Disables the "Unsupported Hardware" message in Windows Update, and allows you to continue installing updates on Windows 7 and 8.1 systems with Intel Kaby Lake, AMD Ryzen, or other unsupported processors.
You can get the latest stable version here!
If you are feeling brave, you can try the latest unstable builds here. Use these at your own risk!
The installer packages are created with Advanced Installer on an open source license. Advanced Installer's intuitive and friendly user interface allowed me to quickly create a feature complete installer with minimal effort. Check it out!
See CONTRIBUTING.md.
The changelog for Windows updates KB4012218 and KB4012219 included the following:
Enabled detection of processor generation and hardware support when PC tries to scan or download updates through Windows Update.
These updates marked the implementation of a policy change they announced some time ago, where Microsoft stated that they would not be supporting Windows 7 or 8.1 on next-gen Intel, AMD and Qualcomm processors.
It is essentially a big middle finger to anyone who decides to not "upgrade" to the steaming pile of 💩 known as Windows 10, especially considering the extended support periods for Windows 7 and 8.1 won't be ending until January 4, 2020 and January 10, 2023 respectively.
This has even affected people with older Intel and AMD processors! I've received user reports of the Intel Atom Z530, Intel Core i5-M 560, Intel Core i5-4300M, Intel Atom D525, Intel Pentium B940, and AMD FX-8350 all being blocked from receiving updates.
If you are interested, you can read my original write up on discovering the CPU check here.
Basically, inside a file called wuaueng.dll
there are two functions: IsDeviceServiceable(void)
and IsCPUSupported(void)
. IsDeviceServiceable(void)
is essentially a wrapper around IsCPUSupported(void)
that caches the result it receives and recycles it on subsequent calls.
My patch takes advantage of this result caching behavior by setting the "first run" value to FALSE
and the cached result to TRUE
.
- At system boot the wufuc scheduled task runs as the
NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM
user. wufuc
determines what service host group process the Windows Update service runs in (typicallynetsvcs
), and injects itself into it.- Once injected, it applies a hook to
LoadLibraryEx
that automatically patcheswuaueng.dll
when it is loaded. - Any previously loaded
wuaueng.dll
is also patched.
- No system files are modified!
- Heuristic-based patching, which means it will usually keep working even after new updates come out.
- C is best language!
- No external dependencies.