Windows 10: How to update the CPU's microcode

Good Morning All,

I came from Linux to Windows 10. After 14 years, got tired of the Linux desktop mess. The experience has been good. I've been on W10 since the beginning of the year. Under Linux, CPU microcode updates were easy to deploy. My MB MFG (MSI) tells me short of a BIOS update, there is no way to update the microcode of my CPU (Core i7-6900). I find this hard to accept. MSI has a well established habit of not updating BIOS. In July, Intel released microcode updates that includes my CPU. How do I deploy them and keep my CPU updated at each boot under Windows 10?

I am using W10x64 Pro.

Thanks!

Sincerely and respectfully,

Dave

:)

 

Intel microcode update

The microcode updates in question are developed by Intel, not Microsoft. Microsoft is just the delivery boy. Don't shoot the messenger. It's Intel that hasn't provided the update that you're looking for.

 

Intel microcode update

my pc is out of Support in HP but my windows is still supported and my cpu is still supported so it's microsoft responsibility to deliver intel microcode updates as it delivered microcode updates to other chips.

Right now windows loads an old version of microcode into processor and It's microsoft responsibility to load the new microcode since they made themselves responsible for delivering drivers and every manufacturer says that windows 10 drivers will be delivered
through windows updates

OR they can at least make a tool for us to update microcode but I'm sure they won't!!

 

Have you tried this: Download Intel® Turbo Boost Max Technology 3.0

 

Thank you for the reply,
I haven't tried it because I'm not interested in overclocking. I just want to update the microcode. Are you stating that this tool has the ability to update the microcode? I followed your link and this tool selects the fastest core. There is nothing in the link that suggests anything about updating the microcode.

Is there something about this tool that does that that is undocumented...or?

Thanks!

Dave

 

Here you go software solution [How to] Update microcode from Windows. | NotebookReview

 

Thank you for the post. I already ran across this utility, and am having some issues with it. It will not install nor recognize my microcode.dat file, even though I downloaded it and it's un tgz's and untar'd.

I'll fiddle with it some more.

Thank you for the reply,

regards,
Dave

 

The issue is that I have an Intel system, and the utility is asking for AMD microcode. I followed another post and this utility requires both microcodes to be available - but will only install the correct one <obviously>.

I'll try doing this and report back...

Dave

 

I was just getting ready to post that.....and it's all for Linux as well. I see nothing in there for windows.

 

I downloaded the AMD microcode from an archive site, as the link provided is dead. The install.bat worked as Administrator, and I am now running on the latest Intel Microcode.

This utility takes microcode from both Intel and Amd as they are packaged for Linux, and then uses them to update the microcode in a Windows environment.

I can confirm it works.

Thanks to all!

Dave

 

For the record SiSoft Sandra reports:

Before Using VMWare's tool: Microcode version = MU064F011D

After Using VMWare's tool: Microcode Version = MU064F0121

Confirmed to work normally. And you do not need to reboot for the microcode to be applied. I can confirm that on a reboot the microcode is automatically applied and remains at the updated rev.

Thank you to all who assisted with replies,

Dave

 

I have to be honest, I've never heard of doing this in the 20 years I've worked in the IT industry. What would be the reason/purpose for doing so?

 

Same here, except for the IT work. New one on me.

 

In a heavy virtualized environment, little glitches in a CPU's microcode - or small inefficiencies - that may not be apparent in a desktop setting, can cause a VM to crash or misbehave. This may be my long term Linux experience speaking out. But - to back that up - why would VMWare create a utility to update the microcode, if they hadn't experienced issues with their own virtualization products?

You may not have experienced it yourself DeaconFrost, as this is usually handled in BIOS updates. My MB mfg is MSI, they have a history of not updating their BIOS - and as a result the microcode in a given CPU does not get updated to fix issues Intel finds in a CPU's microcode. My MB is new, but my BIOS is from 2016 and four generations out of date with microcode. My previous MB mfg was Gigabyte - they are the opposite - they update their BIOS frequently - and include new microcode in those releases.

For those of us who have moved from Linux to Windows as their desktop (such as I did) - this may be considered a Linux user's holdover habit. Every Linux distribution that I have ever used, had native built-in mechanism to update the CPU's microcode as soon as it comes out. And that makes sense, because in the server room, Linux is heavily virtualized both as a hypervisor, and as a guest OS.

Thus - VMWare's products - popular in data-centers, sometimes had issues related to the CPU's microcode, and not necessarily their products. Issues that causes VMWare tech support issues, but is not directly related to their products. Issues that a microcode update remedied. I would imagine that they created this utility for that specific purpose. Think of it like a Windows update. If I write code using a specific Win32API, and that API misbehaves - it's not my code misbehaving, it's the Win32API. But to the end user, it looks like my program is the thing misbehaving and I get the nasty calls from the customer - when in reality it is a Windows issue.

I am not sure how old you are (I'm 61 and have been doing this for 35 years now), but way back when the first Pentium first came out - which was for the first time - a marriage on-die of a CPU and a FPU - there were math issues that the CPU did not calculate correctly. Thus the need for live microcode updates was born. Just recently, the latest AMD CPU "Ryzen" has issues. And AMD is hard a work fixing the microcode in their misbehaving CPU's.

Although to support your point, as I am on a 6th gen Core-i7 - you would expect that the microcode would have a lot of spit and polish on it by now....But when I virtualized (I have several VM's) - I began to have issues - that (as of yesterday) have evaporated since I updated the CPU's microcode. And Intel released new microcode for my CPU in July.

Hope this helps explain things -

Dave

 

Hi,

@dcbdis : Thanks for this.
Just updated a Kaby Lake 7700K. MicroCU shows version 5E which is the same as it was originally according to Event Viewer.
Finding the AMD files isn't exactly easy. Could dummies be used to fool VMware's installer on an Intel system ?
Or modify the batch file so it stops looking for these perhaps...
It surprises me these updates aren't widely supported for Windows, they're so important for system stability.

I'm planning on updating a I7 6700 and a 4770 as well.

In the past we used microcode updates to make a bios accept a newer gen. same lga cpu, motherboard and all that allowing of course.

Anyway, thanks for your contribution.

Cheers, *Wink