Windows 10: Microsoft warns users that this Windows 11 version is running out of support soon

Microsoft has published a new notification on the official Microsoft Lifecycle website that informs Windows 11 users and also system administrators about the upcoming end of support for the original Windows 11 version.

Microsoft released the first version of Windows 11 in October 2023 to the public. The company changed servicing with the release, promising that home users would get 2 years of support instead of the 18 months that they received previously on Windows 10 devices. A new feature update for Windows 11 will also be released every year.

The original version of Windows 11 will reach end of servicing in October 2023. To be precise, it will receive a last batch of security updates on October 10, 2023, before it reaches end of support and is no longer maintained. Microsoft notes that customers won't receive support anymore after that date until they update their devices to a newer version that is still supported.

The following Windows 11 versions and editions will reach end of servicing in October 2023:

• Windows 11 Home, version 21H2
• Windows 11 Pro, version 21H2
• Windows 11 Pro for Workstations, version 21H2
• Windows 11 Pro Education, version 21H2

Windows 11 users may check the installed version using various methods. One option is to use the keyboard shortcut Windows-R to open the runbox, type winver and to hit the Enter-key. Windows displays the current version and edition in a small window on the screen.

The vast majority of Windows 11 version 21H2 devices, machines running the original version of Windows 11, can be updated to Windows 11 version 22H2, the first feature update version released a year later, without any issues. Microsoft did not make changes to the system requirements that affect devices running Windows 11 version 21H2 negatively.

To update, Windows 11 users may select Start > Settings > Windows Update. The update to Windows 11 version 22H2 should be displayed there. If not, it may be necessary to activate the "check for updates" button to display it there.

Another option that users have is to use the Windows 11 Media Creation Tool or the Windows 11 Installation Assistant to upgrade the original version of Windows 11 to the latest version.

Some Windows 11 users may want to wait with the upgrade until Microsoft releases this year's feature update for the operating system. This would allow them to skip Windows 11 version 22H2 entirely and get two years of support before another upgrade needs to be installed. Microsoft has yet to announce the official release date for that feature update though, and there is a chance that it will be released after October 2023.

Now You: do you run Windows 11 or another operating system? (via Neowin)

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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

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• Chris Merriman
• 
  @ChrisTheDJ
• 05 May 2016

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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

 

Internet Explorer is dead: Microsoft to stop supporting early versions yesterday WITH POLL

Yea they are, although I figured we would have it by now. I'd use it if they integrated an import feature and support for all the usual add-ons.

 

Microsoft DirectX 11 Details Emerge

Microsoft has released a handful of details about DirectX 11, the latest version of the company's API.

• Full support (including all DX11 hardware features) on Windows Vista as well as future versions of Windows
• Compatibility with DirectX 10 and 10.1 hardware, as well as support for new DirectX 11 hardware
• New compute shader technology that lays the groundwork for the GPU to be used for more than just 3D graphics, so that developers can take advantage of the graphics card as a parallel processor
• Multi-threaded resource handling that will allow games to better take advantage of multi-core machines
• Support for tessellation, which blurs the line between super high quality pre-rendered scenes and scenes rendered in real-time, allowing game developers to refine models to be smoother and more attractive when seen up close

Source: Shacknews