Can you install Windows 10 ESU updates without a subscription?
Windows 10 Extended Security Updates (ESU) cannot be installed by downloading them manually from the Microsoft Update Catalog on unregistered PCs. Attempting to install them without official program enrollment results in the installation failing entirely, preventing unsupported systems from receiving security patches.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1Putting in a ticketDid this help you?
- 2Buying the license and deploying the MAK to managed devicesDid this help you?
- 3Upgrading the operating system instead of sticking with older versionsDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“Can anyone confirm if it's possible to just download the various Windows 10 ESU updates from the Microsoft Update Catalog website and install them on a PC that's not part of the ESU program”source ↗
“Yes, we’ve tried it. No, they won’t install.”source ↗
Where this came up
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