The exception to this is the Windows 10 Semi-Annual Channel (SAC). This includes Windows 7 SP1 (with ESU), Windows 8.1, LTSC and LTSB editions of Windows 10, and server editions of Windows 10, among others, which will continue to receive IE11 updates until their respective end-of-support dates.

Thus, Microsoft provides updates only to currently supported versions of Windows. Support for Internet Explorer 11, now regarded as an 'OS component', is bound to the version of the Windows it is installed on.

On January 12, 2016, Microsoft adjusted their product lifecycle policies to only support the most recent version of Internet Explorer offered for any given version of Windows. Internet Explorer 11, like its predecessor, IE 10, is not available for Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008 and earlier versions of Windows and Windows Server. On April 16, 2019, Internet Explorer 11 was made available to Windows Server 2012 and Windows Embedded 8 Standard, the only still supported edition of Windows 8 as the final expansion of Internet Explorer 11 availability. Internet Explorer 11 was also included in the release of Windows 10 on July 29, 2015, as well as in Windows Server 2016 and Windows Server 2019. It is the successor to Internet Explorer 10, released the previous year, and was the original, default browser in Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2, before Microsoft Edge was introduced. It was initially included in the release of Windows 8.1, Windows RT 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2 on October 17, 2013, and was later released for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 on November 7, 2013. Internet Explorer 11 ( IE11) is the eleventh and final version of the Internet Explorer web browser.

Internet explorer 11 for windows 11