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Support end dates for Windows Vista, XP SP2, Windows 2000: Mark your calendars

By | February 25, 2010, 8:53am PST

Microsoft is sounding the support warning bell a few months early for customers who are running Windows XP Service Pack (SP) 2, Vista (with no service packs applied) and Windows 2000.

On April 13, 2010, Windows Vista with no service packs installed will reach the end of support. End of support means there will be no more security updates for this version, though customers who are on SP1 or SP2 will continue to receive security updates and support.

On July 13, 2010, Windows XP SP2 and all versions of Windows 2000 also will reach the end-of-support milestone. In addition, Microsoft will be ending support for Windows Server 2000 and moving Windows Server 2003 from the Mainstream Support phase to the Extended Support phase. (Extended means security updates remain free, but all other support is paid.)

More information on the XP SP2 and Vista support deadlines is available on the TechNet site. More on the end-of-support plans for Windows 2000 and Server 2003 is available here.

Speaking of upcoming deadlines, next week is March 1. That means those users still running the Release Candidate (RC) test build of Windows 7 will start experiencing bi-hourly shutdowns as a reminder that they need to take some action before June 1, when the RC will be phased out completely.

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Topics

Service Pack 2, Microsoft Windows Vista, Service Pack, Security Update, Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2, Microsoft Windows 2000, Microsoft Windows Vista (Longhorn), Microsoft Windows XP, Operating Systems, Software, Mary Jo Foley

Mary Jo has covered the tech industry for more than 25 years for a variety of publications and Web sites, and is a frequent guest on radio, TV and podcasts, speaking about all things Microsoft-related. She is the author of Microsoft 2.0: How Microsoft plans to stay relevant in the post-Gates era (John Wiley & Sons, 2008).

Disclosure

Mary-Jo Foley

Freelance journalist/blogger Mary Jo Foley has nothing to disclose. WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get). I do not own Microsoft stock or stock in any of its partners or competitors. I have no business ventures that are sponsored by/funded by Microsoft or any of its partners or competitors.

Biography

Mary-Jo Foley

Mary Jo Foley has covered the tech industry for 25 years for a variety of publications, including ZDNet, eWeek and Baseline. She has kept close tabs on Microsoft strategy, products and technologies for the past 10 years. In the late 1990s, she penned the award-winning "At The Evil Empire" column for ZDNet, and more recently the Microsoft Watch blog for Ziff Davis.

Got a tip? Send her an email with your rants, rumors, tips and tattles. Confidentiality guaranteed.

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RE: Support end dates for Windows Vista, XP SP2, Windows 2000: Mark your calendars
jackson1984-24316069205748857739440257893812 10th Oct
I thought of it absolutely was 2012 nfl jerseys gonna be some monotonous outdated submit, nevertheless it definitely actually compensated for my time.
View in thread
0 Votes
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Why
blackhawk556 25th Feb 2010
Why would anybody be running vista with no service packs????????
If there are people out there doing this they deserve to have a horrible
experience. Or may be MS should have released a good OS on the first place.
0 Votes
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It is not that there are people running without
Snooki_smoosh_smoosh 25th Feb 2010
SP 1 or 2, it just means that MSFT isn't going to support machines without the SP's installed.
0 Votes
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Extortion
yobtaf 26th Feb 2010
That how you force people to buy your OS.

It's all about money.
0 Votes
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RE: Support end dates for Windows Vista, XP SP2, Windows 2000: Mark your calendars
arisroyo 25th Feb 2010
Okay it?s time to use Linux! Bye bye Microsoft I will not let you got $ on my piggy bank...
0 Votes
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HOW can.....
carlsf@... 26th Feb 2010
Microsoft END support for an OS "VISTA" before it ends the cycle of XP.

I have NO problems with VISTA (32 and 643bit) on 115 systems.

