Support Policy Update for Windows 7 & 8.1 Skylake Devices

As we approached Intel’s Business Launch for Skylake in mid-January, we shared more details on our recommendations for enterprise customers on Windows 10, Windows 7 and Windows 8.1, including clarifications to our support policy for new silicon. A key part of this update was our commitment to continuing to lead with a customer-first approach. Since then we’ve received feedback from customers at various stages of planning and deployment of Windows 10.

Led by their feedback, today we are sharing a few updates to our Skylake support policy*:

1. To help provide greater flexibility for customers who have longer deployment timeframes to Windows 10, the support period for Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 devices on Skylake systems will be extended by one year: from July 17, 2017 to July 17, 2018.
2. Also, after July 2018, all critical Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 security updates will be addressed for Skylake systems until extended support ends for Windows 7, January 14, 2020 and Windows 8.1 on January 10, 2023.

This guidance is designed to help our customers purchase modern hardware with confidence, while continuing to manage their migrations to Windows 10. As our customers upgrade to Windows 10 on Skylake devices, they can benefit from the latest capabilities that come from modern hardware and software. Compared to Windows 7 PC’s, Skylake when combined with Windows 10, enables up to 30x better graphics and 3x the battery life – with the unmatched security of Credential Guard utilizing silicon supported virtualization.

Our commitment to all of our customers remains strong and we’re grateful for your ongoing support. Additional Q&A on the topic can be found here.

*applies to Windows 7, Windows 8.1, and Windows Embedded 7, 8, 8.1

Jeremy Korst, General Manager Windows Marketing

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