Windows 10: Microsoft sneaks Secure Boot support into Windows 7 shortly before support ends

Support for Extended Security Updates for Windows 7 is ending today officially. Microsoft will release a last cumulative update for Windows 7 on January 10, 2023 before the operating system is laid to rest.

Users and organizations who run Windows 7 have a few options available to them to continue using their devices. The official path is to upgrade devices to Windows 10 or 11, or replace them with newer devices that run these operating systems.

Those who prefer to stay on Windows 7 may subscribe to 0Patch for less than $30 a year to receive critical security updates for at least 2 years starting with the official end of support. There may also be options to install patches that Microsoft produces for systems that are based on Windows 7 and still supported by the company.

Chinese blog CSDN discovered in October 2022 that Microsoft appears to have added support for Secure Boot to Windows 7 via the September 2022 cumulative updates. Microsoft did not announce the change in the changelog or elsewhere, to the best of our knowledge.



Microsoft introduced support for Secure Boot in Windows 8 and has not backported the feature to Windows 7 during Windows 7's official support lifecycle. Support for Windows 7 ended in January 2020 for all Home customers while Enterprise and business customers could extend the support range by up to three years for a price.

Secure Boot is a security technology that verifies the integrity of core system components, including the UEFI firmware drivers, EFI applications and the operating system. Only if these components are verified through checks is the operating system booted.

Twitter user Bob Pony published news about this on the messaging site recently. He posted a screenshot of a Windows 7 Enterprise system running Secure Boot. Secure Boot does not work on UEFI Class 3 systems directly to the information published, which means that a workaround is required. The second caveat is that the feature was introduced in an ESU update.

Lastly, it needs to be noted that it feels strange that Microsoft would add support for the feature near the end of the operating system's end of support date. Microsoft did not even reveal that it added the feature, which means that no one outside of the company knows why it was added just months before support end.

Now You: what is your take on this? Why did Microsoft add Secure Boot support to Windows 7? (via Neowin)

Thank you for being a Ghacks reader. The post Microsoft sneaks Secure Boot support into Windows 7 shortly before support ends appeared first on gHacks Technology News.

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Microsoft Botches Up UEFI Support for Windows 7 on ASUS Motherboards



Microsoft suggests updating to Windows 10 to patch Windows 7

• 
  
  
• Chris Merriman
• 
  @ChrisTheDJ
• 05 May 2016

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9 Comments

MICROSOFT HAS confirmed a potentially lappy-borking problem that it won't be fixing, because Windows 7.

Woody Leonhard, the respected Windows columnist, points to a problem involving Asus motherboards, which also appear rebadged in a variety of other manufacturers' machines, and the activation of UEFI Secure Boot for Windows 7 in a patch KB3133977.

Short version: install update, welcome to Borksville, population you.

Both Asus and Microsoft acknowledged the problem. Microsoft entitled the article "BitLocker can't encrypt drives because of service crashes in svchost.exe process in Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2", but we prefer to just call it "Trevor for brevity."

The firm's advice was that it's an optional update, leave well alone, you'll be fine, or alternatively turn secure boot off.

Then Microsoft did a silly, silly thing.

It moved the update from 'optional' to 'recommended' and anyone who reads this site regularly will know what happens when Microsoft does this. That's right boys and girls - it makes it automatically install, unless you've specifically told your machine not to.

So now, if you have one of the affected motherboard and you keep your security updates automatic like wot Microsoft recommends, then your machine will stop working properly.

We should add it's not permanently bricked, but it will take some mucking about in the BIOS to fix and that's a pain even for an experienced computer user.

Microsoft has, by offering a workaround, suggested heavily that it won't be fixing the problem, though we have asked the question, so expect a response in about a fortnight.

But the real kicker is this piece of advice: "Note The Secure Boot feature is supported in Windows 10. To learn more about the security advantages of this feature and about the upgrade path from Windows 7 to Windows 10, go to the following Windows website"

Holy toledo, this company really knows how to rub people up the wrong way.

After all - if the advice is to manually avoid the update or move to a version of the operating system where there's virtually no control over updates, then Microsoft is dealing in massive contradictions.

A more cynical site would suggest that it's yet another example of Microsoft running Windows 7 into the ground and adding built in obsolescence to encourage quicker updates. But we're not that sort of site.

Its the patching to force secure boot that is the problem win 7 does not support secure boot
hence it borks systems and well microsofts answer is Cactus >your Asshole > insert

from the inquirer

 

Windows 7 and Office 2010 End of Support

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• Windows 7 End of Support
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Windows 7 and Office 2010 End of Support

Read more:

• Windows 7 End of Support
• Office 2010 end of support roadmap | Microsoft Docs

Tip Windows 10 Specifications & Systems Requirements

How to Upgrade to Windows 10

How to Clean Install Windows 10