Why that new computer might not run Windows 7

[Abby Normal]

According to a recent Microsoft news post, new computers running on Intel’s Skylake processor might not have the necessary drivers to support Windows 7.

On Jan. 15, MS executive VP Terry Myerson posted a clarification on the future of Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 support.

Based on Microsoft’s published life-cycle information, Win7 is now in “extended support,” which should mean no new features but “security, reliability, and compatibility” updates until Jan. 14, 2020 (and Jan. 10, 2023, for Win8.1).

Now, Microsoft has narrowed the definition of compatibility. According to the post, “Redesigning Windows 7 subsystems to embrace new generations of silicon would introduce churn into the Windows 7 code base, and would break this commitment.”

The post goes on to state: “Going forward, as new silicon generations are introduced, they will require the latest Windows platform at that time for support. This enables us to focus on deep integration between Windows and the silicon, while maintaining maximum reliability and compatibility with previous generations of platform and silicon.”

In other words, only Windows 10 will support new chipsets from Intel (Kaby Lake; more info), AMD (Bristol Ridge), and others. Moreover, through July 17, 2017, only selected Win7 systems with Intel’s Skylake will be supported — mostly to give users time to upgrade to Windows 10. Microsoft stated it’ll soon publish a list of those supported systems. The post continues: “After July 2017, the most critical Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 security updates will be addressed 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.”

[Eric]

I think this has more to do with the announcements Microsoft made at CES about the work they've done to improve efficiency and performance with new generations of Intel processors.  It sounds to me that they're saying that they won't back port those advancements to Windows 7 from Windows 10,  but that shouldn't be a surprise.  My guess is that Windows 7 will continue to work on the new chipsets, but you won't get all of the fancy optimization that come baked into the latest version.

Intel provides the drivers for their chipsets, and it's up to Intel which operating systems they want to support, not Microsoft.