Microsoft's stance on unsupported hardware adds uncertainty to Windows 10

Martin Brinkmann
Jul 26, 2017
Windows, Windows 10
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31

Things were quite easy to understand from a support perspective in the pre-Windows 10 age. If you installed Windows on a PC or bought a PC with Windows pre-installed, you could be certain that you could run it until Microsoft ended support for the operating system.

Upgrades to newer versions of Windows were possible as well, and if an upgrade was supported, you could be certain that you could run the new operating system version on the device for the remainder of its support phase.

Microsoft cut off very old hardware at times, but most of the time, you could install a new version of Windows on a PC with relatively old hardware. You may not have had the best experience using the operating system, but you could run it.

This changed with the release of Windows 10. Windows as a Service is a fundamental change; while all versions are called Windows 10 that Microsoft releases twice a year, each may change what is supported and what is not.

This means that owners of Windows PCs may be stuck on a particular release version of Windows 10. This would not have been an issue on earlier versions of the operating system, as it would still be usable until Microsoft ended support for it. With Windows 10, it means that support will run out after less than 2 years.

Support end means that users are stuck eventually on an unsupported version of Windows that won't get security updates anymore. It also means that users cannot upgrade the system to a newer version of Windows.

What's left then is to either restore an older version of Windows if still possible, or switch to a Linux distribution.

Microsoft is aware of the dangers, and reacted quickly when some Windows customers started to report that they could not upgrade their devices to the Windows 10 Creators Update. Windows Update displayed "Windows 10 is no longer supported on this PC" during setup, and refused to continue the installation of the upgrade.

Devices that are equipped with Intel's Clover Trail silicone are blocked from being upgraded from the Anniversary Update version of Windows 10 to the Creators Update version (and any future version).

Microsoft solution for this was to extend support for the Anniversary Update of Windows 10 until 2023. Support means that affected devices will receive security updates but no new feature updates.

Intel dropped support for the silicon which it introduced when first devices with Windows 8 were released. These devices ran Windows 8 initially and many were upgraded later to Windows 10 by customers taking advantage of the free upgrade offer.

Both companies are to blame partially for the fiasco; Intel because it dropped support for processors after a relatively short period of time of availability, and Microsoft because it designed Windows 10 this way.

It is interesting to note that Microsoft's main reason for blocking the update on these devices is that performance would potentially be impacted on these devices.

Consumers are on the receiving end when it comes to this as uncertainty is added to the purchase of Windows devices or hardware components.

Will Windows 10 support the hardware components until 2020 or 2025? How will Microsoft react then? Will it provide security updates for the latest supported version of Windows 10 on these devices as well? Which hardware may cause incompatibilities with new versions of Windows? Processors? Graphic cards, hard drives, motherboards?

PC World author Mark Hachman suggests that any component that is not supported any longer by its manufacturer may block future Windows 10 upgrades.

Microsoft confirmed late Wednesday that any hardware device that falls out of the manufacturer’s support cycle may be ineligible for future Windows 10 updates.

What’s worrying about Microsoft’s statement, though, is its broadness. Conceivably, any “device”—microprocessor, hard drive, network controller, sound card, headphones, monitor, and more—that a manufacturer discontinues or fails to actively support could drop out of Windows updates.

While it is fair to say that most desktop computers won't run into compatibility issues with future versions of Windows 10 if they run Windows 10 already, there is a chance that some hardware will become incompatible eventually. We are talking about an eight year period as Microsoft guaranteed support until 2025 at the very least, and a lot can happen in eight years.

Now You: What's your take on this?

Summary
Microsoft's stance on unsupported hardware adds uncertainty to Windows 10
Article Name
Microsoft's stance on unsupported hardware adds uncertainty to Windows 10
Description
Windows 10 devices may not be compatible with future version upgrades of the operating system if hardware manufacturers drop support for components.
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Ghacks Technology News
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Comments

  1. Dan Donx said on January 15, 2023 at 10:29 am
    Reply

    What mental age of reader are you targeting with the first sentence? 10?

    Why not write an article on how to *avoid* upgrading from W10 to W11. Analogous to those like me who avoided upgrading from 7 to 10 for as long as possible.

    If your paymaster Microsoft permits it, of course.

  2. Dexter said on January 15, 2023 at 11:14 am
    Reply

    5. Rufus
    6. Ventoy

    PS. I hate reading these “SEO optimized” articles.

    1. cdr said on January 15, 2023 at 3:32 pm
      Reply

      I used Rufus to create an installer for a 6th gen intel i5 that had MBR. It upgraded using Setup. No issues except for Win 11 always prompting me to replace my local account. Still using Win 10 Pro on all my other PCs to avoid the bullying.

  3. sv said on January 15, 2023 at 6:40 pm
    Reply

    bit pointless to upgrade for the sake of upgrading as you never know when you’ll get locked out because ms might suddenly not provide updates to unsupported systems.

    ps…. time travelling?
    written. Jan 15, 2023
    Updated • Jan 13, 2023

    1. Martin Brinkmann said on January 16, 2023 at 5:49 am
      Reply

      This happens when you schedule a post in WordPress and update it before setting the publication date.

