What you need to know
- Earlier this year, Microsoft reopened the Insider Beta Channel for Windows 10 users to test new features backported from Windows 11.
- Now, just five months on, the company has announced that it is once again shutting down the Beta Channel on Windows 10.
- Microsoft will continue to flight Windows 10 builds to the Release Preview channel, which Beta Channel Insiders can switch to now.
Last year, Microsoft announced a surprising recommitment to delivering new features and experiences to Windows 10 users, with less than two years to go before the OS reached end of life in 2025. Now, with less than a year to go before Windows 10 bites the dust, Microsoft has announced that the Insider Beta Channel it reopened to test these new features is once again shutting down.
Microsoft relaunched the Beta Channel for Windows 10 earlier this year after originally closing it in 2022 in favor of Windows 11 preview testing. With it being reopened, the goal was to test backported Windows 11 features such as the new Windows Copilot and other minor additions. Now, just five months on, that channel is once again closing, with Microsoft confirming it will no longer flight Beta Channel builds for Windows 10.
In a blog post, Microsoft said the following:
"This will be the last time we release a Windows 10 build to the Beta Channel as we will be shutting down the Beta Channel for Windows 10 ... will continue to release builds for Windows 10 in the Release Preview Channel only going forward."
Microsoft says it will still flight builds of Windows 10 in the Release Preview Channel, but it's unclear if Microsoft still intends to ship new features for Windows 10 users or if that effort is now winding down as Windows 10's end-of-life draws closer. The closure of the Beta Channel would seem to suggest so.
Windows 10 users won't be missing out on much with the Beta Channel shutting down. Microsoft has only backported a handful of features to Windows 10, most of which are designed to increase the usage of Microsoft services such as MSN and Copilot. So far, Windows 10 has received Windows 11's lock screen widgets, the new Copilot app, OneDrive and Microsoft 365 upsells in Settings and Start, as well as a couple of other minor additions.
Insiders on Windows 10 in the Beta Channel will automatically be moved down to the Release Preview Channel in the coming days, or you can manually do it yourself in the Windows Settings app now. Windows 10 is scheduled to reach end of life on October 14, 2025. Microsoft will let you pay for an additional year of support, however.
