Microsoft stops support for Windows 10 32-bit

Microsoft has officially begun discontinuing support for 32-bit processors with the release of Windows 10 2004, thus requiring Windows 10 to run on 64-bit machines only.

Microsoft will no longer support 32-bit versions of Windows 10. Starting with Windows 10 2004, which is already available to OEMs and developers, the company is now discontinuing support for 32-bit versions of the operating system for new OEMs. The change refers to the documentation of minimum material requirements.

To be clear, this change does not affect existing computers, and Microsoft says it is still committed to providing feature support for 32-bit versions of older machines. This means you can still purchase a retail copy of Windows 10 and use it on your existing 32-bit machine.

The discontinuation of support is aimed at new OEM computers as 32-bit processors will no longer be supported by chip manufacturers and so these devices will slowly disappear from the market. And so OEM computer manufacturers will not be able to produce such machines.

Any modern computer you can buy will have a 64-bit CPU and the reason for making this change is simply because there is no demand for 32-bit computers.

If you have a 32-bit computer, there is no reason to worry and it probably won't be around for long enough. These computers will likely be eliminated from their regular support schedules unless Microsoft changes its policy at some point.

The 2004 version of Windows 10 is expected to be released later this month, and the final version is already available to users in the Windows Insider preview ring. The first production devices are expected to be updated in the last week of the month.