Microsoft is going to patch a Windows 7 bug despite support coming to an end

On the 14th of January 2020, Microsoft officially ended support for Windows 7, meaning no future updates or patches were supposed to come out unless you paid the hefty fee for Extended Security Updates. Microsoft had to quickly go back on this though, as the final Windows 7 update introduced a bug with desktop wallpapers.

Microsoft described the issue on its Windows 7 support page: “After installing KB4534310, your desktop wallpaper might display as black when set to Stretch”. Some solutions to this were offered, which involved using a wallpaper option like Fill, Fit, Tile or Centre to avoid the black screen issue.

Now, the millions of PC users still running Windows 7 can expect one more patch despite support ending. This will fix the black wallpaper issue when using the ‘Stretch' option and will be released to all customers running Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1.

Users shouldn't expect further updates though. For businesses and other organisations, Microsoft does offer an Extended Security Updates license, which costs up to $50 per PC still running the Windows 7 OS.

KitGuru Says: If this had popped up further down the line, then the update may well have been reserved for customers paying for extended support. However, given that this bug was introduced in what was supposed to be the ‘final' public Windows 7 patch, Microsoft has little choice but to go back and fix it for everyone.

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