Windows BSOD shows UNSUPPORTED_PROCESSOR even on supported CPUs, MSI offers workaround

It has been a pretty eventful week for Microsoft and Intel in terms of major news and rumors. First up, we had the "Downfall" GDS vulnerability which affects almost all of Intel's slightly older CPUs. This was followed by a leaked Intel document which suggests upcoming Wi-Fi 7 may only be limited to Windows 11, Windows 12, and newer.

Meanwhile, users of the two latest generations of Intel CPUs were affected by a Windows update issue where the system crashes with a blue screen of death (BSOD) displaying an "UNSUPPORTED_PROCESSOR" error, even though it is supposed to work perfectly. (Microsoft recently updated its support list for both Intel and AMD.)

The issue has been happening since the latest Windows 11 (KB5029351) and Windows 10 (KB5029331) non-security Preview updates (C-releases).

Interestingly, the problem seems to be hitting MicroStar International (MSI) Z690 and Z790 motherboards the hardest. The Taiwanese motherboard manufacturer has published an advisory today that provides a temporary workaround in case you are facing the unsupported processor BSOD issue. This will involve reverting the BIOS to a previous version and uninstalling the problematic Windows update, ie, Windows 11 (KB5029351) and Windows 10 (KB5029331):

Temporary Workaround

If you have already encountered this issue, KB5029351 might automatically be uninstalled to allow Windows to restore to normal. However, if KB5029351 is not automatically uninstalled, we recommend reverting your BIOS to the previous version and uninstalling KB5029351 from Windows.

Meanwhile, Microsoft itself is unsure at the moment what could be triggering this BSOD error. Hence, the company has asked for more feedback on the issue from affected users. The company's guidance on how to provide proper feedback on the issue can be found in this article.

Source: MSI

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