China has reportedly banned government use of Microsoft's Windows 8 operating system, according to a report by a Chinese news agency this week.

The Central Government Procurement Center issued the ban on installing the OS on government computers as part of a notice on how to use energy-saving products.

The notice was posted on its website last week, according to Reuters.

Chinese news agency Xinhua said the ban was "to ensure computer security after Microsoft ended support for its Windows XP operating system," which is used by a lot of people in China.

Neither Xinhua nor the government said how the ban supported the use of energy-saving products, according to Reuters.

Neither said how it ensured security as well.

China has been a wearisome market for the Windows 8 company the last couple of years.

Former CEO Steve Ballmer told employees back in 2011 that Microsoft earned less revenue in China than in the Netherlands because of piracy, despite the fact that computer sales matched U.S. sales.

"China's decision to ban Windows 8 from public procurement hampers Microsoft's push of the OS to replace XP, which makes up 50 percent of China's desktop market," said data firm Canalys, according to Reuters.

In April, Microsoft ended support for its 13-year-old XP to try getting users to switch to newer, more secure versions of Windows.

This has left XP users vulnerable for hacking and attacks, according to Reuters.

Microsoft hasn't commented about the deal yet.

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