Updates for Windows 7 and 8.1 on Kaby and Ryzen are now blocked

Microshaft

Well, the day has arrived. We previously reported that Microsoft had plans to block users of Kaby Lake and Ryzen systems from installing or updating Windows 7 and Windows 8.1. The company has gone ahead with the plan. Owners of systems with those CPUs inside should now see the error screen below when using Windows Update. The company notes that users may also receive an “unknown error” with code 80240037.

This move was initially announced back in August of 2016. All operating systems have to drop support for older hardware sometime, and Microsoft’s actions are far from unexpected. The decision of what versions of Windows to drop may be the subject of some contention, though. Although the decision was more-or-less foreseeable with regard to Windows 7 ever since its mainstream support ended back in 2015, those who would prefer Windows 8.1 or didn’t take up the free offer to upgrade to Windows 10 might be left fuming.

Owners of Skylake systems with perfectly-running Windows 7 installations are in a bit of a weird place. Microsoft will support Windows 7 or 8.1 on those systems only until a year and change from now, on July 17, 2018—a deadline that was extended one year from the original date. However, some OEM Skylake systems from a total of 16 manufacturers will still apparently receive updates for the older OSes until their EOL dates. Microsoft still recommends that “these systems be upgraded to Windows 10 as soon as possible.”

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SOURCE:  TechReport

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