I reached my limit of 10 machines and Microsoft won't let me add my last machine. Any fixes or ideas?
@prfwrx2497 Says:
There is a much easier way - MASSive piles of GRAVEL.
Search the all caps part as one single word. Follow instructions, kaboom. 3 years ESU on local account, never reverts to online account after updates. And funny enough, this same tool is used by Microsoft tech support to fix activation issues on client PCs, because the tool is easier to use than Microsoft's own fixes.
@billyg1486 Says:
Thanks so much 😁
@bruceyoung1343 Says:
Sneaky lil Microsoft BIG BROTHER. PIZZ ON THAT. IM FINISHED WITH MICROSOFT
@tuskaghe Says:
What do I do after October 13, 2026? What happens if I buy with $30?
@sstobbe1817 Says:
I recently enrolled in two systems. One I did with a payment to be able to do this without giving "any" information. Between quotes, because they want your address and name to be able to complete the payment. So I actually found that kind of crazy. The second one follows this video explanation. However, what I noticed is that OneDrive didn't want to back up anything (I never used OneDrive on that system, and there is hardly anything on there). Because of that, I got the feeling that you don't need OneDrive at all. I might be able to test that later on as well.
Just wanted to let you know.
@mhajlodjurdjic6872 Says:
I didnt have to do anything it said no cost and i clicked next
@tokotokotoko3 Says:
Somehow Windows didn't ask me to change anything for the ESU - and I don't see any OneDrive settings. I did chose the free option with the "back up", but no settings elsewhere allow Windows to backup anything. Maybe it's because I'm in the EU... or because maybe some years ago I wiped the OneDrive features of my Windows 10. Or they changed something in the last weeks.
@twistedwhiskers8776 Says:
Why do you think Microsoft is willing to not get $30 from potential millions of people in exchange for them just sinking their settings?
@robozbeci Says:
Thank you so much
@richardpahls3642 Says:
Local account + Windows Update in E(S)U
Thanks for the video.
My approach - I haven't seen this in the wild.
PS: I live in the EU (Sweden)
Background:
My family have several older computers, that don't meet the specifications for Windows 11, and for that matter I like Window 10 as it is - so I really like to stay away from W11 (at home) for one more year on these computers. Win win! :)
What I wanted to achieve was:
-- Getting Windows Update for Windows 10 for one (1) more year (dah)! ☺
-- Continue using all the different family members original Local Accounts as is.
-- No fiddling with the original account (Local > Online > Local).
-- No OneDrive-sync for my (or my family's) local private data.
-- No unnecessary exposure of the original Local Account or data to Microsoft.
-- Be able to do this for all of the Windows 10 computers I/we own, with only one (1) online account!
-- Bonus: Have one Administrator account for the Windows computers in the family, could be useful in a pinch.
What I did (TL;DR):
-- Created a Local Account for this purpose: 'adm.foo'
-- Configured it as an Administrator account type.
-- Logged out, and logged in as 'adm.foo' (still local)
-- In Windows Update: Enrol now
-- Created a new Online account for this purpose, obviously only on the first computer, I went along with it, and created a free Outlook account like: adm.foo-online@outl**k.com.
-- The computer sure was enrolled.
^^ Replace 'foo' with e.g. your family name or something useful. I did add the '-online' part for sanity and traceability.
The final test, and it succeeded for me:
-- logged in with the original local account, and after some time it actually shows as "active" (= normal as before 14 oct 2025) and receives Windows Updates. It seems.
-- Never needed to stop any activity for OneDrive, as I had it turned off in autostart for the new account I created, so no stress there either. Nice! =)
Not sure if it was the time that did the "work" or if it really was necessary to:
-- Reboot.
-- Login to the Microsoft account with adm.foo-online@ (did this in an InPrivate window with Edge) as the 'adm.foo' user "locally on the computer". My computer was shown as my device on the web, yep.
Some confusion occurred with the local 'adm.foo' and the adm.foo-online@ account and the passwords while logging in locally, not really sure if the adm.foo-online@ only was used for the enrolment and 'adm.foo' is till "local" - but that's fine with me. Try both passwords, and one of them should work.
Conclusion: 🥳
-- The original Local Account shows Windows Update as normal, and the computer seems enrolled.
-- Nothing was done or changed with the original Local Account.
-- I have no intention to use this Online Account for something else than to get Windows Updates.
