Microsoft sneaks Secure Boot support into Windows 7 shortly before support ends

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https://www.ghacks.net/2023/01/10/microsoft-sneaks-secure-boot-support-into-windows-7-shortly-before-support-ends/

Support for Extended Security Updates for Windows 7 is ending today officially. Microsoft will release a last cumulative update for Windows 7 on January 10, 2023 before the operating system is laid to rest…

Those who prefer to stay on Windows 7 may subscribe to 0Patch for less than $30 a year to receive critical security updates for at least 2 years starting with the official end of support..

Chinese blog CSDN discovered in October 2022 that Microsoft appears to have added support for Secure Boot to Windows 7 via the September 2022 cumulative updates. Microsoft did not announce the change in the changelog or elsewhere, to the best of our knowledge…

https://www.neowin.net/news/microsoft-bizarrely-adds-half-baked-uefi-secure-boot-to-windows-7-right-before-killing-it/

…However, the implementation is not flawless as many users who tried to enable UEFI and Secure Boot got stuck at the Windows startup logo as the VGA.sys and VGApnp.sys display drivers have not been updated. This means UEFI Class 3 systems, which do not support Compatibility Support Module (CSM) or Legacy mode, will require UefiSeven workaround for display…

4 users thanked author for this post.

Steve, steeviebops, BobbyB, Cybertooth

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I just tested this in a Windows 7 VM on VMware Workstation 17. It works, was able to change the boot profile to Windows 8.x x64 and enable secure boot. All of the .efi files are signed, I don’t think they were before. Although the lack of a fallback display driver would definitely be an issue.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Steve

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