Microsoft cuts off Windows 10 support early for some PCs

slicendice · 21 Jul 2017

FerchogtX said:

Windows 10 Anniversary Update got extended support till 2023 - Winaero
Another question comes to my mond, will this support extension be available only for those devices? Will this affect another AU users as well? How will they know or restrict this security extension updates for this devices only?

WU knows your system specs and downloads appropriate drivers and updates for that particular computer configuration. Those Atom CPUs will be black listed for the newer Windows releases and incompatible drivers, so the upgrades won't even show up in WU for those devices.

DavidY · 21 Jul 2017

FerchogtX said:

In theory, any device which did not ship originally with Windows 10 by default is at risk.

Well... this calms me... partially, I just hope they don't change their mind. but readng that statement, makes me believe that my current laptop, which came with build 1511, will be supported by a good couple of years? (meaning, it can upgrade to many feature versions...)

Sooner or later it will be an issue for devices which shipped with Windows 10. The scenario of a hardware manufacturer not updating a driver could just as easily happen on a device which came with Windows 10. The question is how long will it stay in support once that happens.

FerchogtX said:

Another question comes to my mond, will this support extension be available only for those devices? Will this affect another AU users as well? How will they know or restrict this security extension updates for this devices only?

All good questions - this extension changes quite a few areas. Another one is whether they will keep supplying 1607 ISOs?

For updates, I imagine/hope they'll just keep providing security updates for any device still on Anniversary Update and not restrict it.
I'm writing this in a laptop which can't currently run Creators' Update due to a different hardware incompatibility with an old driver, although I believe a fix is on the way for the '1709' Update. But if Microsoft don't fix the driver issue I would also be stuck on Anniversary Update on a different hardware spec and grateful for an extension to updates.

FerchogtX · 22 Jul 2017

Lets hope they don't go as arbitrary as stopping support just the time they please (like, I please to stop releasing drivers for a perfectly cappable PC a year after I relese it, or a GPU, just to make you buy another thing next year). The security updates at least is a good step forwards...

Thanks for your thoughts @DavidY ^^

alphanumeric · 23 Jul 2017

My ASUS laptop shipped with Windows 8.0. The free upgrade to 8.1 happened shortly after I got it. There was one or two 8.1 drivers released for it by ASUS. Then the free upgrade to 10. ASUS didn't release any drivers for it for Windows 10. I'm on my own. It works perfectly fine though in Windows 10. I had way more issues when Windows 10 first came out than I do these days, hardware wise. Drivers from AMD have finally caught up and are stable. It's an AMD A-10 with AMD / AMD switchable graphics. Everything on it works just fine with the Windows update supplied drivers, YMMV of course. I don't game on it so I'm fine with those drivers. The OEM's, as near as I can see, are in no big hurry to release new drivers for devices that didn't ship from the factory with said OS installed. My laptop never shipped from ASUS with Windows 10. They would rather I buy a new Windows 10 device.

There will likely be two scenarios depending on what bit of kit isn't supported. You upgrade but that piece of hardware doesn't work, WIFI for example. It's not integral to the functioning of the PC. The other scenario is a blocked upgrade because the hardware that's not supported is integral to a fully functioning PC. Chip-Set, CPU, etc. Stuff that would cause a BSOD if you upgraded.

This free for forever upgrades is new ground for Microsoft. And Windows 10 is just getting old enough that old hardware is starting to be an issue. I think the idea was to get everybody onto the one OS so they would (eventually) only have to support one OS. Once end of life came for Windows 7 and 8 there would only be Windows 10. It may backfire on them and they end up in an almost similar situation as it is now. Instead of having to support Windows 7, 8 and 10, it will be Windows 10 1604, 1703, 1709, etc, etc. Still may be easier, but I don't think that's what they planed or wanted?

lehnerus2000 · 23 Jul 2017

alphanumeric said:

Once end of life came for Windows 7 and 8 there would only be Windows 10. It may backfire on them and they end up in an almost similar situation as it is now. Instead of having to support Windows 7, 8 and 10, it will be Windows 10 1604, 1703, 1709, etc, etc. Still may be easier, but I don't think that's what they planed or wanted?

MS is supporting more versions of Windows than ever before.

We can see that was just another example of misleading statements by MS about W10.
It seems obvious now that MS (in cahoots with AMD and Intel) was planning to cut off machines regularly.

That's why AMD & Intel went along with that whole Kaby Lake/Ryzen fiasco.

lx07 · 23 Jul 2017

alphanumeric said:

Instead of having to support Windows 7, 8 and 10, it will be Windows 10 1604, 1703, 1709, etc, etc. Still may be easier, but I don't think that's what they planed or wanted?

I do believe you are right but it could be even more of a muddle. They have now said they will support 1607 with security updates for 6 years instead of 2 but "we will provide security updates to these specific devices running the Windows 10 Anniversary Update until January of 2023

Microsoft agrees to extend support deadline for Clover Trail PCs | ZDNet

alphanumeric · 23 Jul 2017

lx07 said:

I do believe you are right but it could be even more of a muddle. They have now said they will support 1607 with security updates for 6 years instead of 2 but "we will provide security updates to these specific devices running the Windows 10 Anniversary Update until January of 2023

Microsoft agrees to extend support deadline for Clover Trail PCs | ZDNet

You can read all kinds of things from "those specific devices". I have no idea if that means, only those devices get updates, or anybody (stuck on) still running the AU?

Barman58 · 23 Jul 2017

I take it to mean that the two year support applies for all devices running the AU, as these are upgradable to the later builds. If you have one of the affected devices then it will be treated as an LTSB Licence and supported for the extended Six years

alphanumeric · 23 Jul 2017

lehnerus2000 said:

MS is supporting more versions of Windows than ever before.

At the moment yes. Like I said though, I think they were hoping that would change some time down the road. Eventually it would only be 2 or 3 builds of Windows 10 that would get updates. That may change to 3 or 4 or more and they would be back to where they are now. Eventually it will only be Windows 10, assuming they don't make another name change.

Joan Archer · 23 Jul 2017

I've just skimmed through this thread but so far didn't go into details by following the links. So far not had problems with any upgrade.
Hubby's laptop is a Toshiba which he got in 2012 running 7, went to the 10 upgrade shortly after it came out and had all the upgrades, he's just had the Creator Upgrade with no problems so far.

I got my Asus Notebook which came with 8 November 2012 it got a new mainboard April 2013 under guarantee and went to 8.1 upgrade 2 then the free upgrade to 10 and that is up to date and now at the Creator Upgrade.

We got 2 new Acer Aspire desktops running 10 the end of last year and they are now up to date with all upgrades.

Don't know which if any of the laptops will give up first or run out of support, they are all Intel insides. :)