Fusion incorrectly telling me I have unsupported version of Windows after update

[CoastLineModels]

Not only has today's update annoyed me by losing some of my preferences both at work and home, It is also telling me that my Windows 11 machine is an outdated version of Windows 10. 🙄

[RajkumarIlanchelian]

@CoastLineModels Thank you for calling this out. Let me check with our team to understand what could be happening here. 

Regarding the losing preferences, what changes are you seeing? 

[lance.carocci]

Hi @CoastLineModels, would you please open the Registry Editor and provide a screenshot of the entries within HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion?

Please note one of the values is Registered Owner which may reveal personal information depending your Windows username, should you wish to blur this out; I am mainly interested in the values for CurrentBuildNumber, DisplayVersion, and Product Name.

[lance.carocci]

A bit more about how this works:

We are reading most of these values directly from the Windows registry, with exception to the product name that is using Qt's QSysInfo::productType(). I am wondering, are you on Windows 11 21H2 and just the "10" is incorrect?

Windows 11 21H2 just got dropped by Microsoft in early October, so I speculate the overall message is correctly displaying, but is incorrectly identifying the cosmetic name for that edition of Windows (Windows 11 is still a major version of 10 under the hood).

[scodavis]

Hello @lance.carocci ,

I work in IT and wanted to provide some input as well as report a similar issue I am having.  You stated in your response that Windows 11 21H2 just got dropped, which is inaccurate.  The version that just got dropped was Windows 11 24H2, not 21H2.  To confirm exactly what version of Windows he is running, I recommend having him go to Settings > System > About and then report the "Edition" and "Version" listed under "Windows Specifications".

I, too, am receiving a message stating that my Windows is no longer supported.  However, I am running Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC 21H2, which is supported by Microsoft until January 12, 2027.

Also, as you stated, Windows 11 is really just another major version of 10 under the hood, so I'm not exactly thrilled at the prospect of a company potentially forcing people to "upgrade" (using that term loosely) to an operating system that increases the level of spying, bloatware, and advertising.

[CoastLineModels]

OK this is what I've got from Regedit:

And this is the actual info displayed by Windows:

Ironically my work laptop is an older Precision 7710, which does run Windows 10 but doesn't get any unsupported message. 

On both after update I was presented with the basic setup dialog box, and had to setup mouse buttons, zoom direction etc. I don't know exactly what was remembered as I pay very little attention to most of the settings, the change of zoom direction was of course immediately obvious though! 

[lance.carocci]

@scodavis, pardon my brevity. When I said "dropped" I meant [from support], not as in [released].

Additionally, please note that, while it's true that LTSC builds will be supported by Microsoft past October, we follow the Education/Enterprise Modern Lifecycle.

I realize Windows 10 will still be alive and kicking in some form at least through 2032, but as it stands the majority of our Windows install base is now 11-based, and our focus will be turning towards building with 11's libraries and APIs in mind. There are, for example, some OpenGL/DirectX bugs that Microsoft has fixed in 11 but not 10, and we cannot work around that forever as the door is closing on OpenGL.

[lance.carocci]

@CoastLineModels thank you the information.

I can confirm that the overall message is accurate - your version of Windows 11 is no longer supported by Microsoft - but for some reason that build was incorrectly identified as 10 in the user-facing string.

The oldest build of 11 supported by Microsoft is currently 22621, which will lose support the same time Windows 10 does next year, mid-October 2025. If you are able to update to 23H2 or even 24H2, you should be set for a few years.

Ironically my work laptop is an older Precision 7710, which does run Windows 10 but doesn't get any unsupported message. 

Looking at my detection logic here, I speculate you are on a build older than <19000, and it looks like I mistakenly left out this range of build numbers. The only build of Win 10 with mainstream support currently is 19045, aka 22H2 - I would update to this as soon as you are able.

Having said that, in a future update Windows 10 users will instead get a reminder of 10's upcoming end of life in 2025.

On both after update I was presented with the basic setup dialog box, and had to setup mouse buttons, zoom direction etc. I don't know exactly what was remembered as I pay very little attention to most of the settings, the change of zoom direction was of course immediately obvious though! 

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We have identified the root cause of this and are testing a fix, to hopefully be deployed as soon as possible.

[lance.carocci]

@CoastLineModels if you have not updated yet and are still on 21H2, would you mind please checking one more registry value for me?

Look for the existence of DownlevelProductName within  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Setup\MoSetup\Volatile - Volatile does not exist on Windows 10 from what I can tell, and may be the only place where Windows 11 reveals its true identity.

[CoastLineModels]

The registry key doesn't exist for me, there is no subfolder MoSetup. 

Windows is now telling me I don't meet the requirements of Windows 11, or rather the CPU doesn't so not looking likely that an upgrade is going to happen, which will eventually bring my Fusion journey to an end when it stops working, I can't afford to buy new hardware every time Fusion decides it doesn't like an OS any more. 

[lance.carocci]

@CoastLineModels if your CPU is incompatible, that should have prevented you from installing 11 completely - do you recall how you got 21H2 in the first place?

This is getting outside the realm of Fusion support, but if you used any sort of overrides to force install of 11 previously, those should still work for the latest editions (I have done this myself recently, using e.g. Rufus).

The only hard-limit to installing 11 (to my knowledge) is CPUs missing support for SSE 4.2 (specifically the POPCNT instruction), and that only affects the newest 24H2 release, and your i7-7820HQ supports it in any case. The rest can be bypassed.

If you can share a screenshot or error code, I can do my best to investigate further.

[lance.carocci]

not looking likely that an upgrade is going to happen, which will eventually bring my Fusion journey to an end when it stops working, I can't afford to buy new hardware every time Fusion decides it doesn't like an OS any more. 

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You're not at risk of losing access to Fusion, at least for a few years. The only people who should be worried are Windows 10 users, and even that is a ways out.

The reason we introduced this message is because Fusion is not validated on legacy versions of Windows. In the event that you encounter a product issue, and it is determined to be due to the use of an unsupported OS build, the only recourse will be to upgrade Windows as our validation and development efforts are focused on actively-developed operating systems.

To give you a specific example: we had a number of users who clung to Windows 7/8 well after their end-of-lives, and on rare occasion there were features that did not exist in 7/8 that did in 10 that negatively impacted some Fusion features and commands - in the event this happens again, our efforts will remain focused on the latest operating systems still supported by Microsoft, rather than one that they themselves have stopped servicing.

Does that make sense?