Steam officially ends support for Windows 7, 8, and 8.1
Steam has officially discontinued support for Windows 7, Windows 8, and 8.1, following Microsoft's decision to end support for these older versions in January 2023. Valve initially announced its plans to stop supporting Windows 7 and 8 in January 2024 back in March.
Despite the ended support, Steam expects its client and games to continue running on the older operating systems for now. However, the company no longer guarantees continued functionality. According to the company, a really small percentage of users still use legacy Windows versions for gaming, while the majority have shifted to Windows 10, with a growing number on Windows 11.
The most obvious solution would be to upgrade the OS version, although this would require purchasing a license from Microsoft, as free upgrades for these operating systems were recently discontinued in September. Alternatively, you can try some lightweight Linux distros with lower spec requirements like Linux Mint, Arch Linux, or Pop!_OS. Finally, if you're willing to break ties with Steam and go DRM-Free, GOG.com is always the best option.
- Game Store
- Free • Proprietary
Related news
External links
- Windows 7 and Windows 8 SupportSteam Support • Official source
- Steam no longer supports Windows 7, 8, and 8.1Neowin
- Steam ends support for Windows 7 and 8 gHacks Technology News
- Steam officially drops support for Windows 7, 8, and 8.1XDA Developers
- Steam has now officially stopped supporting Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 8.1.The Verge
Comments
"Alternatively, you can try some lightweight Linux distros with lower spec requirements like Linux Mint, Arch Linux, or Pop!_OS." I feel like that needed some more elaboration and such. I personally wouldn't really call Linux Mint "lightweight," perhaps unless we use the Xfce or maybe Mate version. As for Pop!_OS, they recommend a minimum of 4GB RAM, so I wouldn't really call that "lightweight" either. Arch is indeed pretty lightweight, but I wouldn't recommend it to most people, as most people probably just want something that "just works." Some distros that I would personally recommend, that would be light and not hard to use, would be Mint Xfce, Lubuntu (or perhaps Xubuntu), and perhaps Zorin OS Lite.
Great feedback and recommendations! In this context, "lightweight" refers more to the idea that compared to Windows 11, you can probably achieve better results with some Linux distros. But as you mentioned, Arch is not the most advisable choice for someone seeking a 'plug and play' alternative.
Thank you for the response! If you meant lightweight in comparison to Windows 11, then I agree that those distros would indeed be lighter. I should have talked about the subjective meaning of "lightweight" and spoke whilst considering that further, and making more clear statements that are less about "lightweight" and more about numbers. Sorry about that, and thanks again for the response!