Even as Windows 11 claims a larger share of the market, Windows 10 continues to hold its ground, albeit with some necessary adjustments. Microsoft has recently rolled out a fix for the Extended Security Updates (ESU) wizard aimed at Windows 10 Insiders, addressing a glitch that caused the enrollment process to crash for some users.
Fixing the Enrollment Experience
The update, now available in the Release Preview Channel, resolves an issue where the ESU enrollment wizard would abruptly close when users attempted to click “Enroll now.” This tool is crucial for maintaining security updates for Windows 10 even after official support for many versions concludes in October 2025. Microsoft attributed the problem to “incomplete app registration,” and the latest fix aims to enhance the user experience during enrollment.
One might ponder whether Microsoft could simplify the process by extending updates to all Windows 10 users without requiring enrollment wizards. Just a thought.
In addition to the ESU fix, the Release Preview Channel for Windows 11 24H2 introduces a notable change: the replacement of the notorious Blue Screen of Death with the Black Screen of Unexpected Restart. This shift is part of Microsoft’s Windows Resiliency Initiative (WRI), which was unveiled in 2024 following the CrowdStrike update incident that impacted millions of devices.
As Windows 11 surpasses Windows 10 in market share, recent data from asset management firm Lansweeper reveals that corporate usage of Windows 11 has crossed the 50.6 percent threshold. This marks a significant increase of 16.8 percent since early 2025, attributed to Microsoft’s upgrade campaigns, new hardware rollouts, and the growing awareness of the impending end-of-life (EOL) deadline for Windows 10.
“But while global numbers are trending in the right direction, the reality is that nearly half of all business devices are still running an OS that will no longer be supported in just a few months; Windows 10 reaches EOL on October 14, 2025.”
Kieren Jessop, a research manager at Canalys, highlighted that the surge in Windows 11 adoption is primarily driven by the U.S., with other regions transitioning at a more gradual pace. He noted, “A similar picture would have happened even without the tariff confusion, but the pull-in of demand has exacerbated this.”
Looking ahead, Jessop acknowledged that the journey to complete the transition to Windows 11 remains lengthy. He pointed out that Windows 7 still accounted for 25 percent of the market long after its supposed end in January 2020, suggesting that Windows 10 may continue to persist for some time.
For hardware vendors, Jessop offered a silver lining: “While this transition is comparatively slow, it somewhat helps the overall demand curve of the PC market in the long run. If it takes until the second half of 2026 for Windows 10 to drop to 25 percent, those devices replaced thus far are typically older than 2020. After the Windows 10 wind down is more or less complete, that’s when a potential refresh cycle of COVID-era purchases will start.”
