Windows 10, Version 1703 – End of Service and Update Details

End of Service Notification

Windows 10, version 1703, officially reached its end of service on October 8, 2018. Devices running Windows 10 Home, Pro, Pro for Workstations, and IoT Core editions will no longer receive monthly security updates, bug fixes, and performance improvements that help protect against the latest security threats.

To ensure ongoing security and stability, Microsoft strongly recommends updating to the latest Windows 10 version to continue receiving essential security patches and performance updates.

Important Notice for Enterprise and Education Editions

Unlike other editions, Windows 10 Enterprise and Windows 10 Education editions have been granted one additional year of free servicing. This ensures organizations and educational institutions have adequate time to upgrade their systems while maintaining security compliance.

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Improvements and Fixes in the Latest Update

Although no new features were introduced in this update, it includes essential quality improvements and critical fixes:

• Time Zone Updates: Adjustments have been made to update time zone information for Chile.

• Application Responsiveness Fix: This resolves an issue where applications stop responding when two threads share the same input queue.

• File Explorer Enhancement: This fixes problems related to a rooted pointer to an item identifier list (PIDL) in File Explorer.

• Performance Optimization: Improves performance for case-insensitive string comparison functions like _stricmp() in the Universal C runtime.

• Compatibility Assurance: Addresses issues with evaluating Windows ecosystem compatibility, ensuring smooth application and device functionality for future updates.

• UE-V App Monitor Stability: Enhances reliability of the UE-V App Monitor.

• Japanese Era Format Fixes: Several enhancements to improve Japanese era date and time formatting, including:

  • Ensuring the clock and calendar honor user settings for Japanese era date formats.

  • Preventing overwriting of Gan-nen support behavior.

  • Enabling 元年 (“Gannen”) character for the first year in the Japanese era.

  • Correcting Microsoft Office Visual Basic for Applications issues related to Japanese era names.

  • Ensuring date parsing functions correctly recognize the first character of the Japanese era name as an abbreviation.

• Internet Explorer Image Loading Fix: Addresses a problem where Internet Explorer fails to load images containing a backslash (\) in their relative source path.

• Microsoft Jet Database Stability: This fixes an issue that could cause applications using a Microsoft Jet database with the Microsoft Access 95 file format to randomly crash.

If you installed earlier updates, only the new fixes in this package will be downloaded and installed on your system.

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Windows Update Enhancements

To improve reliability and performance, Microsoft has released a direct update for the Windows Update client. Key benefits of this improvement include:

• Automatic Feature Updates: Any device configured to receive updates through Windows Update (including Windows 10 Enterprise and Pro editions) will now be offered the latest Windows 10 feature update.

• Compatibility-Based Rollout: Feature updates are deployed based on device compatibility and Windows Update for Business deferral policy, ensuring a seamless transition.

• Not Applicable to LTSC Editions: This update does not apply to Windows 10 Long-Term Servicing Channel (LTSC) editions.

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Known Issues in This Update

Microsoft has reported that no known issues have been detected in this update as of now.

For the best security, stability, and performance, Microsoft strongly advises upgrading to a newer Windows 10 version. Keeping your operating system up to date ensures you continue receiving essential patches, security updates, and performance enhancements.