Windows Server 2022 will only receive 10 years of Long Term Servicing support

In the future, Microsoft will only support Windows Server 2022 through a Long Term Servicing channel for a period of ten years. Semi-annual channel support is disappearing, but will continue under Azure Stack HCI for older versions.

Microsoft writes on a release page about the changes to Windows Server 2022. The server software package always had two types of support, both an LTS channel for long-term support and a Semi-Annual channel or SAC where new features were introduced regularly. The latter provided support for 18 months after release. The latest version disappears. As of Windows Server 2022, there is only one release channel available, the Long Term Servicing channel.

This means that users will receive five years of standard support from the future version of Server, plus five years of extended support. According to Microsoft, such releases only have security features and bug fixes. New versions of the software are released every two to three years.

Windows Server 20H2 is the last Server version that can still use SAC. That will change. The function will then integrate with Azure Stack HCI.

Update: modified that the extended updates are not paid, but free.