OEM Windows 7 Pro End Of Life 10/31/16
OEM Windows XP Pro For Embedded Systems End Of Life 12/31/16
OEM Windows XPe Embedded Componentized End Of Life 1/30/17
If you are a customer that ships Windows 7 Pro or Windows XP systems, take this blog as the Emergency Broadcast System letting you know that you are in an End of Life (EOL) and should make course adjustments now, so your business isn’t
affected. One of the dates has already passed, and the other two are quickly approaching.
Let’s start with Windows 7 Pro as the 10/31/16 EOL date has already passed. In the OEM System Builder Channel, the Windows 7 Professional product, which launched October 2009, has lasted a long time. EOL
for the OEM System Builder Channel means it will no longer be manufactured. However, Microsoft allows you to stock up on the product, perform a last-time buy and then keep on selling and shipping it. This OEM product also has end-user
downgrade rights, so it is very common to have OEM’s purchase this license and then downgrade back to Windows XP if needed. So maybe you are buying Windows 7 Pro, but loading XP Pro, which is fine. However, please know that the product
went EOL on 10/31/16. Most distributors should have stock lasting well into 2017.
On the embedded side, the Windows XP Pro for Embedded Systems went EOL on 12/31/16. Windows XP came to an end way back in 2009, but customers that qualified for Embedded continued using XP via the Embedded
FES XP Pro product. But now after 15 years of life, it comes to an end. The big difference with embedded is when an embedded product goes EOL, you cannot purchase or ship it anymore. That means you cannot perform a last-time buy, stock up
on it and keep selling and/or shipping. You must consider other options.
Let’s add the third product that really makes things interesting. Windows XPe goes EOL on 1/30/17, just 30 days after the XP Pro FES product. So that’s two versions of XP going EOL within one month of each other. The XPe
product is the componentized edition of Windows XP with a newer version called Windows Embedded Standard 2009. I’ll cover your options to migrate to WES 2009 in the scenarios below.
So as we approach these major milestone dates, many of our system builder and embedded OEM’s have decisions to make. Now is the time to make those choices.
Because we are talking about three products — XP Pro, XPe, and Win7—and two programs, OEM System Builder and OEM Embedded, I’ll break things down go through each option. Choose the scenario that best fits your situation.
SCENARIO #1
Embedded Appliance using XP Pro For Embedded Systems and you want to keep selling and shipping XP for many more years.
| EOL | EOS | Part Number | FES XP PRO EMBEDDED |
| 12/31/16 | 04/08/14 | G82-00037-1PK | Windows XP Pro For Embed Sys SP3 EMB ESD OEI 1-2CPU |
There are a few other part numbers for this product, but this is the part used most often at Arrow. This product went EOL on 12/31/16. The rules for embedded products are that once they go EOL, you cannot buy or sell them any longer.
That differs from any other Microsoft program. Here is the statement from within the CLA agreement that OEM’s sign and agree with to be an Embedded OEM:
“End of Life. Company may not, in any event, distribute either the Prior Software or the Final Software after its respective MS end of life date.”
This statement means you cannot perform a last-time buy, stock up on it, and keep shipping. You are done with this product and must migrate to something else. Your first option would be to move to the componentized embedded version of
XP, called Windows Embedded Standard 2009. It is a different version of XP, however, it has all the features and functions of Windows XP and is available until the year 2024, for an additional seven years of availability. It requires the
purchase of a toolkit to build your customer image. The learning curve to build the custom image is a little tricky, but it is an option to keep you running Windows XP for much longer. It also gets you support until 2019 and you’ll get
access to the security patches, etc.
The downside however is that this is a different product and if your device requires any certifications, it would require being re-certified. If that doesn’t work for you then see scenario #2.
| WES 2009 (XP) | |||
| EOL | EOS | 5CA-00005 | Windows Embedded Standard 2009 Toolkit EMB English ESD OEI |
| 01/08/24 | 01/08/19 | 7WT-00011-1PK | Windows Embedded Standard 2009 EMB ESD OEI Runtime |
SCENARIO #2
Embedded Appliance using XP Pro for Embedded Systems and you want to keep running XP Pro. You don’t want to change your image or have to be re-certified. This is the product you are using, and moving to WES 2009 wouldn’t
work for your situation.
| EOL | EOS | Part Number | FES XP PRO EMBEDDED |
| 12/31/16 | 04/08/14 | G82-00037-1PK | Windows XP Pro For Embed Sys SP3 EMB ESD OEI 1-2CPU |
You only have one option and that is to move your purchase to the OEM System Builder Channel, procure OEM Windows 7 Pro, and then exercise downgrade rights back to XP Pro. The first thing to know is that OEM 7 Pro is going EOL on
10/31/16, so you must stock up on the product and think about how many you’ll need over the next few years. Next, downgrade rights can be tricky because you must provide your own XP Pro key. You already have the image and you won’t have
to change your image, but you will need an XP Pro product key. You can use OEM keys previously used and then perform telephone activation. That is actually the process that Microsoft wants you to use when downgrading from 7 Pro to XP
Pro.
