Microsoft announces Internet Explorer 10 will reach end-of-life by January 2020

Along with Windows 7, Microsoft is also ending security updates and technical support for Internet Explorer 10 by January 2020 that it shared in a blog post yesterday, and users are advised to upgrade to IE11 by then.

Support for IE10 and below ended back in 2016, except on a few environments like Windows server 2012 and some embedded versions and now Microsoft is just pulling the plug on those few remaining environments.

Microsoft on their blog post wrote, “We encourage you to use the time available to pilot IE11 in your environments. Upgrading to the latest version of Internet Explorer will ease the migration path to Windows 10, Windows Server 2016 or 2019, or Windows 10 IoT, and unlock the next generation of technology and productivity. It will also allow you to reduce the number of Internet Explorer versions you support in your environment.”

Commercial customers of Windows Server 2012 and Windows Embedded 8 Standard can download IE11 via the Microsoft Update Catalog or IE11 upgrade through Windows Update and Windows Server Update (WSUS) that Microsoft will publish later this year. IE10 will continue to receive updates for Windows 10, Windows Server 2016 or 2019, or Windows 10 IoT throughout 2019. You can find these updates on the Update Catalog and WSUS channel as a Cumulative Update for Internet Explorer 10. Similarly, updates for IE11 will be labeled as Cumulative Update Internet Explorer 11 on the Microsoft Update Catalog, Windows Update, and WSUS.

Many Hacker News users are also speculating that the support of IE11 could also end by 2025. One of the users said, “If anyone is wondering about IE11, MS says "Internet Explorer 11 will continue receiving security updates and technical support for the lifecycle of the version of Windows on which it is installed. Extended support for Windows 10 ends on October 14, 2025. Extended support for Windows Server 2016 ends on January 11, 2027. Presumably one or those 2 dates could be considered the termination date for IE11.”

Another Hacker News user believes, “...it is good time to start considering ending IE11 support as well, especially with Chromium-Edge coming out later this year. Edge is getting a Chromium back-end with talk of Windows 7 and 8 support. So, perhaps that's a strategy to kill IE11 too (fingers crossed).”

Read the official announcement by Microsoft to know more details.