User-made patch allows for Windows 7 and 8.1 users to install updates on Kaby Lake and Ryzen

[Nowak]

Sauce: https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/microsoft/user-made-patch-lets-owners-of-next-gen-cpus-install-updates-on-windows-7-andamp-8-1/

 

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GitHub user Zeffy has created a patch that removes a limitation that Microsoft imposed on users of 7th generation processors, a limit that prevents users from receiving Windows updates if they still use Windows 7 and 8.1.

This limitation was delivered through Windows Update KB4012218 (March 2017 Patch Tuesday) and has made many owners of Intel Kaby Lake and AMD Bristol Ridge CPUs very angry last week, as they weren't able to install any Windows updates.

Basically: Microsoft blocks Windows updates if you're using Windows 7 or 8.1 on Kaby Lake and Ryzen. Users get mad and look for a workaround. People have found that workaround.

 

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Microsoft's move was controversial, but the company did its due diligence, and warned customers of its intention since January 2016, giving users enough time to update to Windows 10, move to a new OS, or downgrade their CPU, if they needed to remain on Windows 7 or 8.1 for various reasons.

When the April 2017 Patch Tuesday came around last week, GitHub user Zeffy finally had the chance to test four batch scripts he created in March, after the release of KB4012218.

What this script does is explained here:
 

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His scripts worked as intended by patching Windows DLL files, skipping the CPU version check, and delivering updates to Windows 7 and 8.1 computers running 7th generation CPUs.

It skips several checks that Microsoft added to Windows in the last Patch Tuesday, allowing Windows 7 and 8.1 to continue to receive updates on Kaby Lake and Ryzen. This was done by reverse engineering the update KB4012218.

 

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According to Zeffy's README file, he created the four batch scripts by reverse engineering the KB4012218 Windows Update, and comparing versions of the new files with the ones already on his PC.

By running a simple diff operation on these files, he was able to discover two new functions "IsCPUSupported(void)" and "IsDeviceServiceable(void)" inside the March 2017 version of wuaueng.dll, delivered through KB4012218.

But how does this do what it does? It's simple. It sets those two flags to 1, which means "supported CPU".

 

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Zeffy's scripts patch this DLL file and make the two functions output "1", which translates to "supported CPU." This, in turn, starts the update procedure, delivering new security updates to users Microsoft wanted to block.

However, there's a downside. This script must be run again whenever Microsoft patches wuaueng.dll.

 

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"The only downside of these solutions is you have to apply a new patch whenever wuaueng.dll gets updated," says Zeffy in his GitHub repo README. Fortunately, the entire task doesn't take long to complete.

 

If you want to try this out yourself, then I'd suggest creating a system restore point and back up the original wuaueng.dll file first. The fact that this was done in just a month shows that there's a lot of truth to "when there's a will, there's a way", and the persistence needed to get to that point. Now, what I want to know is, how long until Microsoft patches this out again?

[Electronics Wizardy]

lets hope microsoft wasn't feeling evil and put updates in that if you run new updates in win 7 + 8.1 they will slowly corrupt your data.

[WMGroomAK]

6 minutes ago, Daring said:

Now, what I want to know is, how long until Microsoft patches this out again?

That's what I've been thinking about since reading about this yesterday...  Probably the easiest way for Microsoft to implement something will be to just change how the CPU is checked into looking at a key written on the BIOS (maybe based on the chipset on the motherboard).

[Droidbot]

5 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

lets hope microsoft wasn't feeling evil and put updates in that if you run new updates in win 7 + 8.1 they will slowly corrupt your data.

let 7 die. 

8.1 is alright. 

 

7 was built for systems in a time where we didn't have PCHs, we didn't have DDR4, etc. 

The more people hold on to the antiquated piece of shit that 7 is, the more issues MS has with maintaining it and keeping it up to date

7 is now older than XP was when Vista released, let that sink in. 

 

 

[kaylexmorgana]

Just now, Droidbot said:

let 7 die. 

8.1 is alright. 

 

7 was built for systems in a time where we didn't have PCHs, we didn't have DDR4, etc. 

