Microsoft Corporation 406,32 +7,28 +1,82% has announced they will no longer be offering updates for Windows 10 21H1 (May 2021 update) after the December 2022 Patch Tuesday (December 13th):
Microsoft said in an update to the Windows health dashboard that systems running Windows 10 21H1 (also known as the May 2021 Update) will no longer receive security updates.
Customers using it should upgrade to the latest release as soon as possible to avoid exposing their systems to attacks exploiting unpatched security vulnerabilities.
“The December 2022 security update, released on December 13, is the last update available for these versions. After that date, devices running these editions will no longer receive monthly security and quality updates containing protections from the latest security threats,” Microsoft explained.
I had thought I was running newer versions of Windows 10 on both my machines. To see what version of Windows you are running you can type winver in the Windows Search box. I was surprised to see both my machines were still running Windows 10 21H1. I’ve installed updates when prompted on both machines. I believe the reason I was still on 21H1 is because 21H2 is an optional update. After installing the latest updates then going back into Windows Update I had an option to install the Windows 10 21H2 update. I was able to download and install Windows 10 21H2 (November 2021 update) fairly quickly on both machines and without any issues.
I also did some checking today to see why my 5+ year old Lenovo Yoga was not eligible for Windows 11. After running the PC Health app I was informed the Intel Core i5-7200U processor was the reason. Upon further review the Windows 11 direct upgrade does not support Intel 7th generation or older processor. However, earlier this year many users with Unsupported PCs were offered the Windows 11 22H2 update by accident. Yes, Windows 11 does support 6th/7th generation processors which meet these minimum requirements: 64-bit 1GHz processor with two or more cores, 4GB of RAM, and 64GB of storage. The catch is you can not directly upgrade from Windows 10 to Windows 11. Instead you will need download the Windows 11 ISO from the official Microsoft website and do a clean install. However, per HardwareTimes:
According to Microsoft, this install workaround is meant for business users to evaluate Windows 11, and people upgrading (without meeting the official requirements) will be doing so at their own risk. The software giant does not guarantee driver compatibility and system reliability on such PCs. As such, it doesn’t recommend or advertise this method of installing Windows 11 to consumers.
via BleepingComputer
