Support road map for deprecated guest OS ( i.e. Windows 2000 & XP )

[projectbinder]

Dear VMware Community,

Does anyone know the timeframe or support roadmap for a deprecated guest operating system (vSphere) to be retired by VMware?

I work in the automation space and typically we have to deal with very outdated operating systems. Especially when it comes to production systems. We often see terminals on these machines running Windows 2000 or XP (sometimes even NT4). While the machine could easily run for another 10-15 years, we often see the terminals of these machines breaking down. Our customers then ask us to virtualize these physical terminals to make them more reliable and future proof.

While this is not a problem in theory, and most guest operating systems are still supported by VMware, they are in a deprecated state of support.

Now our customers are faced with the problem of not knowing when these deprecated guest operating systems will no longer be supported by VMware, and whether it makes sense to invest in migrating them.

Does anyone have a VMware roadmap that shows when support for Windows 2000 and XP guest operating systems will end?

Thanks a lot to everyone.

This is a great community and we are proud to be a part of it.

[mbufkin]

I did not find an actual roadmap for ending support. Hopefully someone from VMware can provide some guidance. Here is what I found:

Windows 2000

Windows XP

[projectbinder]

Hi mbufkin,

Thank you very much for your reply.

Yes, this is what I found as well. VMware only states that deprecated support is still available for these operating systems, but does not answer when they will end support. It's a shame as our customers now have no certainty if they should invest in a P2V migration or scrap the whole machine and start from scratch. Or, alternatively, look at other hypervisors with a clearer support path.

I hope someone in this community has an idea.

I believe there are still automation use cases where there is a need to migrate legacy operating systems such as Windows 2000 or XP.

Thank you very much.
Best regards, Constantin

[kastlr]

Hi Constantin,

IMHO this is the totally wrong approach to the problem.

Instead trying to keep a totally unsupported environment in production your customers should focus on update their environment.
Especially from an admin point of view this is highly recommended.

So instead of requesting support from a vendor who doesn't own the OS nor would gain any benefit from supporting a 3rd. party solution you should ask the vendor of the product to keep it actual.

Just my 2 cents. 

[projectbinder]

Hello Kastlr, 

You are absolutely on point, although I believe I am not the only one in the same position and perhaps someone else has the same question. 

In my case, I deal daily with production equipment that was installed 2-3 decades ago and was designed to run as long as possible.  Unfortunately, in some cases, the equipment outlives the supplier.

Replacing such equipment can easily cost a 6-7 figure EUR/USD budget. Naturally, my customers are leaning toward a less expensive physical-to-virtual migration and extending the life of such equipment. 

We are also very happy that VMware still supports these legacy systems (in a deprecated state) and I think it is only fair that VMware at least gives an outlook on how long these legacy systems will be supported. 

Thank you very much for your feedback and hopefully some of you know the outlook for these guest operating systems.

...Constantin