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End of life for Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7

It has been confirmed by Microsoft that Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7 will reach end of life on January 14th 2020. This means that beyond January 14th 2020 there will no longer be any updates for both Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2.

What does this mean for you and your business?

Once Microsoft stop supplying updates for both these Windows systems, they will quickly become out of date.

Any further software updates to your other software programs you rely on day to day to run your business may cease. Thus, both servers and PCs will become vulnerable to new emerging virus, malware and currently unknown vulnerabilities will not be patched or fixed.

Software vendors may also stop supporting Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2 and will only support newer operating systems. This means that the software that runs on these older systems will no longer receive updates and newer versions will not be installable on these older systems. If you don’t receive any updates, you are leaving your systems in a vulnerable position as updates are released to patch up security risks.

What can you do to prepare for the obsoletion of Windows 7?

In most cases Windows 7 machines can be simply upgraded to Windows 10 without an issue. Sometimes newer hardware may be required where the machine is simply too old to run modern applications.

What can you do to prepare for the obsoletion of Windows Server 2008 R2?

In most cases server hardware running Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2008 R2 has reached or is reaching its recommended end of life of a maximum of 7 years. Beyond that time, we tend to see hardware failures becoming more common.

What do we recommend?

It is highly recommended that you replace current server hardware if you are running Windows Server 2008 with a modern system which is more suited to a modern server operating system Microsoft Server 2016 or Microsoft Server 2019.

If you are running Windows 7, we highly recommend that you upgrade to Windows 10, to ensure that you receive all the security updates that you should.

In planning a migration to a newer server system, we suggest that this is done alongside your current system and for it to be ‘cut over’ when the new system has been fully tested and proved to meet your business requirements.

If you would like assistance with the move form Windows Server 2008 or Windows 7, please don’t hesitate in contacting us.