Support for Windows 2000 and XP SP2 Ends on July 13th so Mark Your Calendars

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It’s amazing how time flies.  I remember writing one of the first in a series of books talking about Active Directory, one of the big enhancements to Windows 2000, and can’t believe that I was doing that more than 10 years ago!  But, time marches on and I have written many more books on Windows since then, better versions of Windows have since shipped, and Active Directory has changed a lot from its early days in Windows 2000 Server. 

I know that many of you have been upgrading to newer releases of Windows and have been trying to keep current as best as you can.  Maybe you still have some Windows 2000 machines in your network.  Maybe you have some Windows XP SP2 machines connecting to those networks and have not had a chance to upgrade them to Windows 7 (or at least Windows XP SP3).   If you see yourself in that situation, you should initiate an action plan to move your machines to the newer Windows versions sooner rather than later because support will end for Windows 2000 Server, Windows 2000 Workstation, and Windows XP Service Pack (SP) 2 on July 13th, 2010.

So with that said, here is a short Q&A to help answer some questions you may have:

What does “End of Support” mean?

  • It means your machine will no longer receive security patches, hot fixes, or incident support.

What are my options?

  1. Upgrade to the latest version (Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2)
  2. Migrate to the latest Service Pack
  3. Stay on unsupported products and accept the risk.  Probably not the best long term approach so I would recommend options 1 and 2.

Where can I find more information?

  • Here are my two favorite End of Life Solution Centers to gather information on resources and tools to help you figure out your next step: Windows Server 2000 and Windows XP

Remember that one of the best places to learn from local experts on how to migrate from Windows XP and deploy Windows 7 is TechDays, so register now for an event in your city.  You can also visit the Springboard site on help how to migrate to Windows 7. For migration help to Windows Server 2008 R2, check out the End of Life Solution Center for Windows 2000.

Damir