) on August 9, 2022.

In a support document published today, Microsoft says that Windows Server 20H2 will reach the mainstream support end date for Datacenter Core and Standard Core users.

Released on October 20, 2020, this Semi-Annual Channel release of the Windows Server version will not receive security/non-security updates after the EOS date is reached.

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Redmond also revealed today that the Windows Server Semi-Annual Channel (SAC) would be retired on the same date.

Customers still running Semi-Annual Channel releases are advised to switch to the Long-Term Servicing Channel (LTSC), now the primary release channel.

“There will be no future SAC releases of Windows Server, and this product will no longer receive security updates after August 9, 2022,” Microsoft added.

“Windows Server is moving to the Long-Term Servicing Channel (LTSC) as the primary release channel.”

Switch to LTSC for extended support

LTSC versions of Windows Server are released every two to three years, and their users are entitled to 5 years of mainstream support with an extra five years of extended support.

Since they are different servicing channels, you cannot upgrade or change from SAC to LTSC without a clean installation.

With SAC shut down, most of the features introduced in this servicing channel have been rolled up into the next Long-Term Servicing Channel release of Windows Server (in this case, Windows Server 2022).

Customers still using the SAC are advised to move to Azure Stack HCI for the same release cadence or switch to Windows Server 2019 or Windows Server 2022 in the LTSC servicing channel.

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Windows Server release	Availability	Build	End of support	Extended support
Windows Server 2022	2021-08-18	20348.169	2026-10-13	2031-10-14
Windows Server 2019 (version 1809)	2018-11-13	17763.107	2024-01-09	2029-01-09

While upgrading your Windows version, you can use this support document to troubleshoot update problems or go through this guided walk-through to fix any errors encountered during the update process.

During this month’s Patch Tuesday, on May 10, 2022, multiple editions of Windows 10 20H2 and Windows 10 1909 have also reached EOS.