New processors will only work with Windows 10

by Hilbert Hagedoorn on: 03/16/2017 06:07 PM | source: | 117 comment(s)

The Verge has an interesting news item today, Microsoft has announced a change to its support policy that lays out its plans for future updates to its older operating systems, and the new rules mean that future PC owners with next-generation Intel, AMD, and Qualcomm processors will need to use Windows 10.

This new policy doesn't mean that Windows 7 and 8.1 are no longer supported in general. The two operating systems will continue to get updates through January 14th, 2020 and January 10th, 2023, respectively. But that's only if you're using hardware that was contemporaneous with those operating systems.

"Going forward, as new silicon generations are introduced, they will require the latest Windows platform at that time for support," Microsoft notes in a blog post published on Friday. "Windows 10 will be the only supported Windows platform on Intel's upcoming 'Kaby Lake' silicon, Qualcomm's upcoming '8996' silicon, and AMD's upcoming 'Bristol Ridge' silicon."

For current PC owners, the detail to note is that Intel's current, sixth generation processors, known as Skylake, are the first that won't support either of the older versions of Windows. (Intel and Microsoft say that the platform and Windows 10 were designed for each other.) Microsoft is phasing in the policy now.

PC users can use WSUS offline as a workaround. Still, those wishing to upgrade to newers CPUs will now also have to think about the cost of upgrading their operating systems.

"Your PC uses a processor that isn’t supported on this version of Windows" error when you scan or download Windows updates

Symptoms

When you try to scan or download updates through Windows Update, you receive the following error message:
Unsupported Hardware
Your PC uses a processor that isn’t supported on this version of Windows and you won’t receive updates.
Additionally, you may see an error message on the Windows Update window that resembles the following:
Windows could not search for new updates
An error occurred while checking for new updates for your computer.
Error(s) found:
Code 80240037 Windows Update encountered an unknown error.

Cause

This error occurs because new processor generations require the latest Windows version for support. For example, Windows 10 is the only Windows version that is supported on the following processor generations:

Intel seventh (7th)-generation processors
AMD “Bristol Ridge”
Qualcomm “8996"

Because of how this support policy is implemented, Windows 8.1 and Windows 7 devices that have a seventh generation or a later generation processor may no longer be able to scan or download updates through Windows Update or Microsoft Update.

We recommend that you upgrade Windows 8.1-based and Window 7-based computers to Windows 10 if those computers have a processor that is from any of the following generations:

Intel seventh (7th)-generation "Intel Core" processor or a later generation
AMD seventh (7th)-generation (“Bristol Ridge") processor or a later generation
Qualcomm “8996" processor or a later generation

VIA: ZDNet, Techmeme, and the Verge

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PrMinisterGR
Senior Member

Posts: 8103
Joined: 2014-09-27

#5407874 Posted on: 03/16/2017 06:33 PM

This just makes sense actually.

vase
Senior Member

Posts: 1652
Joined: 2015-03-20

#5407876 Posted on: 03/16/2017 06:34 PM

it's not marketing, it's evolution.

btw it's the same on major open source's OS, the only difference is that unhappy people can work on making old stuff to work on new (and vice versa)

it's like making XP to work with SSD, or boot with latest CPU... some have passed time to make it possible but M$ as a company cannot spend that time (because time is money

).

XP works with an ssd. You just need to disable any scheduled defrag.

It's not about having to spend time. It's only about pushing people into W10 by force for no good reasons.

chronek
Senior Member

Posts: 184
Joined: 2016-09-19

#5407883 Posted on: 03/16/2017 06:47 PM

I hope ReactOS will speed up its development... because future seems so dark with windows..

Clouseau
Senior Member

Posts: 2811
Joined: 2011-05-17

#5407891 Posted on: 03/16/2017 06:53 PM

There appears to be some blow back on current Ryzen as well. ASUS Crosshair VI originally showed drivers for 7, 8.1 and 10. Currently it is only showing drivers for 10. The other boards still show 7 & 10 but for how long? Seems the next bios update will result in Win 7 drivers being pulled like with the Crosshair.

Caesar
Senior Member

Posts: 1532
Joined: 2015-06-18

#5407903 Posted on: 03/16/2017 07:07 PM

Internal architectures at MS.

Business 101, sometimes you have to cover for the big guy to keep up healthy relationships. MS is the big guy here and yeah MS's current management are PR and Image proactive. Calling MS' shiny new OS at fault that is already under a lot of spotlight for privacy intrusions, they wont take kindly to another dig at their thread scheduler holding back AMD's new chips.

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