
User-Made Patch Lets Owners of Next-Gen CPUs Install Updates on Windows 7 and 8.1 - signa11
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/microsoft/user-made-patch-lets-owners-of-next-gen-cpus-install-updates-on-windows-7-andamp-8-1/
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0x0
What I don't get is that Windows 7 is in extended support until 2020, so if
you bought Windows 7 retail and upgraded your CPU to one of these blocked
next-gen versions, how is blocking windows update even excusable???

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type0
Because, EULA???

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jacobush
Ah the thing where you agreed to sacrifice a goat at midnight

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sandworm101
This is no patch. This is a hack. This is the bypassing of a DRM protocol, an
undoing of an antifeature and part of the ongoing war. I await the MS
counterattack.

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ThrowawayR2
Why would MS bother? Like a Hackintosh, it's an unsupported configuration of
the OS. If anything breaks, you're totally on your own.

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mack73
Is Windows 7 abandonware to Microsoft? If so then this violation of terms
might just fly under the radar of their massive team of lawyers.

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lutusp
Some points:

1\. I see this as a public-spirited project that favors consumers over a
rapacious corporation.

2\. At a time when farmers can't even repair their own tractors any more
([http://modernfarmer.com/2016/07/right-to-
repair/](http://modernfarmer.com/2016/07/right-to-repair/)), this hack will
probably result in legal action.

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yuhong
I see a string saying "Only detected non-exempt updates on device with
unsupported processor" when I was disassembling the code, so obviously MS has
a way to mark patches as "exempt".

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lightbyte
If you had read the original announcement about this over a year ago you would
already know that this was the case and what the exemptions are:

>Through July 17, 2017, Skylake devices on the supported list will also be
supported with Windows 7 and 8.1. During the 18-month support period, these
systems should be upgraded to Windows 10 to continue receiving support after
the period ends. After July 2017, the most critical Windows 7 and Windows 8.1
security updates will be addressed for these configurations, and will be
released if the update does not risk the reliability or compatibility of the
Windows 7/8.1 platform on other devices.

[https://blogs.windows.com/windowsexperience/2016/01/15/windo...](https://blogs.windows.com/windowsexperience/2016/01/15/windows-10-embracing-
silicon-innovation/#2LpTbACWqKlQSWFD.97)

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yuhong
Outdated, see: [https://blogs.windows.com/business/2016/08/11/updates-to-
sil...](https://blogs.windows.com/business/2016/08/11/updates-to-silicon-
support-policy-for-windows/)

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MS_Buys_Upvotes
What is the technical reason for Microsoft's actions?

I've used Windows for decades and don't recall anything like this happening in
the past.

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rbanffy
Chip manufacturers bent over backwards to make sure their chips ran Windows
perfectly. This is obviously changing and they are not investing as much as
they used to in compatibility with existing software.

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awalton
Err, no. This is 100% Microsoft trying to kill all Windows prior to Win10 by
making it virtually impossible to continue to use the older Windows versions
(i.e. by blocking updates and removing support for new hardware).

There's nothing technically different enough about these new CPUs that
anything significant needs to be done by Microsoft - in fact, it took more
code to _deny_ the ability to install on these new CPUs than it would take to
allow it.

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downrightmike
Win10 was 'Free' except now you have no recourse except to buy into the new
system. Welcome to the world of tomorrow.

