Facepalm: Mainstream support for Windows 10 has officially ended, but users can still receive free security updates for one more year. However, some installations will now require a critical servicing update before they can enroll in the extended update plan.
Microsoft officially ended Windows 10 support in October but offered an additional year of free security updates for users still relying on the legacy OS. However, some users were unable to enroll in the Extended Security Updates program. A new critical patch, KB5071959, now addresses this issue and restores enrollment functionality.
The KB5071959 update is an out-of-band patch designed for users not yet enrolled in the ESU program. According to Microsoft, it resolves a bug that caused the enrollment wizard to fail during the ESU signup process. Applying this update should prevent further errors and allow users to complete enrollment successfully.
Windows Latest reports that the enrollment issue affected users in the European Union, where the wizard indicated that enrollment was "temporarily unavailable." Users outside the EU experienced a generic "something went wrong" error message.
Microsoft confirmed the issue and is now providing KB5071959 to users seeking an additional year of free system updates. The patch is integrated with the Servicing Stack Update, which is designed to improve the reliability of the Windows Update process and is a core component of the OS's update mechanism.
KB5071959 was released as part of this month's Patch Tuesday and should appear in the update list only for users experiencing enrollment issues. Once the enrollment process is completed, users can continue receiving security updates for the next several months.
Extended security patches are available for all Windows 10 end users until 2026. Enterprise customers and educational institutions can access a paid ESU plan through October 2028, with some exceptions extending support as late as January 13, 2032. Third-party providers like 0patch are also offering micropatching services to maintain Windows 10 security beyond these dates.
Microsoft releases critical update to fix Windows 10 enrollment issues for extended security updates
