Microsoft is threatening to withhold Windows 11 updates "if your CPU is old"

[P4-630]

Was just reading this news about Windows 11

the company told us it won’t actually block you from installing Windows 11 on a PC with an older CPU, so long as you download and manually install an ISO file all by yourself. But it turns out even that technicality has a technicality. Microsoft is now threatening to withhold Windows Updates from your copy of Windows 11 — potentially even security updates — if you take that route.

We’re not sure why the company didn’t mention it in our original briefing, but Microsoft has since told The Verge that unsupported PCs won’t be entitled to receive Windows Updates, and that even security and driver updates may be withheld.

the company seemingly wants to push Windows users to buy a new PC, whether they need one or not. Yesterday, the company told us about a loophole that could placate some of the company's vocal power users who don’t want to give up their old hardware. But if that loophole gets in the way of Microsoft’s plans, the company is reserving the right to make it far less attractive.

Microsoft is threatening to withhold Windows 11 updates if your CPU is old

Genuine limitation or covering its ass? Unclear.

www.theverge.com

 

[outpt]

It’s a matter of money. No more no less. Scumbags.

 

[Space Lynx]

Hey M$, I don't need your **** anymore. Linux Mint to the moon boys!!! 13k views so far, lets make it 15k boys!!!

I just switched to Linux Mint (latest beta release) I AM FREAKING IN LOVE!!! TAKE CARE WINDOWS 10 and 11 LMAO

So first impressions so far today... it's smooth!!! So smooth! It's very user friendly... I have already installed Steam with two clicks, updated all my drivers from the welcome window that pops up on first install, installed proprietary Nvidia driver, got gsync working. Steam has an awesome...

www.techpowerup.com

 

[Shrek]

It’s a matter of money. No more no less. Scumbags.

Don't want to get political, but its a company that needs to make money for its shareholders.

 

[Bill_Bright]

Am I missing something? What is The Verge's source for this? Where did Microsoft say they will "withhold" updates if our CPUs are too old? To withhold something is to intentionally prevent or block.

All I see in that The Verge article is the author claiming, "It's possible", updates "may" be withheld. And "Microsoft told us". That's all hypotheticals and hearsay.

If you Google this issue, you get millions of hits but every one just points back to the exact same, one-off The Verge article that offers no substantiating evidence for those claims.

It makes zero sense for MS to intentionally "withhold" security updates. Heck, they still occasionally make available security updates for W7! See: July 6, 2021—KB5004951 (Security-only update) Out-of-band (microsoft.com)

Show me an actual Microsoft source, then I will believe it.

Oh, and a company making money for its shareholders is not a political issue - that's just business. But it's not the issue here.

 

[Easy Rhino]

It’s a matter of money. No more no less. Scumbags.

Isn't it a free upgrade?

 

[repman244]

How about everyone waits until they release Win 11 and then see what the actual requirements will be.
Making assumptions day in and day out of what will/could/should be is useless until they release it.

 

[eidairaman1]

Give ms the bird

 

[Bill_Bright]

How about everyone waits until they release Win 11 and then see what the actual requirements will be.
Making assumptions day in and day out of what will/could/should be is useless until they release it.

Tell that first to the MS haters and bashers in the IT press! Then tell those who automatically believe everything they read puts Microsoft in an unfavorable light, even when there is no evidence to support the claims.

Oh, and the COVID vaccines have alien DNA in it too. I read that on the Internet so it must be true.

 

[theFOoL]

Give ms the bird

Sure I'll give them a woodpecker to knock on their heads

 

[bonehead123]

Oh NO, mr. Bill, it's a conspiracy.....

Actually this idea has also been floated around da 'net lately, that M$ is in cohoots with all the component/cpu/mobo/pc makers to force people to buy new parts or a whole new machine if they really wanna use W11 safely and with all features enabled...

This would not surprise me one bit, but then again.....

