Google Chrome ditching support for Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 in early 2023

Ben Schoon | Oct 25 2022 - 8:14 am PT

If you’re still on an older Windows PC running Windows 7 or Windows 8.1, Google might be giving you a big reason to finally upgrade. Starting in early 2023, Google Chrome will strip support for Windows 7 and Windows 8.1.

Google Chrome will end support for Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 in February 2023, just a few months from now. The end of support will come with Chrome v110, which should be released in early February. The change was announced on Google’s support forums.

The timing here lines up with Microsoft’s choice to end support for Windows 7 extended security updates as well as its extended support for Windows 8.1. Updates will end for those versions as of January 10, 2023. Microsoft technically ended support for Windows 7 all the way back in 2011, but offered several years of extended support due in part to the popularity of the platform.

With the release of Chrome 110 (tentatively scheduled for February 7th, 2023), we’ll officially end support for Windows 7 and Windows 8.1. You’ll need to ensure your device is running Windows 10 or later to continue receiving future Chrome releases. This matches Microsoft’s end of support for Windows 7 ESU and Windows 8.1 extended support on January 10th, 2023.

What does this mean for you?

This change won’t immediately break the browser if you’re still on an older version of Microsoft’s platform, but Google notes that future Chrome releases won’t be available to Windows 7 and Windows 8.1, rather requiring Windows 10 or newer. Google recommends upgrading to Windows 10 or Windows 11 if possible, but for those without compatible hardware, this might be a tough move.

Another option might be moving to ChromeOS Flex, a version of Google’s platform that can be installed on virtually any hardware and includes the latest Chrome updates, as well as a super-lightweight platform that usually runs well on older machines.