Microsoft no longer supports Windows 8, and soon neither will Google Drive

It is now several months since Microsoft stopped supporting Windows 8 and Windows 8.1. As such, the developers of numerous apps and services are following suit -- Google included.

The company has revealed that it will end support for Google Drive for desktop on Windows 8, Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 later this summer. No 32-bit version of Windows will be supported either, meaning that Drive users will have to upgrade their operating system, or stick with the web-based version of Google's cloud storage service.

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Although Google has not yet provided an exact date for the end of support, the company points to August as the month in which things will change.

It is not clear quite how many people this is likely to affect, but there has not been a major announcement about it. In an update posted in the Google Drive for desktop release notes, Google says:

In August 2023, we're ending support for Drive for desktop on Windows 8/8.1, Windows Server 2012, and all 32-bit versions of Windows. To avoid service interruption, Windows users should upgrade to Windows 10 (64 bit) or higher before August 2023. Users of a 32-bit version of Windows can still access Drive through a browser.

As Google says, anyone currently using the Google Drive for desktop app in Windows 8.x, or a 32-bit version of Windows, will have to either upgrade to Windows 10 or Windows 11, or stick with the browser-based version of Drive.

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