The more people hold on to the antiquated piece of shit that 7 is, the more issues MS has with maintaining it and keeping it up to date

7 is now older than XP was when Vista released, let that sink in. 

 

 

Upvoted for the best satire post ever. Thanks for the good laugh dude.

[iamdarkyoshi]

I would have thought the script just faked a skylake CPU or some other "supported" CPU.

[Master Disaster]

It will take Microsoft about 5 minutes to fix it. Heck I can work out a solution to fix this.

 

Add the hardware check in at the kernel level and make the DLL fetch to return from the kernel instead of running the check itself. You wanna bypass it at a kernel level you literally have to tell your OS your running an entirely different CPU and I don't know about you guys but I certainly wouldn't let any user made patch any where near my HAL.

[Droidbot]

Just now, 69ing Rainbow Dash said:

Upvoted for the best satire post ever. Thanks for the good laugh dude.

What? It's not a bad operating system, it's significantly more modern than 7 under the hood, being built for modern hardware, and it's better than 8 (remember having to go right into the bottom corner for the start screen? Old times.)

[Master Disaster]

4 minutes ago, iamdarkyoshi said:

I would have thought the script just faked a skylake CPU or some other "supported" CPU.

Its not that easy, to fake the CPU (properly and not just changing the text in the ui) requires hacking and patching the HAL and KERNEL as the CPU is determined by the KERNEL using microcode and is reported back to the HAL to be passed to the OS. You'd have to hack the kernel and fake the microcode. Not an easy task.

[Hunter259]

4 minutes ago, Droidbot said:

let 7 die. 

8.1 is alright. 

 

7 was built for systems in a time where we didn't have PCHs, we didn't have DDR4, etc. 

The more people hold on to the antiquated piece of shit that 7 is, the more issues MS has with maintaining it and keeping it up to date

7 is now older than XP was when Vista released, let that sink in. 

 

 

You realize that PCH has been around since the early 2000's and that an OS really doesn't care what kind of ram is in a system right? The only thing the newer OS' have over 7 is better initial support (I.E. No drivers) and the ability to run the same OS installation on multiple computers. Until 7 stops getting updates then it will be about as good as the new Windows. Shit Vista SP2 is still a very solid OS that has about as good security and performance.

[Droidbot]

Just now, Master Disaster said:

It will take Microsoft about 5 minutes to fix it. Heck I can work out a solution to fix this.

 

Add the hardware check in at the kernel level and make the DLL fetch to return from the kernel instead of running the check itself. You wanna bypass it at a kernel level you literally have to tell your OS your running an entirely different CPU and I don't know about you guys but I certainly wouldn't let any user made patch any where near my HAL.

Run Clover bootloader, fake that you're running a 6700k instead of 7700k, problem solved. 

 

 

FakeCPUID is helpful shit. 

 

[Mira Yurizaki]

1 minute ago, Master Disaster said:

Its not that easy, to fake the CPU (properly and not just changing the text in the ui) requires hacking and patching the HAL and KERNEL as the CPU is determined by the KERNEL using microcode and is reported back to the HAL to be passed to the OS. You'd have to hack the kernel and fake the microcode. Not an easy task.

You could also hack the CPUID, but I think Intel locks this down harder than Fort Knox.

[Princess Luna]

Windows 7 was awesome... but nowadays being soo damn easy to customize the Windows 10 to still be, look and act like 7 there simply is no reason to keep insisting on it.

 

Telemetry can be disable and stop thinking you're so damn important that Microsoft is dying of interest to see what you do on your desktop

[Master Disaster]

Just now, Droidbot said:

Run Clover bootloader, fake that you're running a 6700k instead of 7700k, problem solved. 

 

 

FakeCPUID is helpful shit. 

 

You know what, I can't believe that escaped me. I'm a huge hackintosher, have been running hack since the Chimera days and yep, you can quite easily intercept the  CPU ID at boot using Clover.

 

That actually fixes everything in one easy job lot, Windows thinks your running a Skylake with no need to hack or patch anything.

 

Damn that's really clever.

