There is a moment when your jeans are perfectly broken in, soft but still presentable. It’s magic. But it’s tempting to wear those jeans for too long, pretending they are okay when they are actually on the verge of ripping. Microsoft announced years ago that it was dropping support for Windows 7 but not all organizations are ready. To keep our customers from having an embarrassing accident, we are laying out our Windows 7 and 8 support policy with VMware Horizon.
On January 14, 2020, Microsoft will end extended support for Windows 7. After that date “technical assistance and software updates from Windows Update that help protect your PC will no longer be available for the product.” Microsoft is offering a paid Extended Security Update program for customers who are unable to complete a migration by that time.
VMware wants to keep our customers as secure as possible. For this reason, we will only support Windows 7 systems that are getting updates from Microsoft. There are two ways that a customer can run Windows 7 with Extended Security Updates (ESU) after January 14, 2020:
• Pay forWindows 7 ESU
• Run Windows 7 in Microsoft Azure as a Windows Virtual Desktop entitlement with free ESU for up to three years
In either scenario, these are the additional restrictions on VMware’s support:
• You must be running a version of the Horizon Client, Horizon Agent, or VMware Dynamic Environment Manager (DEM, previously UEM) that was fully supported with Windows 7. The current Horizon 7, version 7.10, and Horizon Client 5.2 support Windows 7. We will continue to support Windows 7 for a few more releases.
• Horizon 7 must still be under VMware support. The deadlines for Horizon 7 are March 22, 2021 for general support and March 22, 2023 for technical guidance. For more information, see our lifecycle matrix and support policies.
• Horizon 7 ESB (Extended Service Branch) releases are generally supported for 24 months from their first ship date. If that end date is later than the general support date, March 22, 2021, VMware will provide support if the customer has purchased VMware Extended Support.
• Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure is an approved provider of Windows Virtual Desktop. When released, customers entitled to Windows Virtual Desktops will be able to run Windows 7 with ESU in their Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure environments. More information can be found here.
Microsoft is offering Windows 8 extended support until January 10, 2023. You can use versions of the Horizon Client and Horizon Agent that officially support Windows 8. The current Horizon releases support Windows 8, but we will be dropping that support some time in 2020. You can use Windows 8 with the supported Horizon Client and Agent versions as long as Horizon 7 is still supported. Basically, the same support rules for Windows 8 apply for Windows 7, but you don’t need to pay Microsoft for extended support.
Although it can be hard to throw out your favorite pair of jeans, it’s also a rush to step into a new pair. Windows 10 is all the rage.
