Windows 10: Microsoft locks Ryzen and Kaby Lake users out of updates on Windows 7

And I suspect one would find similar results if they did a search for chipset drivers on say., Asus/MSI/Gigabyte sites.

It's not an MS problem.

 

Well, it's not a stealth move (yet) but...

For information on the updates click the link and read the entire article at gHacks:

KB4012218, KB4012219: Windows Update processor generation detection The next question is can you actually avoid those updates? Or will this be a "required" download to gain future updates?

 

Speaking of those drivers, I just installed 17.3.3 Chipset drivers and finally got full speed out of my SSDs. It was lagging behind Intel for sometime now.

 

I should check mine today. Never know what's there.

 

Precisely. And BunnyJ, you know my feelings on Windows 10. Having said that, weren't hardware vendors pulling support drivers for XP and Vista prior to April 2014? This isn't unprecedented. Sure I run Windows 8, but I know Microsoft doesn't owe me anything. I can run it on older, but still suitable hardware.

Similar subject got heated over at the seven forums and was locked. Sure what I said may not be congruent with the tide of popular opinion, but it's no different than what is being said here.

 

Staff for XP and Vista is long time now in legacy mode, parts made when W7 came out also legacy. HW makers have 0 interest in keeping them alive except maybe for some PR.

 

Windows 7 is as far as drivers go from ASUS for my old in the tooth M2N68 and M4N68 desktop motherboards. And my ASUS K75DE laptop pretty well stops at Windows 8.0, which is what it shipped with from the factory. There are a few Windows 8.1 drivers but no Windows 10 drivers for it, nada. I can get everything I need via Windows update though for all of them to run Windows 10 with no issues. ASUS like a lot of OEM's would rather you buy new than upgrade the OS on older hardware.

 

(My reply in red above.)

Anyway I'm in no way saying people shouldn't move to Windows 10 if they're going to run new hardware, especially where a new MB and CPU is concerned. Windows 10 is certainly suited for the new hardware, and I'm saying that. I certainly believe Windows 10 to be the superior OS.

My point is Microsoft cannot suddenly undo a compatible OS for the hardware that's out simply to force people on their latest OS because the usage numbers aren't there. And this is precisely what MS is doing and, and continues to do in a myriad of ways.

Again, MS promised to support the OS to EOL. Do it, and lay off the "forced" upgrade shenanigans.

 

For clarity, we're (I'm) not arguing over driver support per se here. We're specifically talking about CPU (Ryzen and Kaby lake) support as titled in the thread. Driver support is a whole new ball game and takes a completely different route.

 

Well, it's not really so sudden. When Skylake was announced it was not supposed to have W7 support, only after big noise that was suspended. Ryzen (Zen at that time) wasn't supposed to be 100% compatible with W7 either. MS maybe just expediting the process but even that doesn't mean it wouldn't work, just updates may be i jeopardy and suddenly people that were so much against "forced" updates are crying foul.

 

Drivers are even much higher priority than some windows updates. Without them there will be no support (or at least greatly reduced) usability.

 

Not trying to be funny but you seem to be missing the point of the titled thread - CPU processors. NOT drivers.

And we're well aware of the importance of drivers. This is NOT what we're talking about, nor are they the point of conversation.

 

CPUs go with whole platform, MB, chipset, BIOS and whole kitten caboodle and those parts as well as CPU itself need drivers to work. No drivers, no work, no need to update OS other than to support all of that. Regular updates to OS are very small part and hindrance. I haven't updated my W7 at least 3 years and it's still working.

 

The policy change not only makes Microsoft's hardware partners happy they no longer are on the hook to develop as many costly software updates for past versions of Windows, but it also helps Microsoft push adoption of Windows 10. The company sees the operating system as the "final" version of Windows; it's now a service, not a product, and this change better reflects that. There's only one current version of Windows, and while Microsoft will fulfill its legacy hardware obligations, it won't be expending resources to help users steer clear of its latest and greatest.

 

When were hardware partners ever on the hook to develop software updates for past versions of Windows? As far as I know they aren't obligated to develop drivers for any particular OS. Its all voluntary on their part. And from what I can see, as soon as a new OS is released most move their resources on to it.