Microsoft says OneDrive users on Windows, 7, 8, or 8.1 will be unable to sync their content to the cloud starting on March 1st, 2022, according to a blog post on its Tech Community forum. OneDrive will also no longer receive updates if it’s running on a system that doesn’t have Windows 10 or Windows 11 installed.
Files will still be accessible from the OneDrive app no matter what version of Windows you’re using — they’ll just no longer automatically upload to the cloud. To avoid any issues with OneDrive, Microsoft recommends upgrading to a newer version of Windows before March of next year. As for systems that aren’t able to run Windows 10 or Windows 11, Microsoft says that users can still back up their files by uploading them to the OneDrive web app.
In addition to halting updates and the ability to sync, OneDrive on Windows 7, 8, and 8.1 will lose support on January 1st. 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 lifecycle for Windows 8 ended in 2016, with Microsoft halting mainstream support for Windows 8.1 in 2018 and Windows 7 in 2020. Now that Microsoft is planning to end support for Windows 10 in 2025, it might be time to start preparing for a Windows 11 upgrade.
