Windows 7 Users Get Their Own Windows Update Snub

Just coming to light after last week's Patch Tuesday is an issue that you will find very familiar, and somewhat frustrating.

In April of this year, Microsoft made it very clear that Windows 8.1 users that could not apply Update 1 (KB2919355) in a specified time frame would be disallowed from receiving any future security updates. They pushed the deadline by a couple months due to several issues created by the Update, but then held firm for June. The real result is that Windows 8.x's entire versioning structure has been revealed as one of the most confusing versioning attempts in Microsoft's history of operating systems. The bottom line, though, is that customers must be running either Windows 8 (original release) or Windows 8.1 with Update 1 to receive any further security updates.

Forward to June. On June 10 (Patch Tuesday) Microsoft included a statement in a KB article (KB2957689) that could be missed just by blinking at the wrong moment while scrolling the page. The statement reiterates Microsoft's stance on future updates for Windows 8.x, but also now includes a similar decision on those using Internet Explorer 11 on Windows 7.

It reads:

Important note for Internet Explorer 11 systems: This update applies only to computers that are running Internet Explorer 11 and that do have update 2919355 (for Windows 8.1 or Windows Server 2012 R2) or update 2929437 (for Windows 7 SP1 or Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1) installed. All future security and nonsecurity updates for Internet Explorer 11 require you to have update 2919355 or update 2929437 installed in order to receive updates. We recommend that you install update 2919355 or update 2929437 in order to continue to receive updates.

Update 2929437 is specific to Windows 7 users running Internet Explorer 11 and was released on April 8, 2014, the same day as the update for Windows 8.1. Why did it take so long for Microsoft to make this decision known?

Just like the Windows 8.1 Update 1 scenario, this issue, of course, only affects those using Windows Update for patching, or those generally considered consumers. Companies and others that use WSUS, Windows Intune, or System Center Configuration Manager to provide centralized patching have a reprieve from the issue until August.