When Windows 11 arrives this holiday season, there is going to be a ton of changes. It looks totally different, supports Android apps, and more. There are also changes coming to how Windows 11 is updated and how it's supported, so just in case you were worried about it, you'll be pleased to know that there will be a Windows 11 Long-Term Servicing Channel (LTSC) version.

With the new OS, there's only going to be one feature update per year instead of the two that we got with Windows 10. That also means that the support timeline is different. For Windows 10, both the spring and fall updates get 18 months of support for consumers, while the fall update gets 30 months of updates for businesses. With Windows 11, Home and Pro SKUs are going to get 24 months, while Enterprise and Education SKUs will get 36 months of support.

The LTSC gets five years of support, although it used to be 10 years. In an AMA about Windows 11 and Windows 10 servicing and lifecycle, Microsoft confirmed that Windows 11 is going to get an LTSC version, and that it's going to be supported for five years.

The first version of Windows 11 isn't going to be an LTSC version though; it's worth noting that the original version of Windows 10 was. It's also worth remembering that Windows 10 version 21H2 is going to be an LTSC release. Specifically, Microsoft confirmed that the next LTSC version of Windows after that will be based on Windows 11. As for when that will be, that's anyone's guess.

Other questions asked in the AMA were the usual, such as if version 21H2 will be the last feature update to Windows 10. Unsurprisingly, Microsoft doesn't comment on its roadmap. It did confirm that Windows 10 is going to be supported until October 2025, so it's committed to that. And while it didn't explicitly say so, it's pretty clear that there aren't going to be major new features coming to Windows 10; new development is focused on Windows 11 now.

But while Windows 10 as a whole is going to be supported until late 2025, LTSC releases are supported for even longer. Windows 10 versions 1607 and 21H2 should be supported until 2026, and version 1809 should be supported until 2028 (note that version 21H2 is the first new LTSC release since Microsoft switched from 10 to five years of support).