WIN7 I/WE WILL NOT go there MS has discountinued the "CLASSIC" option.
0 Votes
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Classic start menu available
marg99 26th Feb 2010
Put the Classic Start menu in Windows 7 with Classic Shell

http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/window-on-windows/?p=2033&tag=nl.e064
0 Votes
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Classic start menu available (working URL)
marg99 26th Feb 2010
http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/window-on-windows/?p=2033&tag=content;leftCol
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Re: HOW can.....
dubdays 26th Feb 2010
I believe MS determines the end of support on an OS based on service pack releases. XP SP3 I think was released after Vista RTM. So, XP SP3 would still be supported, while Vista RTM is not. Vista SP1 and SP2 *ARE* still supported.
0 Votes
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Why buy a new machine?
vandamme 26th Feb 2010
My 4-10 year old machines run Windows 7 only in their dreams. They are upgrading to Linux. Too bad we don't get a choice on new ones.
0 Votes
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Microsoft is wrong!!!
consoleclassix 28th Feb 2010
Fine! Microsoft will face 1+ billion dollars damaged fined when drop support on Windows XP!

People should set up to go to court and fill huge massive complaint to federal.

Federal will have to sue Microsoft for break laws and ruin our feelings! That is Microsoft fault!!!

That is BS!!!


Please protect Windows XP at all cost! Protect Windows XP now!!!!! I going be so angry at Microsoft!

People can't afford Windows 7! STOP that!



Windows XP must extend support to year 3000!!!!!


Dear Windows XP fans, Why not you need protest against Microsoft in front of building in WA???, location where Microsoft building is there. Go there to front of Microsoft building then PROTEST!!!!

PROTEST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OR WE will destroy Microsoft building!!!!


SAVE WINDOWS XP NOW!!!!!!!!
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RE: Support end dates for Windows Vista, XP SP2, Windows 2000: Mark your calendars
jcallred4 1st Mar 2010
As solid as Windows XP eventually became it is time to
move on and thankfully it is not to Vista.
0 Votes
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RE: Support end dates for Windows Vista, XP SP2, Windows 2000: Mark your calendars
pounder_arthur@... 22nd Mar 2010
You may want to read the information again !

Accepting that the latest Service Pack available for Vista is SP2, Microsoft have said that they will remove support for Vista with NO Service Pack from 13th April.

This does not mean that they will remove support for the current version of the OS, but a substandard version where the service pack(s) have not been applied

Does this help ?

A
0 Votes
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The service packs are free!
derekgore 30th Mar 2010
OK if you want to run DOS, no security updates. If you want to run a 10 year old Win 2000, updates are done. If you want to run XP without ser4vice packs which are free, you are done. Same with Vista with no service packs, which are free.

So where is the misunderstanding?
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RE:Support end dates for Windows Vista, XP SP2, Windows 2000: Mark your cal
lfmorrison 14th Apr 2010
If you wanted to run Windows XP without any service packs whatsoever, support was phased out years ago. Same goes for Windows XP with SP1.

Up until July of this year, Microsoft has been expending effort on simultaneously supporting both SP2 and SP3 of Windows XP. After July of this year, they will continue supporting SP3, but they will stop supporting SP2.

What does all this mean? If you bought your computer way back in 2002 when XP was brand new, and since then, you haven't installed any updates, is your support situation suddenly changing?
- NO!! Actually, you have been unsupported for years, and this July deadline doesn't change that fact. But it is very easy and free to get yourself back into a supported situation: you have always been permitted to update your original copy of XP, for free, to SP1, SP2, and now SP3. Even after July of this year, you will still be able to update to SP3 and continue to benefit from the remaining time left on SP3's extended support lifecycle.

The same argument basically applies for people who are still using a non-service-pack version of Windows Visa.

On the other hand, Windows 2000 users really will have reached the end of the line in July.
0 Votes
+ -
RE: Support end dates for Windows Vista, XP SP2, Windows 2000: Mark your calendars
jackson1984-24316069205748857739440257893812 10th Oct
I thought of it absolutely was 2012 nfl jerseys gonna be some monotonous outdated submit, nevertheless it definitely actually compensated for my time.

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