Windows 7 and 8.1 Blocked For CPU Updates
There were speculations that Microsoft will be blocking Windows 7 and 8.1 updates on all systems with the new Kaby Lake processors and even the Ryzen systems and it would seem that these blocks came into effect this month.
Users of the newer processors which are running one of the older versions of Windows are reporting in that their updates are blocked and can’t run them. This will also include various security updates, and as such, it might cause a bit of concern. This policy has been originally announced at the beginning of 2016.
The strange part comes into play when certain 6th Generation processor users have reported that they are still receiving updates while others not. Skylake models which have been shipped by 16 OEMs will apparently still be receiving support. The others will have to upgrade to Windows 10 in order to benefit from the upcoming updates.
Microsoft’s reasoning for this policy is due to the fact that the newer processors has new features, capabilities and hardware that can cause compatibility issues with older operating systems and result in difficulties. There would seem to some truth in this as both Skylake and Ryzen have made some significant changes, like processor power management, and as such Microsoft might not wish to employ backwards compatibility but instead focus on improving performance for the Windows 10.
Windows 8.1 is a bit controversial as it still is in its declared support period and should still be receiving the necessary security fixes, as well as the more functional updates. This situation is quite strange as Windows 8.1 has native support for the USB 3 and the NVMe and as such, installation should be smoother than Windows 7, which doesn’t support those features.
It is likely that we will soon see Windows 10 as the only supported OS that can run on the newest processors.