flashgordon
Charter Member
Those hoping to keep their Windows 10 PCs running securely by enrollement in Consumer Extended Security Updates currently until October 13 2026 face a further obstacle.
Secure Boot Certificates which were introduced in 2011 will expire in June 2026. New Certificates will be available via Windows Update but only if your system meets certain criteria. If these are not met then the Microsoft doom warning is that some devices may be unable to boot or recover securely if unable to receive a new certificate.
Critical is that your motherboard will run in the UEFI mode rather than Legacy and your OS is on a disk set to GPT rather than MBR (one cannot run without the other). Google (other browsers are available) how to check either. A Win10 OS running on a Partition larger than 2.2TB must be in GPT mode (MBR Partition limit) and the MB set to UEFI to run the disc at startup. You can change your OS disc from MBR to GPT in Windows together with an essential FAT32 EFI boot partition for UEFI to boot but it comes with a possibility of data loss and recommendations of disc cloning onto a GPT enabled disc (again research method), then enable UEFI in BIOS and boot from the cloned disc which should show up as UEFI.
Another spanner in the works is that a Windows Update in October 2025 introduced a bug that stopped Windows Recovery working which is again critical to the system being able to accept the new certificate. Windows Recovery Environment fixes have been part of Windows Update in March 2026 and again that dated yesterday April 14th. You need to check your Update history for successfull install but the latest will require a minimum of 250MB free space available on your Recovery Partition.
Headache inducing or alternatively pocket emptying.
Secure Boot Certificates which were introduced in 2011 will expire in June 2026. New Certificates will be available via Windows Update but only if your system meets certain criteria. If these are not met then the Microsoft doom warning is that some devices may be unable to boot or recover securely if unable to receive a new certificate.
Critical is that your motherboard will run in the UEFI mode rather than Legacy and your OS is on a disk set to GPT rather than MBR (one cannot run without the other). Google (other browsers are available) how to check either. A Win10 OS running on a Partition larger than 2.2TB must be in GPT mode (MBR Partition limit) and the MB set to UEFI to run the disc at startup. You can change your OS disc from MBR to GPT in Windows together with an essential FAT32 EFI boot partition for UEFI to boot but it comes with a possibility of data loss and recommendations of disc cloning onto a GPT enabled disc (again research method), then enable UEFI in BIOS and boot from the cloned disc which should show up as UEFI.
Another spanner in the works is that a Windows Update in October 2025 introduced a bug that stopped Windows Recovery working which is again critical to the system being able to accept the new certificate. Windows Recovery Environment fixes have been part of Windows Update in March 2026 and again that dated yesterday April 14th. You need to check your Update history for successfull install but the latest will require a minimum of 250MB free space available on your Recovery Partition.
Headache inducing or alternatively pocket emptying.
