Why .NET 5 and Windows 10 20H2 Support Ends May 10 – What Developers Need to Know

Microsoft will officially terminate dual support for .NET 5 and Windows 10 20H2 Professional and Home editions.

Do not confuse .NET 5 with the older .NET Framework, which will continue to be maintained until the operating system is no longer updated.

.NET Framework 3.5 SP1 will be supported until early 2029, more than 20 years after its initial release.

.NET 5, released at the end of 2020, received only 18 months of support; it was announced at the last offline Build conference in 2019, jumping from version 3.1 directly to 5 and dropping the “Core” suffix.

The previous .NET Core 3.1 is an LTS release and will be supported until the end of 2022.

.NET 6 is also an LTS version, with support ending three years after its first release, in November 2024.

Microsoft described .NET 5 as “the future of .NET,” a major attempt to unify the platform. Xamarin Forms was merged into .NET MAUI, with a candidate released in April 2022.

Now is the time for developers to migrate to .NET 6.

Microsoft also encourages Windows 10 20H2 users to understand the support policy. According to AdDuplex data, at the beginning of 2022, Windows 10 20H2 accounted for more than a quarter of all Windows 10 and Windows 11 PCs, nearly matching Windows 11.

Although its market share has fallen to 6.1%, a significant number of users remain on 20H2. Starting May 10, this version will receive no security or software updates. Education, enterprise, and IoT customers retain one more year of support, ending in May 2023.

Windows 10 20H2 marked a shift from the old four‑digit naming convention, while .NET 5 formed the foundation of a grand development plan.

Both systems’ official end‑of‑support date is May 10; please take note.