Future Intel processors will only be supported on Windows 10

[Arthur]

Also, if you have PCs with 6th gen (Skylake) Intel processors and they are running Windows 7 or 8.1 you will need to upgrade to Windows 10 before 17 July 2017 in order to continue receiving updates according to Microsoft and Intel.

 

Source: Microsoft (via Ars Technica)

 

If you own a system with an Intel 6th generation Core processor—more memorably known as Skylake—and run Windows 7 or Windows 8.1, you'll have to think about upgrading to Windows 10 within the next 18 months. Microsoft announced today that after 17 July 2017, only the "most critical" security fixes will be released for those platforms and those fixes will only be made available if they don't "risk the reliability or compatibility" of Windows 7 and 8.1 on other (non-Skylake) systems.

 

The full range of compatibility and security fixes will be published for non-Skylake machines for Windows 7 until 14 January 2020 and for Windows 8.1 until 10 January 2023.

 

Next generation processors, including Intel's "Kaby Lake", Qualcomm's 8996 (branded as Snapdragon 820), and AMD's "Bristol Ridge" APUs (which will use the company's Excavator architecture, not its brand new Zen arch) will only be supported on Windows 10. Going forward, the company says that using the latest generation processors will always require the latest generation operating system.

 

Microsoft provided PC World a short list of approved devices that use Skylake processors that will continue to be supported during the 18 month window when running Windows 7 or 8.1. Those systems are: Dell Latitude 12, Dell Latitude 13 7000 Ultrabook, Dell XPS 13, HP EliteBook Folio, HP EliteBook 1040 G3, Lenovo ThinkPad T460s, Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon, and Lenovo ThinkPad P70. In conjunction with the system builders, Microsoft will test those systems with Windows 7 and 8.1 to ensure that drivers and operating system fixes work as expected.

 

The company's official reason for this change is a little opaque:

 

At the same time, we know many of these customers continue to rely on Windows 7 for its well understood reliability and compatibility. Windows 7 was designed nearly 10 years ago before any x86/x64 SOCs existed. For Windows 7 to run on any modern silicon, device drivers and firmware need to emulate Windows 7's expectations for interrupt processing, bus support, and power states—which is challenging for Wi-Fi, graphics, security, and more. As partners make customizations to legacy device drivers, services, and firmware settings, customers are likely to see regressions with Windows 7 ongoing servicing.

 

It's not entirely clear what hardware changes are really motivating this. Windows 8.1 and Windows 10 are very similar as far as their hardware requirements around "interrupt processing, bus support, and power states" go. That said, modern hardware has certainly shaken things up quite a bit. Skylake, for example, has a certain degree of autonomous power management, allowing the chip to respond more quickly to changing demands than the operating system can. It's believable that wedding these new hardware features with old software is time-consuming and complex. Similarly, platform features such as USB Type-C, especially with Thunderbolt 3, includes all manner of complexity that Windows 7 was never built for.

 

It's also not entirely clear why Microsoft is making the decision; this burden seems like something that the hardware companies can make decisions about themselves. Intel, for example, makes such decisions when developing its Wi-Fi drivers. The very latest hardware, the Wireless-AC 8260 controller drops support for the now unsupported Windows 8, and drops 32-bit support for both Windows 8.1 and Windows 10.

[Steve21]

That's a bit silly

 

What's a good program nowadays to check the processor type still cpu-z? Honestly no idea what ours are not been keeping up with the generations haha

 

Steve

[Arthur]

What's a good program nowadays to check the processor type

Device Manager, CPU-Z or HWiNFO.

 

http://vgy.me/rEe9zw.png

 

The first number after the i3/i5/i7 is the generation, so in the image above an i7-4770K would be a 4th gen (Haswell) Intel processor.

[Arthur]

That's a bit silly

Windows 7 is getting rather long in the tooth so it makes sense from Intel and Microsoft's perspectives.

 

Most people who stick with old OSs probably aren't interested in the latest technologies such as USB 3.1, Thunderbolt 3, HDCP 2.2 and Optane (3D XPoint) PCIe SSDs (all of which will be supported natively by Intel's forthcoming 7th gen. processors and chipsets).

[Steve21]

The first number after the i3/i5/i7 is the generation, so in the image above an i7-4770K would be a 4th gen (Haswell) Intel processor.

 

Never knew that! Learn something new every day

 

Guess I'll have to check about what processors we get on new machines then, assuming a lot of business models won't have those processors by default but guess better safe to check

 

Thanks,

Steve

[synaesthesia]

A surefire way for schools, companies, enterprise etc to start looking elsewhere for their operating systems.

[mrbios]

I'm not overly concerned. I imagine it'll be lazily implemented. Once some smart people get involved, as they usually do, there will no doubt be workarounds for everything to continue as normal for windows 7 users.

 

I actually agree with the idea though, i just think their time scales are all wrong. People should be given at least another year on top of that.

[3s-gtech]

Not bothered at all, and I can understand their stance. We use hardware much older than that (and I do at home, but I only use 10 on my machines). MS need to consolidate their support, as they have so many OSs still in active and extended support that it's sucking big money.

[Sheridan]

I wouldn't mind so much if Windows 10 was a finished product!

[localzuk]

I wouldn't mind so much if Windows 10 was a finished product!

 

There doesn't appear to be such a thing as a "finished product" in the software industry now. Everyone is moving to incremental releases. I blame Google.

 

On a positive - we have nothing better than 4th generation chips here!

[Arthur]

Use Windows Server with Skylake and you won’t have to upgrade in 18 months

 

In January Microsoft announced that owners of systems using Skylake processors would have to upgrade to Windows 10 within 18 months of the announcement, and that users of Intel Kaby Lake systems, due to be released later this year, would only be supported in Windows 10.

 

This raised an obvious question: what will the situation be for users of Windows Server 2008, based on Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008 R2, based on Windows 7, Windows Server 2012, based on Windows 8, Windows Server 2012 R2, based on Windows 8.1, and the as-yet unreleased Windows Server 2016, based on Windows 10? Specifically, which versions of the server operating system will support Skylake and Kaby Lake, and will server operators be required to upgrade to Windows Server 2016 to get support for these processors?

 

Today the company answered those questions, and surprisingly, given that the operating systems share so many underlying components, the answer is different.

 

For the server operating systems, the support policy is aligned with the mainstream and extended support cycles. Each operating system has five years of mainstream support, during which support for new processors and chipsets is added, followed by five years of extended support, during which it isn't.

 

2008 and 2008 R2 are both out of mainstream support, and hence aren't going to get on-going support for Skylake (or beyond). 2012 and 2012 R2 are both in mainstream support until 9th January 2018. As such, manufacturers will be able to request certification of systems produced up until that date. This means that they will support Skylake, Kaby Lake, and possibly even Cannonlake processors. After that date, only Server 2016 will be in mainstream support, meaning that subsequent processors will require the use of Windows Server 2016.