@robertsanders9068 Says:
Enrolled for updates today and it was almost a one click experience - I don't have OneDrive installed, and there was mention of signing in to it. Thought at first the enrollment didn't work, but it clearly says on the right hand sidebar on my Windows Update page that 'Your PC is enrolled to get Extended Security Updates'. Same when I then went to update my partners computer. - Many Thanks for a great YouTube content on both your channels👍
@Phunker1 Says:
I'm getting to that age, when you don't want their new crap anymore. Windows 10 works great. Leave me alone. Windows 11 on my laptop does my head in, because you keep changing how to do basic settings.
@oguzulgen Says:
I have the enroll now button but when I click it, a window opens and closes immediately. Running win 10 pro. Anyone able to help me?
@Arizona_Ranger Says:
no matter what I try, i stil get 'Something went wrong
We can’t enroll you in Extended Security Updates right now. Close this window and try again.'
@warrenchild394 Says:
TY for the "how to" ESU Video - Worked for me!
@derptweaker945 Says:
That's not free you pay them with your data
@MADDOGLIAM97 Says:
Legend
@musicmadinoz Says:
why do we need to change the password on the local account? haven't you done enough to us Microsoft?! anyway when i try do this i do not recall setting up a password hint, i probably did but didn't take not if it. And why should it need it if i'm supposed to create a new password anyway??
@stewartmcfarlane2008 Says:
I just installed O Patch on my friend's Win 10 laptop. It is an old refurbished Fujitsu. CPU and TPM absence rules out a legit upgrade to Win 11. O patch is only 20 pounds a year and they give a month free trial without filing a credit card. ESU were not available as his computer was a refurbed company machine on a group licence. We have no idea which company. ESU could not be activated. I tried some solutions to the problem in the Registry but no luck.I even tried a clean install of Win 10 but the group policy persisted. .Since we are in Thailand there are no free Microsoft ESUs under the EU ruling. and I dont trust Microsoft to adhere to the free methods, then O Patch seems the way to go. I had initially put Linux Mint on it for him, but he couldn't use it well. The real problem was that many of the trading apps and even web sites he uses would not work on Linux. Also he could not access voice typing which he uses a lot on his phone. As for my computers I use Win 11 as well as Mint & Zorin OS. I heavily debloat Win11, using Chris Titus tool. Of course I disable Bitlocker and use a Local Account. I would shift to Linux completely but there are certain specialist apps only available from Microsoft. Ironically i find using the free live.com version of Office/365 easier on Linux devices because you are not plagued by all the Ai and Co-pilot crap. Microsoft are determined to push Co Pilot into everything, and it is really annoying. I do dual boot but only in the sense of using both Zorin OS and Linux Mint on a Dell Laptop. I would never dual boot Linux with Windows. Years ago I tried Virtual Box to access WIndows & Linux, but it was too flaky, whichever way round i did the host and guest thing. Thanks for all your work. Keep it up.
@P3ktoRis Says:
so you need microsoft account for it. and for win11 you also need microsoft account right?
@yokiebvute5127 Says:
I missed the deadline and have one update that didn’t take. How can I extend esu?
@ForViewingOnly Says:
LATEST NEWS: As of yesterday, 14th October 2025, pretty much all you have to do is log into your Microsoft account and log out back into a local account and you'll have updates for the next year! None of the 3 options are displayed now, for syncing your data, reward points or paying for an extra year.
Go into the Windows Update screen, click 'Enroll Now', log in with your username and password. You're be told you eligible for free. Click on Enroll and your done, and you can now log out of the Microsoft account and stay in your local account for the next year, and the Windows Update page shows that you are now enrolled in the ESU!
I left my ESU until the very last day (14th Oct), and it seems that Microsoft dropped all requirements for the ESU. I found this info in the latest video by the channel 'Ray Knows Tech'. Hope this helps the Explaining Computers community, and thanks Chris for your videos on W10 end-of-life.
@Mert_Adnan_OYU Says:
just spend 1000 points to get it
@awey6721 Says:
Hello, I've done all the prerequirements to get ESU but it still doesnt appear on my settings. Does anybody have any idea of whats going on ?
@the-answer-is-42 Says:
Thanks, I managed to register my elderly parents over thanks to this video!
Also, for those in the EU you just get it completely free (you just need to use an MS account with your computer so the license can be registered there). I wish this was the case everywhere else as well.