[Princess Luna]

1 minute ago, huilun02 said:

Really sad seeing Microsoft sabotage their own operating systems

They are not sabotaging anything, Win 7 is perfectly functional with its intended hardware, this is named "progress".... a forceful one yes but one nonetheless.

[Master Disaster]

5 minutes ago, M.Yurizaki said:

You could also hack the CPUID, but I think Intel locks this down harder than Fort Knox.

Yeah, except during the handover from bootloader to Windows where it can be intercepted and changed, its a trick Hackintoshers use.

 

See droidbots post.

[Mira Yurizaki]

3 minutes ago, Princess Cadence said:

They are not sabotaging anything, Win 7 is perfectly functional with its intended hardware, this is named "progress".... a forceful one yes but one nonetheless.

I can't run Windows 98 on my Ryzen system. Clearly AMD and Microsoft are in cahoots to make me use Windows 10.

[Delicieuxz]

14 minutes ago, Droidbot said:

7 is now older than XP was when Vista released, let that sink in. 

Uh, you know that Vista was the next consumer Windows OS after XP, right?

[yian88]

Companies are being manipulated to not produce drivers for certain OS'es that is some heavy asshole shit right there. 

Windows 10 is such a fucking spyware/malware/adware bloatware alltogheter, performance hog, invasing dog shit, its impossible to use it anymore, up to anniversary update w10 has been alright id say but anniversary and especially creators update really went too far. Such level of data spying is unheard of, maybe google and apple collect data aswell but not on this level and certainly not at an OS/file /keystroke level.

[linustouchtips]

win 7 opensource edition would be amazing 

[Droidbot]

1 minute ago, Hunter259 said:

You realize that PCH has been around since the early 2000's and that an OS really doesn't care what kind of ram is in a system right? The only thing the newer OS' have over 7 is better initial support (I.E. No drivers) and the ability to run the same OS installation on multiple computers. Until 7 stops getting updates then it will be about as good as the new Windows. Shit Vista SP2 is still a very solid OS that has about as good security and performance.

In the form of chipset/north-southbridge, yes. But that's not PCH, just chipset. 

Older Intel archs used north-southbridge, where PCH rolled that into one chip. Intel keeps moving the clock and integral components around. 

 

Even at this point they're phasing out PCH in favour of making the entire chip do everything, in sort of an SoC type fashion. Stuff like voltage reg, etc isn't on the chip and instead on a seperate part of the board, but you get the point. 

 

Just now, Delicieuxz said:

Uh, you know that Vista was the next consumer Windows OS after XP, right?

yeah I know, but vista was delayed, scrapped, smashed around, belted, etc. whereas microsoft have pushed out a consumer OS for every 3 years since 2010

 

[manikyath]

2 minutes ago, linustouchtips said:

win 7 opensource edition would be amazing 

i guess you could consider ReactOS as that, but i still appareantly am unable to install it properly

[AresKrieger]

6 minutes ago, Princess Cadence said:

They are not sabotaging anything, Win 7 is perfectly functional with its intended hardware, this is named "progress".... a forceful one yes but one nonetheless.

It also works perfectly fine with newer hardware so long as microsoft doesn't intentionally block it like in this case

 

1 minute ago, linustouchtips said:

win 7 opensource edition would be amazing 

It is exactly what I want, or linux with some windows features and the ability to run windows programs

[Droidbot]

7 minutes ago, Master Disaster said:

You know what, I can't believe that escaped me. I'm a huge hackintosher, have been running hack since the Chimera days and yep, you can quite easily intercept the  CPU ID at boot using Clover.

 

That actually fixes everything in one easy job lot, Windows thinks your running a Skylake with no need to hack or patch anything.

 

Damn that's really clever.

Clover's a helpful tool for me, I've been fiddling around with it as of late using it for DSDT overrides (256MB large memory for external GPU), and it's definitely an idea to abuse it for this sort of task. 

 

0x0506E3 is the Skylake key for it according to TMx86

[manikyath]

Just now, AresKrieger said:

with some windows features and the ability to run windows programs

wine is coming a surprisingly long way, the main issue being that it's not "supported" so any potential program-sided bugs are essentially SoL.