A) I really don't, care as my machines/cpu's etc are all reasonably current (1-2 yrs old) and

B) I will wait for official announcements from M$ when they release the OS to the general public and maybe will install it afterwards, and still won't care then either

However, my condolences go out to those who are still running old(er) rigs that won't be supported..

And oh yea @Bill Bright:

Oh, and the COVID vaccines have alien DNA in it too. I read that on the Internet so it must be true.

I heard that the DNA you speak of came from those guys who built the Pyramids, the 12.37591 ft tall triangle shaped ones with really dark glasses...(from da 'net, so again, it MUST also be true).......hehehehe

 

[eidairaman1]

Tell that first to the MS haters and bashers in the IT press! Then tell those who automatically believe everything they read puts Microsoft in an unfavorable light, even when there is no evidence to support the claims.

Oh, and the COVID vaccines have alien DNA in it too. I read that on the Internet so it must be true.

Idk ive disliked Winblows since 8.0, its not gotten better but worse.

 

[Audioave10]

I don't ever plan to go to Windows 11. I believe they are going to a monthly service with OneDrive and the cloud Antivirus they are pushing.
Its just a matter of time.

 

[Bill_Bright]

Idk ive disliked Winblows since 8.0, its not gotten better but worse.

And this illustrates the point about biased MS bashings from MS haters as it has absolutely nothing to do with the topic of MS withholding security updates for W11 and older CPUs - which we don't even know if that is true, or not.

Why are people not blaming the bad guys for putting us in the security situation we are in? Or the antimalware software makers for failing to stop the badguys, as they whined and cried to Congress and EU, that it was their job to do?

I don't like the fact that I will have to upgrade to a new CPU to move to W11 either. But oh well! Big corporations forced MS to support legacy (read: less and insecure) hardware in XP and the bad guys moved in. And then what happened? MS got blamed.

Keeping up with the latest and future technologies has ALWAYS resulted in consumers having to retire perfectly good, but legacy hardware. We've done it with CRT TVs and monitors, wireless phones, cell phones, cassette players, 8 tracks, reel-to-reel tapes, "stereo" receivers, VCRs and more. But did Sony, Samsung and Apple get relentless blamed and bashed? Nope.

Just this last week I got a text from Cricket telling me in February, my perfectly good Sony Xperia XZ2 will no longer work on their network (which is AT&T's network) because they are upgrading to 5G. So now I have to buy a new cell phone.

I suppose that is Microsoft's fault too.

 

[Ruru]

My 3600 feels old but not that old...

 

[windwhirl]

Honestly, I think Microsoft is taking a correct but very badly miscommunicated approach. I remember a lot of complaints back when Windows 10 launched that the machines slowed down significantly after the upgrade from Windows 7, and it was bad enough that it reached courts, with Microsoft having to pay up.

So, what I think they're doing is they upped the requirements significantly to not deal with that same problem again. Hence, any machine that doesn't meet or exceed all the requirements may or may not be able to run Windows 11 smoothly, but every machine that meets or exceeds all the requirements should under nearly every scenario run Windows 11 smoothly.

There's also the security reasons they gave, which I'm not going to comment on, because some of those feel a bit shaky, but it's beyond my understanding regardless.

Also, they're saving themselves headaches by basically saying "yeah this machine has this issue with Windows 11 but it doesn't meet the requirements, so if it's a Windows issue that happens on supported configurations it will get fixed and hopefully it will be fixed for unsupported machines too, otherwise we are not wasting engineers' time for an user that wants to run W11 on a potato".

My 3600 feels old but not that old...

Zen 2 processors are supported. Same with Zen+, but not original Zen.

 

[BSim500]

No forced Windows updates? That actually sounds like something to celebrate...

 

[windwhirl]

No forced Windows updates? That actually sounds like something to celebrate...

