Microsoft cuts off Windows 10 support early for some PCs

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Microsoft cuts off Windows 10 support early for some PCs
An entire generation of PCs, most only three or four years old, are now unable to receive new feature updates to Windows 10. If Microsoft doesn’t deliver a patch within the next six to nine months, those PCs could be cut off from security fixes.

By Ed Bott | July 17, 2017

 
Some PCs that received a free upgrade to Windows 10 less than two years ago are now officially blocked from receiving future updates.

If you are one of the unlucky owners of one of the first 2-in-1 PCs, announced in 2012 and sold throughout 2013 and 2014, your PC was eligible for the free Windows 10 upgrade in mid-2015, and it also received the Summer 2016 Anniversary Update (version 1607) without any compatibility issues.

But when Windows Update tries to install the March 2017 Creators Update, version 1703, the installation fails with a dire (and confusing) message that reads:

Windows 10 is no longer supported on this PC

Uninstall this app now because it isn’t compatible with Windows 10.

Don’t be fooled by that message. There’s no app to uninstall. This problem occurs because of a fundamental incompatibility between the PC hardware and the latest release of Windows 10.

I’ve received multiple reports of this problem, which affects devices built around Intel’s Atom Clover Trail series CPUs. Those chips first appeared in entry-level Windows 8 PCs, especially 2-in-1 devices, between four and five years ago.

 
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2 users thanked author for this post.

Elly, MrBrian

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Amazing. My Windows 7 PC will be supported longer than these Windows 10 PCs.

Group "L" (Linux Mint)
with Windows 10 running in a remote session on my file server

2 users thanked author for this post.

FakeNinja, Elly

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The Win 10 Creators Update Version 1703 was released on 11 April 2017. After more than 3 months, there is no fix yet, either from MS or the OEMs.

A workaround is to use Clonezilla to clone Win 10 CU/1703 from a similar spec unaffected computer to the affected Intel Atom Clover Trail computer, as per …
https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_10-update/windows-10-creators-update-1703-fails-sp/a8765e64-26e1-4160-8854-4f2ae4c40a99
… This likely means processor-blocking by MS. Is MS testing the waters by first trying to make 3 to 4 years old low-end computers obsolete.?

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Let’s see if these compatibility problems with Intel Atom Clover Trail CPUs will be fixed in the upcoming 1709 Fall Creators Update.

by the way woody, and update about the compatibility problems with Windows 10 1703 Creators Update and old Broadcom 440x integrated LAN devices I mentioned a few months ago; they’ll never get fixed with any cumulative update for the 1703 release (not even with KB4022725, KB4022716 & the recently released KB4023542). I’ve recently found out that these problems will get resolved in the 1709 fall creators update.

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Fascinating. So Broadcom (not Microsoft) is leap-frogging one version of Win10?

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I had a similar problem with a Broadcom card on an HP Microserver when upgrading from Windows 2012 to Windows 2012 R2. The upgrade in place would roll-back immediately after completion due to a certain incompatibility created by a minor change in the network driver model at the OS level.
All Broadcom cards in that family were compatible, only the one used in the Microserver which was probably the cut-down version to keep the price low was not compatible. It took a very light BIOS patch from HP (flag switch in the BIOS as far as I know) to be released, about 1 year. This happened only when enough users were affected and after repeated statements from HP that there would be no official patch, because the server was sold originally as compatible only with Windows 2008 R2 and lower and was out of warranty, being a discontinued model.

The best compatibility is provided by Intel components (graphics, LAN, wi-fi), but this is a thread about a special CPU from Intel not being compatible. This CPU was released as incompatible with Linux too, so there must be something unusual with this Atom Clover Trail family.

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My opinion : MS could fix this problem with the Clover Leaf if they wanted too! (Or could it be  they just don’t care?) The large amount of complaints would really put MS’s motives of development/sales in major question!

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