THE currently projected system requirements for the retail release of Rhino 9 are uncertain for Windows 10.
It is clear that Windows 8.1 is not supported—I don’t think it was ever supported for the WIP—and It is clear that Windows 11 will be supported.
However there was a time when Windows 10 was also included under “Windows Operating Systems” (plural). I appreciate that the information (screenshot above) on this page is subject to change but for the present, support for V9 on Windows 10 appears to have fallen away. Please say it isn’t so!
Given that Microsoft stopped standard support for Windows 10 in October of 2025, and the Extended Support (if purchased) ends in October of this year, I doubt it will be a supported platform.
Windows 10 is no longer a secure platform, you should be planning to update your systems to Windows 11 if you haven’t already.
I suspect Rhino 9 will release after Windows 10 is no longer supported by Microsoft.
As it sits, and to the best of my current understanding- Microsoft has stopped supporting windows 10, so we cannot officially support windows 10 for ongoing versions of Rhino either.
Will Rhino 9 run on windows 10? Very likely and also very likely without issue.
If problems arise we will do our best to address them, cuz that’s how we try to roll, but as an official support policy v9 will most likely be win 11 only.
@stevebaer can jump in and clarify if this has changed outside of my knowledge or if I’m missing some important nuance.
I was pleased to see that Rhino V9 is “very likely” to run on Windows 10 and run well, which was my main concern.
As for Microsoft’s coercive tactics ~
Compared with UNiX-class operating systems, I’m not sure that Windows was always, or even ever, a truly secure platform. I won’t be planning to update my systems to 11 and never will, for a legion of issues, No.1 being privacy.
For Windows 10, my PC is “enrolled” for Consumer Extended Security Update “programme” (what a favour!)
Because I am syncing my “PC” settings (it’s actually BootCamp on a Mac Mini), Microsoft don’t charge for ESU and MS say its good for up to 10 devices.
Microsoft claim their (extra special) support will end on 13 October 2026: unless they change their policy, which is possible, given the hundreds of millions of users satisfied with 10, coupled with very wide resistance to W11.
I understand that commercial/educational organisations can purchase ESU for a maximum of three years after end of support.
There are other alternatives to junking working hardware and then supposedly “upgrading” to 11: third-party micro-patching:
0patch costs 25 EUR (roughly $28) per year and can be extended for up to five years, keeping a PC secure for longer. I understand it works by applying tiny, targeted patches to known vulnerabilities without requiring a full Windows update — a genuinely useful option for staying protected beyond Microsoft’s own support window. I have no financial interest in this company, but I expect they’ll do a lot of business.
That makes sense. I know MS tends to do a lot of data collection in Windows 11 by default. If you find yourself moving to Windows 11, I’ve used a nice “debloat” tool which helps to remove a lot of the stuff you don’t actually need. They also have a section on privacy which is also helpful.
Jason, I’m afraid I’ve literally read nothing good about 11; don’t take my word for it, there’s plenty of videos on Youtube describing it: riddled with AI, and infested with ads, bloat-ware, spy-ware and the fancy-sounding “telemetry”. This may not be as benign as the telemetry used by NASA!
Cleaning: my understanding is that 10 can be cleaned more thoroughly than 11; I’ve used O&O software’s Shutup10 with some success. (MS Edge repeatedly comes back after you think you’ve finally succeeded in burying it). ShutUP can be used for 11 too.
Concerns about safety are legit, Microsoft is simply pushing too much with AI, ads, bloatware… outgoing traffic even more than the past…and historic old problems are still there.
Even if those weren’t a problem, they added “features” that actually slow down productivity.
There is more than one reason to stick with Windows 10.
Installing third party tools to “fix” W10 or W11 both relies on having you to trust someone more than Microsoft itself, not really a solution.
That said, it’s expected a software house can’t officially support a software on an operating system which isn’t supported itself.
So:
PATCHING from 3rd parties is not ideal, but in this respect, yes I do trust “third party” tools more than Microsoft!
Those companies that step into the breach (more of a yawning gulf) created by Microsoft’s reckless greed* may well coin it for years to come.
The backlash against MS’s attempt to force 11 on users is wide, deep and global. It can only encourage users to make a meaningful upgrade to UNIX-class OSes, like Linux and MacOS.
———
*To illustrate MS’s execrable stance vis-à-vis ordinary end-users, I note that MS can and will continue to support their Enterprise IoS LTSC version of Windows 10 … for many years to come.
