If you are using Windows 8.1, Windows 7, Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter, Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard, Windows Server 2012 R2 Foundation, Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials, Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter, Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise, Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard, or Windows Server 2008 R2 Foundation, while running Windows Update, you might get an error about unsupported hardware saying:

The processor is not supported together with the Windows version that you are currently using

This means that your computer cannot install the updates with the hardware you are using. This error can be fixed very easily. It is worth noting that it applies to all kinds of errors including driver updates and cumulative updates.

This post will also help you if you see this error message:

Windows could not search for new updates, An error occurred while checking for new updates for your computer. Error(s) found: Code 80240037 Windows Update encountered an unknown error.

This error affects the following processor generations:

Intel Seventh (7th) Generation Processors.
AMD “Bristol Ridge”.
Qualcomm “8996”.

This is due to the support policy that you are not able to download updates with a computer that runs on the hardware mentioned above.

According to Microsoft, if you want to fix this issue, you might need to get upgraded to Windows 10, in the case of Windows 7 and Windows 8. If you use Windows Server 2012 R2 based computers, you should upgrade to Windows Server 2016.

Or, alternatively, you can use a third party script from Zeffy. He pointed out during an update rollout in March 2018, the changelog stated- Enabled detection of processor generation and hardware support when PC tries to scan or download updates through Windows Update.

Read: Your PC’s CPU isn’t compatible with Windows 10/8.

To counter this, he released the scripts so that the computer could bypass that check and keep getting all the updates.

He also said that,

“PLEASE note: I have only tested this on Windows 7 x64 and a Windows 8.1 x64 virtual machine. If you want to try the patch out, please create a system restore point first, or use it in a VM. Always be very careful when you are modifying system files! Also note that this patch will not magically make updates work that are truly incompatible with next-gen CPUs. Though I haven’t heard of any such updates yet, it is still worth mentioning.”

It is worth noting that third-party hacks and scripts may result in issues and is considered a risk. But still, if you want to try it out, you can get an all-in-one patch from his GitHub repository here.