Brown University Windows Operating System Support Life Cycle

Brown University supports the Windows operating system based on the life cycle illustrated below. The technical support life cycle provided by Microsoft for the Windows operating system may differ from that established by Brown University. View Microsoft Windows Life Cycle Support page for current operating systems, support and availability.

Since Microsoft has phased out support for operating systems prior to Windows XP, Brown is unable to continue supporting older operating systems. Additionally, some of our distributed software may not run on older versions of Windows.

To view Brown's detailed operating system support statement for all versions of Windows, see Brown's Windows Operating System Support page.

Windows Support Life Cycle

Windows Vista Business, Enterprise, and Ultimate

CIS fully supports current Windows Vista (Business, Enterprise, and Ultimate) versions. With the release of Service Pack 2, users who have not yet updated to Vista may upgrade as desired. For full details, see Brown's Vista Operating System Support Statement.

Windows Vista Home Editions

The Home Basic and Home Premium versions of Windows Vista are not recommended for use in Brown's campus computing environment. These versions have compatibility problems with the Novell Client and with domain logon and therefore are not suitable for most of the departmental networks at brown. CIS offers limited support for these versions of Windows Vista. Please see the Vista Operating System Support Statement for more details.

Windows XP Professional Service Pack 3

Windows XP Professional Service Pack 3 is fully supported by CIS. There is no end date currently planned for this level of support. See Brown's Windows XP support statement.

Windows XP Home Editions

Windows XP Home editions are not recommended for use in Brown's campus computing environment. While fine for home use, Windows XP Home editions have limited networking support.

Windows 64-Bit Versions

The 64-bit versions of Windows XP and Vista are not supported by CIS and are not recommended for use in Brown's campus computing environment.

Windows 7

Windows 7 is currently undergoing testing by CIS for compatibility and stability in Brown's computing environment. CIS is recommends that users DO NOT upgrade to Windows 7 until testing is complete and support is provided. There currently is no date available for CIS support of Windows 7.

Other versions of Windows

CIS only supports Windows Vista and Windows XP as described above. There is no support available for other versions of Windows, including but not limited to Windows 7, Windows 2000, Windows NT, Windows ME, or Windows 98.