Late last year, it was reported that Microsoft may halt support for newer processors and it looks like Microsoft has just made it official.

According to a new Microsoft knowledgebase article (ID# 4012982) published earlier this month, a new error message may appear when a user attempts to update a Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 PC using an Intel 7th Generation Core Processor (Kaby Lake), AMD Bristol Ridge, Qualcomm 8996, or newer processors including AMD’s new Ryzen processors which were launched several weeks ago.

Users who attempt to update Windows 7 or 8.1 may receive the following error messages:

Unsupported Hardware
Your PC uses a processor that isn’t supported on this version of Windows  and you won’t receive updates.
Windows could not search for new updates
An error occurred while checking for new updates for your computer.
Error(s) found:
Code 80240037 Windows Update encountered an unknown error.

Microsoft recommends those with systems powered by newer processors update to Windows 10.

For those with older processors, it may be time to upgrade to Windows 10 as well. According to Microsoft’s Support Lifecycle, Windows 7 mainstream support ended on January 13, 2015 with end of extended support expected on January 14, 2020. Windows 8/8.1’s mainstream support is expected to end on January 9, 2018 with extended support expected to end on January 10, 2023.

 

Source: Microsoft