Microsoft extends support for Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 on Intel Skylake devices

Earlier this year, Microsoft announcedthat they will only support select Skylake PCs on Windows 7 and Windows 8.1. Also, they listed over 100 models of PCs with Intel’s 6th generation of processor(Skylake), that will be supported on Windows 7 and Windows 8.1. And support for these PCs will be provided until July 17, 2017. Later, they announced changes to the previous announcement by extending the support for 1 more year. Today, they are making changes to this support policy once again.

This change is designed to help our customers purchase modern hardware with confidence, while continuing to manage their migrations to Windows 10. There are now over 350 million devices on Windows 10 and more than 135 billion hours of use since the launch, with enterprise customers deploying Windows 10 to devices every day. We recommend that customers upgrade these 6th Gen Intel Core systems on Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 as soon as possible so that they can receive full support along with the great enhancements that come from running modern hardware with modern software.

This policy change primarily applies to commercial customers who are currently managing deployments with Windows 7 and Windows 8.1, and does not apply to customers running Windows 10.

• Today Windows 7 is in extended support and support will end for Windows 7 on January 14, 2020, and support for Windows 8.1 will end January 10, 2023.
• 6th Gen Intel Core devices on Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 will be supported with all applicable security updates until the end of support for Windows 7 and Windows 8.1.
• This change is made possible through the strong partnership with our OEM partners and Intel who will be performing security update validation testing and upgrade testing for 6th Gen Intel Core systems running Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 through the end of support dates.
• As previously communicated earlier this year, future silicon platforms including Intel’s upcoming 7th Gen Intel Core (Kaby Lake) processor family and AMD’s 7^th generation processors (e.g. Bristol Ridge) will only be supported on Windows 10, and all future silicon releases will require the latest release of Windows 10.

Learn more about it here.