How to check if your Windows PC is ready for the secure boot certificate expiry in June 2026
Secure Boot certificates used in Windows PCs since 2011 are set to expire in June 2026, potentially affecting system booting if not updated. Microsoft is rolling out automatic updates, but many older or unpatched systems may not receive them. Users can check their system's readiness using PowerShell commands to verify certificate status.
- ▪Secure Boot certificates, introduced in 2011, will expire in June 2026.
- ▪Microsoft is distributing updated certificates automatically through Windows updates.
- ▪Some PCs, especially older or unpatched systems, may not receive the updates automatically.
- ▪Users can check their Secure Boot certificate status using PowerShell with administrative privileges.
- ▪Failure to update may prevent a PC from booting properly after the expiration date.
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Most people will never need to think about Secure Boot certificates. They live deep in your PC’s firmware, do their job silently, and have been doing so since 2011 without asking for much in return. But that quiet run is about to end. The original certificates expire in June 2026, and while Microsoft is pushing updates automatically to many machines, plenty of PCs are going to miss the memo entirely. Here’s how to find out if yours is one of them — and what to actually do about it. Step 1: Check whether your PC already has the updated certificates Before you do anything else, find out where you stand. The quickest way is through PowerShell.
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Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at Digital Trends.
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