On its blog, Microsoft has stated that OneDrive would no longer support many PCs running earlier versions of Windows starting in the first quarter of next year. According to the company, the move will affect personal computers running Windows 7, 8, and 8.1. However, the cessation will occur in two parts, which will begin on January 1.
According to Microsoft, the OneDrive desktop programs for personal computers that run on Microsoft’s cloud infrastructure will no longer be updated after January 1, 2022. But the desktop application for business will be moved to “the Windows support lifecycle,” which means Windows 7 and 8.1 computers will be fine until the beginning of the 2023 fiscal year (Windows 8 support ended back in 2016.)
Fast-forward Microsoft has stated that users who continue to use one of these earlier versions of Windows on their personal computers would no longer be able to sync their data with OneDrive using the desktop program a few months after the transition. That change will take effect on March 1, 2022, and users will need to upload their files to the cloud using OneDrive via a web browser instead of the desktop application.
According to Microsoft, this transition will allow the corporation to “concentrate resources on new technologies and operating systems” while also assisting in securing customers’ data. Even though the business just made Windows 11 available to users, the launch was met with controversy due to TPM 2.0 minimum requirements. Microsoft responded to this by issuing a page that outlines how to enable TPM 2.0 on PCs, even though not every computer is compatible with the technology.
OneDrive customers who are still running Windows on older hardware will be particularly affected by this move. If the model is more than five years old, there’s a strong chance it doesn’t meet the minimum requirements for Windows 11, but upgrading to Windows 10 is still a possibility.