I mean, people always complain that Windows Update borks their setups, but when Microsoft says "nope, not eligible for updates on non-compliant machines" everyone gets all uppity

 

[BSim500]

I mean, people always complain that Windows Update borks their setups, but when Microsoft says "nope, not eligible for updates on non-compliant machines" everyone gets all uppity

Not me. Ever since MS stopped treating people like "we have a product to sell to you" customers and started treating them like "you are now both our monetized product + unpaid beta testers" consumers, and swapped well-tested Service Packs for unwanted Telemetry, the only usable version of Windows 10 that exists in my mind is Enterprise LTSC (precisely because it receives no 'feature' updates that bork everything every 6 months and is the last remaining "If it ain't broke, don't 'fix' it" bulwark vs MS's "we will turn everything into a service, and you will like it" vision...)

 

[windwhirl]

How about everyone waits until they release Win 11 and then see what the actual requirements will be.

No need anymore. Microsoft has basically stated that save for a few extra Intel CPUs (the one in the Surface Studio 2 and a few Xeons and Core i7/i9 Extreme Editions), the requirements stay the same.
Also, Mode-based Execution Control is the reason why all those older CPUs are not officially supported.

Enable memory integrity

This article explains the steps to opt in to using memory integrity on Windows devices.

docs.microsoft.com

Because it makes use of Mode Based Execution Control, HVCI works better with Intel Kaby Lake or AMD Zen 2 CPUs and newer. Processors without MBEC will rely on an emulation of this feature, called Restricted User Mode, which has a bigger impact on performance.

I feel this would have been less of a confusing headache for everyone if Microsoft outright said why newer CPUs are needed instead of dancing around it.

Not me. Ever since MS stopped treating people like "we have a product to sell to you" customers and started treating them like "you are now both our monetized product + unpaid beta testers" consumers, and swapped well-tested Service Packs for unwanted Telemetry, the only usable version of Windows 10 that exists in my mind is Enterprise LTSC (precisely because it receives no 'feature' updates that bork everything every 6 months and is the last remaining "If it ain't broke, don't 'fix' it" bulwark vs MS's "we will turn everything into a service, and you will like it" vision...)

Hmm, I don't entirely agree but at the same time I don't entirely disagree. It's well known Nadella got rid of quite a sizable portion of the QA team, so the quality of the code has definitely gone down. A bad move from MS, really, considering the complexity of the code has only gone up and up.

 

[zoom314]

Tell that first to the MS haters and bashers in the IT press! Then tell those who automatically believe everything they read puts Microsoft in an unfavorable light, even when there is no evidence to support the claims.

Oh, and the COVID vaccines have alien DNA in it too. I read that on the Internet so it must be true.

Marvin and Daffy have been vaccinated, but then so have I.

I'd hope the E5 series Xeons and TPM compatible boards like the Asus RIVBE would be allowed under Win 11, I have two of each of them.

 

[Bill_Bright]

And Daffy gets his booster this coming Wednesday!

 

[TheinsanegamerN]

Was just reading this news about Windows 11


"Microsoft is now threatening to withhold Windows Updates from your copy of Windows 11"

I can already see the new headlines as tech nerds start using fake CPU identifiers to stop MS from auto updating their windows 11 installations. This would be an utterly boneheaded move from MS if they actually do it.

 

[DeathtoGnomes]

So this writer at the Verge is created click-bait FUD and is trying to milk the crap out of this. The first article, linked in this second one, clearly shows the information was all from an M$ blog ( linked down there ↓).

So when he said

the company told us

in the first sentence, he began lying, which makes the rest of what he wrote not credible. This is a dead give away that his MS source was manufactured. Thats not to say the information is wrong, it could be, but it was all written to be FUD, intentionally, it seems.


The blog

Update on Windows 11 minimum system requirements and the PC Health Check app

Today’s blog post provides two updates. First, an update on Windows 11 minimum system requirements based, in part, on feedback from the Windows Insider community. Second, information on the updated PC Health Check app that is now available to Windo

blogs.windows.com

 

[TheOne]

Ah the reverse of what they did with Windows 7 and newer hardware, which started with Kaby Lake and Zen.