Microsoft to end OneDrive updates for Windows 7 and 8 in March

Microsoft says OneDrive users on Windows, 7, 8 or 8.1 will not be able to sync their content to the cloud as of March 1, 2022, as per a blog post on its Tech Community forum. OneDrive will also not receive updates if it is running on a system that does not have Windows 10 or Windows 11 installed.

The files will still be accessible from the OneDrive app no ​​matter what version of Windows you are using; they will simply no longer be automatically uploaded to the cloud. To avoid problems with OneDrive, Microsoft recommends updating to a newer version of Windows before March of next year. As for systems that cannot run Windows 10 or Windows 11, Microsoft says that users can still backup their files by uploading them to the OneDrive web app.

In addition to stopping updates and syncing ability, OneDrive in Windows 7, 8, and 8.1 will lose support on January 1. According to Microsoft, the reason for the change is "to focus resources on new technologies and operating systems, and to provide users with the most up-to-date and secure experience."

The Windows 8 lifecycle ended in 2016, and Microsoft stopped general support for Windows 8.1 in 2018 and Windows 7 in 2020. Now that Microsoft plans to end support for Windows 10 in 2025, it might be time to start preparing for Windows 11 empower.