@adem3790 Says:
Just after watching your video the enrollment button magically appeared to me without doing anything ( at 18h45 Belgium time 14/10)..
but thanks for your advices, it can still help for the future 🙂
@mickeetm3 Says:
🤔.... I got an update that forced an account log in screen on restart. But I got rly mad and ended the process with the task manager 😅
Later I wanted the the extended stuff... I got it but did not signed with an ms account... I guess was locally cus I had to imput my pin... and as for the saving settings, it said I can do it later on 🤔
Anyway is nice to have one more year to prepare to switch to Linux Mint 😁😂
@darianwebster Says:
Your video was super helpful, in the event you see this I have a question I hope you can answer. I have a Razer Blade 15 - Full HD 360Hz - GeForce RTX 3070 Ti - 16GB RAM - 1TB SSD; that's fully updated and isn't showing the Windows 10 ESU option, what do I do? Should I reinstall Windows 11 Home that came with it when I bought it?
@ktang001 Says:
Great video, thanks for sharing. I'm slightly panicking as to what to do as tomorrow will be 14 October 2025!!!
@Graphics-eu7gk Says:
Thank you! I was able to sign up for ESUs
@DoctorOnkelap Says:
People living in the European Economic Area will get it for free by registering. For other users to get it for free, they need to have updated to the latest version of Windows 10, have a Microsoft account and backed up their PC settings.
@Rydia704 Says:
I literally did this morning but I got "Some settings are hidden by your organisation"
It was created with a local account from a fresh install. No school or work domain.
Does anyone have any ideas?
@giannistsolebas6962 Says:
I knew our beloved uncle Chris would come up with one of his trick to provide us with the windows 10 ESU. Thank you sir 🫡
@mrsillywalk Says:
I do not have OneDrive, but this has worked so far for me. Thank you.
@Okurkaarrgghh Says:
Apparently you'll need to log in to the Microsoft account every 60 days.
@rejkk Says:
The enroll now has not appeared at all still, until today. I think I'm loosing hope that it will...
@E30Bob Says:
No ESU wizard message on my PC so far. Hope I didn't miss it.
Update: appeared just now lol.
@jennifercaton9322 Says:
I am so grateful for your video... Thank you so much!!!!!!
@marcosurrealius Says:
Good video.
@robpowell3779 Says:
Thanks, been in the back of my mind to do this for a while and left it to the last (almost) minute. Greatly appreciated 😊
@pgm316 Says:
Thanks Chris!
@EvaToller Says:
Thank you, that was very easy to follow!
@niscent_ Says:
i had already disabled syncing with my microsoft account entirely (not with the normal setting ui), so all my windows backup settings are disabled and greyed out from the start, with a big red "some settings aren't available because your microsoft account isn't syncing with windows".
i got no issues to opt into the esu program, and then they obviously couldn't turn on those settings or activate onedrive which already disabled too.
@Sellig7078 Says:
Very well explained! Why log in with a local account instead of the Microsoft's? Thank you!
@enufots4621 Says:
In your "Back to Local", you went to Settings>Account and there is a "Sign in with a local account instead" link, but I don't have this link? When you do click the link it pop's up a blue window asking you if you're sure, you click Next and it asks you for a PIN. What PIN? I went back on your video and slowed it down to 50% and it looks like when you were signing into your Microsoft account that you were ask about some Hello and PIN creation. Well, I never got that?
I've been so frustrated with this enrolling to ESU. Nevertheless, it succeeded and I'm enrolled but i was using my local "Administrator" account when i signed into my Microsoft account to enroll in the ESU and now my local Administrator account is linked to my Microsoft account. Anybody?
@segaprophet Says:
You're a lifesaver Chris, I really needed this option to get some more time to figure out my next steps with my PC - just an FYI for anyone interested, I had uninstalled OneDrive some time ago from my PC, so none of the OneDrive options even appear in settings for me, but it still didn't trip up the ESU wizard, all I had to do was convert my local account to a Microsoft account
@RackismMusic Says:
In update and backup settings there was only one option, to enrol, which I did. Nothing happens when I click on onedrive so I do not know the status of that. It has given me the extra year though. At that time I will mothball this machine for Cubase and build a win 11/12 machine for everything else. A big waste, my machine is still fast and stable.
@MrAxxs Says:
thanks!!!
@eamonngaffey9623 Says:
Super useful Chris, thanks. I am now on ESU for free. Just a note on the switch back to Local - the option wording on my WIn 10 machine in Settings>Accounts>Your info was something like "Stop automatically signing in to Microsoft apps" rather than that showed in your video. Feels like MS obfuscating the switch back to Local a bit.
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