If you're hoping to start running Windows 7 or 8.1 on a shiny new AMD Ryzen or Intel Kaby Lake processor, you might want to rethink those plans. According to a report by ZDNet, Microsoft has started blocking updates to Windows 7 and 8.1 machines using either of AMD or Intel's latest chips, following through on plans it announced over a year ago.
As noted by ZDNet, those trying to install the latest cumulative updates for Windows 7 and 8.1 on the newer hardware were greeted with this message:
Unsupported HardwareYour PC uses a processor that isn't supported on this version of Windows and you won't receive updates.
A support article on the issue reinforces plans that Microsoft announced last January, noting that Windows 10 is the only supported version of windows on Intel 7th-generation processors, AMD "Bristol Ridge" (Ryzen), and Qualcomm's "8996" series. This was also originally intended to target Intel's 6th-gen Skylake processors, but Microsoft later made an exception for supported systems.
If you have a Windows 7 or 8.1 machine on older hardware, you should be unaffected and continue to receive updates through each OS's support end date of January 14, 2020 and January 10, 2023, respectively. As for anyone trying to run the older OS versions on newer hardware, it looks like your only choice is to make the jump to Windows 10.
