Disable Windows XP end of support notification with Group Policy? [updated]

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Michael Pietroforte

Michael Pietroforte is the founder and editor in chief of 4sysops. He has more than 35 years of experience in IT management and system administration.

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Almost all Windows news sites had the story yesterday, but nobody wondered what this would mean for organizations that still run a large number of Windows XP machines. If you work for such an institution, you might consider alerting your help desk staff before this day because it could prompt a support call or two.

Next month, all the users in your Windows XP network might get this message when they log on Monday morning (April 10) Tuesday:

Windows XP End of Support is on April 8th, 2014. Click Here to learn more.

Windows XP End of Support is on April 8th, 2014

“Click Here” is certainly an attractive request that many of our users won’t be able to resist. It will lead them to Microsoft’s Windows XP End of Support website, where they will learn that “If you continue to use Windows XP after support ends, your computer will still work but it might become more vulnerable to security risks and viruses.” Virus? In my experience, this keyword has the power to trigger a panic response in many users.

In a Microsoft blog post, Brandon LeBlanc mentions that only “Windows XP customers using the Home or Professional editions who have elected to receive updates via Windows Update will receive an official notification on their desktop screen.” It is unclear if this will also affect computers that are updated through WSUS. However, I think WSUS admins should be able to block the "patch".

Of course, one of the first comments on the post asks about using a Group Policy setting or Registry key to disable the end of support notification. Although LeBlanc replied to another comment, he unfortunately did not respond to this question. I guess he does not have time to read all comments, but perhaps he should have read at least the first one because it is spam (at the time of this writing).

The popup does have a checkbox that allows users to prevent the notification from showing up again. If I understand LeBlanc’s post correctly, the end of support popup will show again in one month if the user just clicks OK (the option that most users will prefer). I guess April 8 has a good chance of becoming the most favorite day of the month for many XP admins.

This notification is certainly helpful for home users because many of them don’t even know that Microsoft will end support for Windows XP. However, I find it amazing that it seems to bother nobody that no instructions appear to be available for how to turn off this notification in corporate networks. Well, let’s just hope that your CEO won’t ring your phone on Tuesday morning, asking you why his PC still runs an operating system that is no longer supported and if a virus has already destroyed one of his Excel files because he can no longer find it.

It could also be possible that Active Directory domain-joined machines are not affected, although the LeBlanc post doesn’t say anything about that. Or maybe I am just missing something here. But, then, I am probably not the only one; perhaps this post can help clarify things.

If you know how to disable this Windows XP end of support notification with Group Policy or through a Registry key, please post a comment below.

Ah, I almost forgot to mention it. Microsoft is planning to offer the Laplink tool PCmover Express for Windows XP for free. The utility, which is now probably a goldmine for Laplink, will be available later this week via WindowsXP.com to help you migrate from Windows XP to Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 8.1.

Update: Chris DeCarlo fast forwarded a Windows XP machine to April 8 but didn't see the end of support popup. Thus we can assume that Microsoft will only deploy the update short before April 8. If you don't want your users see this notification make sure that you block the update in your patch management tool. If you rely on Windows Update, then you probably have a problem. It seems we have to wait until the update is available to find out what Registry keys are used and how the update can be disabled through GPO.

Update 2: Kyle Beckman covered in detail how to prevent the Windows XP end of support popup through Registry, Group Policy Preferences, and script. The post is the first in a series with tips of how to deal with Windows XP once Microsoft ends the support of this 14-years-old operating system.