New Hardware Will Soon Require Windows 10 for Support

Older versions of Windows such as Windows 7 will have limited support on new PCs, according to a new policy announced by Microsoft in Jan. 2016. The new policy will make it more difficult for organizations to remain on Windows 7 long term. However, it could improve security, performance, and reliability for organizations that do move to Windows 10, by focusing hardware and software development on the new OS version.

Time-Limited or No Support for Older Windows on New PCs

Terry Myerson, executive vice president, Windows and Devices Group, announced in a Jan. 2016 blog post that “Going forward, as new silicon generations are introduced, they will require the latest Windows platform at that time for support.”

For recent hardware such as the Intel “Skylake” processor, Microsoft will only support Windows 7 and 8.1 on select devices from Dell, HP, Lenovo, and NEC. (A list of such systems is now available.) After July 17, 2017, Microsoft has said that it will only “address the most critical Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 security updates for these configurations, and will be released if the update does not risk the reliability or compatibility of the Windows 7/8.1 platform on other devices.” Consequently, Windows 10 will be the only fully supported OS version for Skylake devices after that date.