  4. Anonymous said on January 16, 2023 at 8:24 am
    Reply

    Anyone willing to downgrade to this awful OS must like inflicting themselves with harm.

  5. basingstoke said on January 16, 2023 at 11:18 am
    Reply

    I have become convinced now that anybody who has no qualms with using Windows 11/10 must fit into one of the following brackets:

    1) Too young to remember a time before W10 and W11 (doesn’t know better)

    2) Wants to play the latest games on their PC above anything else (or deeply needs some software which already dropped W7 support)

    3) Doesn’t know too much about how computers work, worried that they’d be absolutely lost and in trouble without the “”latest security””

    4) Microsoft apologist that tries to justify that the latest “features” and “changes” are actually a good thing, that improve Windows

    5) Uses their computer to do a bare minimum of like 3 different things, browse web, check emails, etc, so really doesn’t fuss

    Obviously that doesn’t cover everyone, there’s also the category that:

    6) Actually liked W7 more than 10, and held out as long as possible before switching, begrudgingly uses 10 now

    Have I missed any group off this list?

    1. Heinz Strunk said on September 19, 2023 at 3:57 pm
      Reply

      You have missed in this group just about any professional user that uses business software like CAD programs or ERP Programs which are 99% of all professional users from this list.

      Linux doesn’t help anyone who is not a linux kid and apple is just a fancy facebook machine.

  6. ilev said on August 24, 2023 at 7:34 pm
    Reply

    Microsoft has removed KB5029351 update

    1. EP said on August 24, 2023 at 9:21 pm
      Reply

      only from windows update though
      KB5029351 is still available from the ms update catalog site

  7. Anonymous said on August 24, 2023 at 11:05 pm
    Reply

    1. This update is labaled as PREVIEW if it causes issues to unintelligent people, then they shouldn’t have allowed Preview updates ot install.

    2. I have installed it in a 11 years old computer, and no problems at all.

    3. Making a big drama over a bluescreen for an updated labeled as preview is ridiculous.

    This is probably another BS internet drama where people ran programs and scripts that modified the registry until they broke Windows, just for removing stuff that they weren’t even using just for the sake of it.
    Maybe people should stop playing geeks and actually either use Windows 10 or Windows 11, but don’t try to modify things just for the sake of it.

    Sometimes removing or stopping things (like defender is a perfect example) only need intelligence, not scripts or 3rd party programs that might mess with windows.

  8. john said on August 24, 2023 at 11:17 pm
    Reply

    Windows 11 was a pointless release, it was just created because some of the Windows team wanted to boost sales with some sort of new and improved Windows 10. Instead, Microsoft cannot support one version well let alone two.

    1. John G. said on August 25, 2023 at 12:08 pm
      Reply

      Windows 11 is the worst ugly shame by Microsoft ever. They should release with every new W11 version a complete free version of Starallback inside just to make this sh** OS functionally again.

  9. EP said on August 25, 2023 at 3:10 pm
    Reply

    motherboard maker MSI has recently released a statement regarding the “unsupported processor” blue screen error for their boards using Intel 600/700 series chipsets & to avoid the KB5029351 Win11 update:
    https://www.msi.com/news/detail/MSI-On–UNSUPPORTED-PROCESSOR–Error-Message-of-Windows-11-Update-KB5029351-Preview-142215

  10. EP said on August 29, 2023 at 7:32 pm
    Reply

    check out the following recent articles:

    Neowin – Microsoft puts little blame on its Windows update after UNSUPPORTED PROCESSOR BSOD bug:
    https://www.neowin.net/news/microsoft-puts-little-blame-on-its-windows-update-after-unsupported-processor-bsod-bug/

    BleepingComputer – Microsoft blames ‘unsupported processor’ blue screens on OEM vendors:
    https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/microsoft/microsoft-blames-unsupported-processor-blue-screens-on-oem-vendors/

  11. Leonard Britvolli said on August 30, 2023 at 10:33 pm
    Reply

    While there may be changes or updates to the Windows 10 Store for Business and Education in the future, it is premature to conclude that it will be discontinued based solely on rumors.

  12. sembrador said on September 5, 2023 at 9:32 pm
    Reply

    My advice, I left win 15 years ago. Now I’m a happy linux user (linuxmint) but there is Centos, Fedora, Ubuntu depending on your needs.

  13. EP said on September 6, 2023 at 11:55 am
    Reply

    motherboard maker MSI has recently released new BIOS/firmware updates for their Intel 600 & 700 series motherboards to fix the “UNSUPPORTED_PROCESSOR” problem (Sept. 6):

    https://www.msi.com/news/detail/Updated-BIOS-fixes-Error-Message–UNSUPPORTED-PROCESSOR–caused-BSOD-on-MSI-s-Intel-700-and-600-Series-Motherboards-142277

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