Lastly please know that Windows 8.1 Pro and 10 Pro do not allow downgrading back to XP. So this would be your last opportunity to stock up on OEM Win 7 Pro to take you through your product lifecycle. Here are the part number and dates
for the OEM Windows 7 Pro you would use.
SCENARIO #3
General purpose system using Windows 7 Pro and you want to keep running Windows 7 Pro. In this situation you have several choices:
- Perform a last-time buy before 10/31/16 and keep selling and shipping the OEM Windows 7 Pro parts shown above.
- Move to Windows 8.1 Pro, or better yet, Windows 10 Pro and exercise downgrade rights by using your existing Windows 7 Pro OEM image and re-using older 7 Pro keys. It requires telephone activation.
- Determine if the system you are selling would qualify for embedded as a dedicated appliance and if so, switch to the OEM Embedded part which will be available until the year 2024.
| EOL | EOS | Part Number | WINDOWS 10 ODR System Builder – General Purpose |
| 10/31/16 | 01/14/20 | FQC-08289 | Windows Pro 7 SP1 64-bit English 1pk DSP OEI DVD LCP |
| 10/31/16 | 01/14/20 | FQC-08279 | Windows Pro 7 SP1 32-bit English 1pk DSP OEI DVD LCP |
The table below presents the options for Scenario 3:
| EOL | EOS | Part Number | WINDOWS 10 ODR SYSTEM BUILD – GENERAL PURPOSE |
| 07/29/25 | 07/29/25 | FQC-08930 | Win Pro 10 64Bit English 1pk DSP OEI DVD |
| 07/29/25 | 07/29/25 | FQC-08970 | Win Pro 10 Win32 English 1pk DSP OEI DVD |
| 09/30/24 | 01/14/20 | 42C-00039-1PK | Win Pro Embedded 7 SP1 32-bit/x64 EMB ESD OEI |
SCENARIO #4
Dedicated appliance using XPe and you want to keep running XP. You would simply migrate to WES 2009, which is still the componentized version of XP but has newer features within it, such as a newer browser and media
player. The products are very similar and should make for an easy transition. However, it will require purchasing a new toolkit and building your image using the WES2009 bits. You cannot keep running the older XPe image. Here are the XPe
and WES2009 products with dates to transition:
| EOL | EOS | Part Number | WINDOWS XPe |
| 01/30/17 | 01/12/16 | G80-00005-1PK | Windows XP Embed EMB ESD OEI Runtime |
Move to WES 2009 before 1/30/17:
| WES 2009 (XP) | |||
| 01/08/24 | 01/08/19 | 7WT-00011-1PK | Windows Embedded Standard 2009 EMB ESD OEI Runtime |
Summary of EOL and Support Dates
Here are the EOL and EOS dates for embedded products:
| PRODUCT | END OF EXTENDED SUPPORT | PRODUCT DISTRIBUTION END DATE |
| Windows XP Professional for Embedded Systems | 4/8/14 | 12/31/16 |
| Windows XP Embedded | 1/12/16 | 1/30/17 |
| Windows Embedded for Point of Service (WE POS) | 4/12/16 | 5/24/20 |
| Windows Embedded Standard 2009 | 1/8/19 | 1/8/24 |
| Windows Embedded POSReady 2009 | 4/9/19 | 2/11/24 |
| PRODUCT | END OF MAINSTREAM SUPPORT | END OF EXTENDED SUPPORT | PRODUCT DISTRIBUTION END DATE |
| Windows 7 Professional/Ultimate for Embedded Systems | 1/13/15 | 1/14/20 | 9/30/24 |
| Windows Embedded Standard 7 | 10/13/15 | 10/13/20 | 7/27/25 |
| Windows Embedded POSReady 7 | 10/11/16 | 10/12/21 | 9/10/26 |
MOST COMMON DATES FOR XP AND 7
The table below summarizes the EOL and EOS dates for Win XP and Win 7:
| END OF LIFE | XP | Win 7 |
| OEM System Builder | 01/31/09 | 10/31/16 |
| Retail Full Package | 06/30/08 | 10/30/13 |
| Open Volume | 01/31/07 | 10/30/13 |
| OEM Embedded FES | 12/31/16 | 09/30/24 |
| OEM Embedded WES | 01/08/24 | 07/27/25 |
| OEM Embedded Xpe | 01/30/17 | |
| OEM Embedded POS/Industry | 02/11/24 | 09/10/26 |
| END OF SUPPORT “EXTENDED” | XP | Win 7 |
| OEM System Builder | 04/08/14 | 01/14/20 |
| Retail Full Package | 04/08/14 | 01/14/20 |
| Open Volume | 04/08/14 | 01/14/20 |
| OEM Embedded FES | 04/08/14 | 01/14/20 |
| OEM Embedded WES | 01/08/19 | 10/13/20 |
| OEM Embedded Xpe | 01/12/16 | N/A |
| OEM Embedded POS/Industry | 04/09/19 | 10/12/21 |
IMPORTANT WEBSITES:
- Support Lifecycle:
https://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle/search/ - Windows Lifecycle:
https://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/products/lifecycle - Embedded LifeCycle:
https://www.microsoft.com/windowsembedded/en-us/product-lifecycles.aspx
