Windows 10 still runs on one in six PCs today, and that could become a major security issue very soon

Migration is slowing as the most difficult cases remain on the legacy OS
Windows 10 devices are said to have 3 times more active CVEs
Technical limitations and physical upgrades are not a major issue

According to new data from Lansweeper, up to 16.9% of Windows client devices, roughly equivalent to a total of one in six, are still running Windows 10.

While Windows 11 now accounts for 78.8% of installs and Windows 10’s market share has fallen from around 50% in mid-2025, Lansweeper warns that the migration is starting to slow, implying that Windows 10’s remaining market share might show no signs of going anywhere.

And that’s a worrying situation, because the average Windows 10 device has about 3 times more active CVEs (1,903) than Windows 11 devices (652).

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Additionally, about two-thirds of active CVEs in Windows 10 are rated high or critical, and the rate of vulnerabilities known to be exploitable is about 1.7 times higher than in Windows 11.

The report notes that Microsoft’s Extended Security Updates (ESU) program gives some breathing room, protecting consumers until October 2027 and paying business customers until October 2028.

Healthcare and pharmaceuticals (23%), consumer and retail (23%), and manufacturing (18%) are among the industries most likely to continue running Windows 10, and SMBs (21.4%) are more likely to run the outgoing operating system compared to enterprises (16.6%).

Lansweeper also revealed that technical limitations are not necessarily to blame, as only 2.8% of Windows 10 devices it analyzed did not meet Windows 11 hardware requirements.

More broadly, the report warns that almost a fifth (18.7%) of the entire Windows landscape it monitors is running end-of-life operating systems like Windows 7, Windows 8.1 and Windows XP.

The report concludes that while many users have already upgraded to the latest operating system, the remainder are smaller but disproportionately more difficult, expensive or risky to upgrade. But now that the ESU programs will soon come to an end, deeper considerations must be made about abandoning Windows 10.

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