The original Secure Boot certificates, which began shipping as a new feature for Windows PCs in 2011, will start expiring in 2026.
In an announcement, Microsoft said the original Secure Boot certificates, issued in 2011, will expire this June. They added that PCs that are not updated will enter a degraded security state once the certificates expire.
This is the first time the said security feature will experience since its introduction in 2011.
For the unfamiliar, Security Boot is a security feature shipped with PCs and is enabled by default. This measure protects the PC from security vulnerabilities that it’s exposed to during the boot process and before Windows is fully loaded.
If your PC was bought from 2011 to 2023, make sure it’s updated. Microsoft said that most PCs that came out on those years will automatically receive a new Secure Boot certificate, albeit some will require additional firmware from their OEM.
Meanwhile, most PCs from 2024 already shipped with the updated certificates. So if your PC is fairly new, there’s nothing to worry about.