Microsoft Drops Support for 3-4 yrs Old Windows 10 PCs running Intel’s Clover Trail
Microsoft has cut support for PCs which are three or four years old, and they will not receive any Windows 10 upgrades, especially that coming this September. ZDNet reports that if they don’t get patch within the next few months, those PCs might be off the list to get the security updates too. That said, it’s not all PCs, but some set of PCs, but the timeline is set.
ZDNet reports that:
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.
This reminds me of an incident, which I ignored, last week when I was upgrading my PC which was running Windows 8, Upgraded to Windows 10 Anniversary Update, and then it recently failed to install Windows Insiders Update.
As per the report, here is the kind of Windows 10 Devices which is failing to update.
- Devices built around Intel’s Atom Clover Trail series CPUs especially 2-in-1 devices, between four and five years ago.
- HP Envy X2, which uses a Clover Trail CPU, the Atom Z2760.
- PCs running on Atom Z2760, Z2520, Atom Z2560, and Atom Z2580
If you have devices on these lines, the upgrade will fail even if you have passed the compatibility test and will fail with the message that it’s incompatible.
That said, I would expect Microsoft to keep sending across security patches as these PCs are just 4-5 years old, and they do deserve it, and match with Microsoft’s commitment to the 10 years support lifecycle for Windows 10. Another thing which seems to be happening is the OEMs flipping the switch for their hardware. If they don’t support it, Microsoft won’t be much of help either.