- AMD dropped the mention of Windows 10 being supported in its latest driver
- This led some to jump to the conclusion that the older OS is no longer supported with Radeon GPUs
- AMD has clarified that this isn’t the case, and support is still in place for Windows 10
If you were worried that AMD suddenly isn’t supporting Windows 10 with its graphics drivers, as some reports have suggested, there’s no need to fret – Team Red has clarified that this isn’t the case.
Of course, what did happen earlier this month was that Windows 10 reached the end of support, and that’s tied up in this whole affair.
As Windows Latest noticed, in AMD’s most recent GPU driver (Adrenalin v25.10.2) the release notes only list Windows 11 as supported under compatible operating systems. Windows 10 is notably missing, leading gamers with AMD graphics cards – and some tech sites – to worry that maybe Team Red had dropped support for the older Microsoft operating system.
That isn’t the case, as an AMD spokesperson explained, telling Windows Latest: “To clarify, the new driver doesn’t claim Windows 10 support because Windows 10 is in the End of Life stage as per Microsoft.
“The AMD Software Adrenalin package, although it does not specifically call out Windows 10 support, supports Windows 10. Windows 10 support will continue to be available in AMD Software Adrenalin Edition via the Windows 11 installer.”
In short, the Adrenalin graphics driver is still good for Windows 10 gamers, even if it isn’t labelled as such.
Analysis: don’t worry yet – but the driver axe is coming for Windows 10 eventually
Having support for an OS is important, of course, because graphics driver releases apply important bug fixes, and add new features as well as optimizations for freshly released games. For example, this latest Adrenalin driver which emerged a couple of days ago brought in support for Battlefield 6.
If a driver isn’t tested on Windows 10 systems, problems with the older operating system might be missed by AMD, and gamers could run into trouble as a result. But rest assured that AMD is still developing its Radeon drivers with Windows 10 in mind as well as Windows 11.
Why did AMD remove the mention of Windows 10 in its release notes then? Probably because it feels gamers shouldn’t be sticking on the older OS without it being supported (i.e., supplied with regular security updates from Microsoft), and so Team Red doesn’t want to officially ‘encourage’ that in any way.
That said, Windows 10 is different because consumers can get extended support – for an extra year – for the first time ever, so a lot more people will be staying on the OS at least until October 2026. Given that, I think it would make sense for AMD to continue to officially list support for another year, but Team Red is clearly sticking to the letter of the law here in terms of the End of Life date for Windows 10.
While there’s no need to worry yet, AMD will eventually put Windows 10 on ice with its graphics drivers. If we go back to look at Windows 7, it was put on legacy support by AMD – with only critical security fixes applied, and nothing else, meaning perhaps the odd patch should a truly glaring vulnerability manifest – a year and a half after Microsoft ceased support for Windows 7 with monthly updates.
So, perhaps at some point approaching the middle of 2027, Windows 10 will meet the same fate. For now, though, you’re all good with AMD GPU drivers on Windows 10.
It’s also worth noting that even when AMD graphics cards aren’t supported in Windows 10, it isn’t like they’ll suddenly stop working – you’re just more likely to hit problems and will remain unpatched against any security flaws (save for the aforementioned ones that might be severe enough for Team Red to decide to act with a one-off patch).
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