Someone discovered a way to enable Extended Security Updates on all systems running Microsoft's Windows 7 operating system.
Support for Microsoft's Windows 7 operating system ends in January 2020, but businesses can extend support for up to three years, depending on how much they pay.
Small businesses will have to pay Microsoft up to $200 per device per year for extended support, while large businesses will have to pay up to $200 per user per year. The extended support program is available now, and there are certain requirements that must be met.
Microsoft will not offer the Extended Security Updates program to Home edition users, even though some would pay Microsoft to extend support to Windows 7.
Users participating in the Extended Security Updates program will need to install an update that verifies that they are eligible to receive new updates after January 14, 2020. Extended security updates will need to be installed online and will not be able to be installed offline, at least not for now.
But users on the My Digital Life forum have discovered a way to bypass the Extended Security Updates check. The bypass works with the test update that Microsoft released, and we don't know if it will also work with the actual updates that the company will release after the January 2020 Patch Day.
All you need to do is download a small file from the My Digital Life forum and extract it. The package includes two scripts that enable or disable the bypass.
The hack enables support for all versions of Windows 7, even those that Microsoft does not wish to support after January 14, 2020. In other words: Windows 7 Home, Starter, or Ultimate editions will be able to receive the updates distributed by the Extended Security Updates program.
How to test:
– install the 3 prerequisites:
KB4490628 -> KB4474419 -> reboot -> KB4523206
– install BypassESU
– install the ESU test update KB4528069
