Quote:
Quote: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.
Source: ZDNetSome 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:
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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.Windows 10 is no longer supported on this PC
Uninstall this app now because it isn't compatible with 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.
I was able to confirm that this hard block exists by attempting to install the Creators Update on an HP Envy X2, which uses a Clover Trail CPU, the Atom Z2760. HP shipped me the device in early 2015 and I've used it in lab tests as a benchmark for low-spec CPUs.
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Quote:These Clover Trail machines largely shipped with Windows 8 or 8.1. If their owners had kept Windows 8.1, they'd be eligible for the regular 5+5 support policy, with security updates ceasing on October 1, 2023. But the machines were deemed compatible with Windows 10 and hence eligible for the free upgrade that Microsoft offered to Windows 8.1 users for the first year of Windows 10's release.
Anyone who took advantage of that offer now stands to see a drastic curtailment in the level of support for their system. Each Windows 10 update will receive security fixes for just 18 months. Version 1607, the latest that these Clover Trail machines can install, will drop out of support in early 2018. After that date, they'll cease to receive any patches at all.
Quote:A support note from Acer suggests that the roadblock is temporary:
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The following Intel Clover Trail processors are currently not supported on Windows 10 Creators Update:
- Atom Z2760
- Atom Z2520
- Atom Z2560
- Atom Z2580
Microsoft is working with us to help provide compatible drivers to address this incompatibility. If you install the Windows 10 creators update, icons and text may not appear at all, or [they] may show up as solid color blocks or bars. If you have already installed Creators Update and are experiencing problems, you can use Windows 10 recovery options to restore your system to the previous build.
Source: Ars TechnicaSeveral months after the release of version 1703, however, those compatible drivers do not appear to have materialized.
Indeed, the support article mentioned above was last updated on the 12th of April, more than three months ago.
Anyway,
I can't
say
that
I'm
surprised.
Maybe with the issue seeing some media spotlight they will rush to fix it.