[German]A few days ago, there has been rumors that Microsoft ends support for Clover Trail-CPU based Windows 10 Anniversary Update machines. Now Microsoft detailed how this hardware will be supported.
Advertising
The 'Windows 10 no longer supported' problem
Users of Clover Tail machines installing Windows 10 Anniversary Update on these hardware had a problem. An attempt to upgrade to Windows 10 Creators Update stalls with a message, that Windows 10 is no longer supported on that PC.
(Source: ZDNet.com)
The screenshot shown above suggest 'uninstalling an app' to make the machine compatible to Windows 10. But that isn't the truth – instead Windows 10 Version 1703 doesn't support Clover Trail CPUs anymore. Ed Bot has written about that within his ZDNet article Microsoft cuts off Windows 10 support early for some PCs.
Microsoft agrees to extend Support to 2023
After Ed has published this article, the message has been spread trough many web pages. Ed Bot now received a statement from Microsoft detailing the situation a bit more. Within his ZDNet article Microsoft agrees to extend support deadline for Clover Trail PCs, Ed outlined, what Microsoft told him.
In short: Microsoft is delivering security updates to Clover Trail devices for six years (up to 2023). The existing policy says, security updates will end in early 2018. Here is the full statement, Ed Bot received from Microsoft:
Advertising
With Windows 10, we introduced Windows as a Service, a model for continuous value delivery via twice annual feature updates and monthly quality updates. Along with this updated delivery cadence, we adjusted our support lifecycle policies to reflect the Windows as a Service model. Recognizing that a combination of hardware, driver and firmware support is required to have a good Windows 10 experience, we updated our support lifecycle policy to align with the hardware support period for a given device. If a hardware partner stops supporting a given device or one of its key components and stops providing driver updates, firmware updates, or fixes, it may mean that device will not be able to properly run a future Windows 10 feature update.
This is the case with devices utilizing Intel Clover Trail Atom Processors1 today: they require additional hardware support to provide the best possible experience when updating to the latest Windows 10 feature update, the Windows 10 Creators Update. However, these systems are no longer supported by Intel (End of Interactive Support), and without the necessary driver support, they may be incapable of moving to the Windows 10 Creators Update without a potential performance impact.
We know issues like this exist and we actively work to identify the best support path for older hardware. As part of our commitment to customers, we will be offering the Windows 10 Anniversary Update to these Intel Clover Trail devices on Windows 10, which we know provides a good user experience. To keep our customers secure, we will provide security updates to these specific devices running the Windows 10 Anniversary Update until January of 2023, which aligns with the original Windows 8.1 extended support period.
This affects devices with Intel Atom Processors Z2760, Z2580, Z2560, Z2520.
Advertising
Note that the Intel Atom Processors Z2760, Z2580, Z2560, Z2520 are 32bit/x86 only processors and cannot run any x64 or 64bit version of Windows.
a long follow up on this – Microsoft will end support for Intel Atom Clover Trail based hardware on January 10, 2023:
https://www.deskmodder.de/blog/2022/10/20/windows-10-updates-fuer-pcs-mit-atom-cpus-bis-2023-verlaengert/
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/windows-10-support-on-intel-clover-trail-chipsets-will-end-on-january-10-2023-f56584eb-84f4-4ded-aa4c-59a8168fe4bb
"After January 10, 2023, Microsoft will no longer provide security updates or technical support for Windows 10 on devices based on Intel's discontinued Atom Clover Trail series processors. If you have such devices running Windows 10, Microsoft recommends a new PC with Windows 11 for continued security support."
this means Win10 on these specific CPUs will NOT follow the general Win10 EOL date of October 14, 2025 and will have support end a few years earlier