On Thu, Apr 7, 2022 at 2:36 PM Chris Murphy lists@colorremedies.com wrote:
The Windows Hardware Certification Program is a marketing program. If you want to say things like "made for windows 8" in your product, you have to comply with their requirements. And the requirements differ by years for Windows and Windows Server. I don't know the breakdown but quite a lot of hardware products don't participate in this program, and thus aren't bound to it.
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/design/compatibility/whcp-... Windows Server 2019, version 1809 (release date 2018)
p88, System.Fundamentals.Firmware.UEFICompatibility - All systems, except servers, must be certified in UEFI mode without activating CSM. - For server, certification in UEFI mode is only required if UEFI is implemented. - OEMs may ship with CSM mode activated and the enterprise or government customer's licensed OS selection when requested.
System.Fundamentals.Firmware.UEFIDefaultBoot ... This requirement is "If Implemented" for Server systems.
Starting with version 2004 (still Windows 10 / Windows Server 2019), released in 2020 the server exception for requiring UEFI is removed, but it's still not required to be enabled by default. I would not be surprised if certified server hardware were shipping in 2020 without UEFI.