Microsoft today has published a notice headlined “TLS 1.0 and TLS 1.1 will be disabled in future Windows OSes” to remind users about the upcoming deprecation of TLS (Transport Layer Security) protocol versions 1.0 and 1.1 in upcoming Windows releases. This is the second such important reminder from the company this week following a previous one where it said that user PCs on Windows 11 21H2 will soon be force-updated.
In case you weren’t aware of this upcoming change, Microsoft, almost exactly a month ago, published a guidance about the change. Microsoft noted that currently available Windows versions, which means Windows 11 22H2_23H2_24H2, 21H2, and Windows 10, will still have TLS 1.0 and TLS 1.1, and this means upcoming feature updates like 23H2, and Windows 12, which comes out next year, will have the feature disabled, and the change will be in place starting with the upcoming Insider builds this month. This is a part of the broader effort to make next-gen Windows more secure.
The company however adds that there will be an option to re-enable them in order to maintain compatibility. It writes:
Transport Layer Security (TLS) is the most common internet protocol for setting up an encrypted channel of communication between a client and server. Over the past several years, internet standards and regulatory bodies have deprecated or disallowed TLS versions 1.0 and 1.1, due to a variety of security issues. As such, future Windows operating systems will have TLS versions 1.0 and 1.1 disabled by default. This change applies only to future new Windows operating systems, both client and server editions. Windows versions that have already been released will not be affected by this change. Windows 11 Insider Preview builds starting in September 2023 will have TLS versions 1.0 and 1.1 disabled by default. There is an option to re-enable TLS 1.0 or TLS 1.1 for users who need to maintain compatibility.
Home users of Windows are unlikely to experience any issues related to this change. Enterprises will need to test their environment to detect and update or replace any affected apps.
On the Tech Community blog post, Microsoft has listed the list of affected Windows applications in the Known issues section.