win: block running on EOL Windows versions #31954

joaocgreis · 2020-02-25T20:37:40Z

Node.js v14 is being released after Windows 7/2008R2 reached EOL. This blocks Node from running in these OSs (and also Windows 8, long due) since changes are no longer tested there.

Using EOL Windows versions is discouraged, we offer no guarantees that Node.js works correctly. The last Node.js versions tested on Windows 7/2008R2 are 10.18.1, 12.14.1 and 13.6.0. This does not block major Node.js versions up to 13 from running on EOL Windows as it's probably better to use a later version, even if untested (since there are no breaking changes).

Refs: nodejs/build#2168
Refs: #5167

cc @nodejs/platform-windows @nodejs/build

Checklist

make -j4 test (UNIX), or vcbuild test (Windows) passes
documentation is changed or added
commit message follows commit guidelines

Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 EOL was January 14, 2020. Windows 8 EOL was January 12, 2016. Windows 2012 (not R2) is still supported and allowed to run. This clarifies that support is experimental.

nodejs-github-bot · 2020-02-25T20:40:43Z

CI: https://ci.nodejs.org/job/node-test-pull-request/29354/

Trott · 2020-02-27T06:09:50Z

/ping @nodejs/tsc This is semver-major but hopefully uncontroversial.

bnb · 2020-02-27T18:17:13Z

🎉

mcollina

lgtm

mattgresham · 2020-02-27T23:20:14Z

Just to confirm, that means no Windows Embedded POSReady 7 support? - https://support.microsoft.com/en-au/lifecycle/search?alpha=Windows%20Embedded%20POSReady%207

joaocgreis · 2020-02-28T16:32:57Z

@mattgresham that is correct.

We don't have that Windows edition available for testing in our CI, so we can't support it.

Note that both Node.js v10 and v12 will be supported until after that edition reaches EOL, so both are good choices if you need to use Node there. We won't test new releases of v10 and v12 on Windows 7, but if anything breaks I would welcome a PR to fix. This is not likely to happen, as changes in v10 and v12 should be small and we still test on Windows 2012 and above.

mattgresham · 2020-03-01T21:54:38Z

Thanks for your reply and info @joaocgreis. I'll pay a bit more attention to the Electron release notes and our POSReady 7 regression testing from now on then.

Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 EOL was January 14, 2020. Windows 8 EOL was January 12, 2016. Windows 2012 (not R2) is still supported and allowed to run. This clarifies that support is experimental. PR-URL: #31954 Reviewed-By: Rod Vagg <rod@vagg.org> Reviewed-By: Rich Trott <rtrott@gmail.com> Reviewed-By: David Carlier <devnexen@gmail.com> Reviewed-By: Franziska Hinkelmann <franziska.hinkelmann@gmail.com> Reviewed-By: Colin Ihrig <cjihrig@gmail.com> Reviewed-By: James M Snell <jasnell@gmail.com> Reviewed-By: Matteo Collina <matteo.collina@gmail.com>

joaocgreis · 2020-03-05T03:13:53Z

Landed in cb8898c.

Notable changes: * (SEMVER-MAJOR) crypto: move pbkdf2 without digest to EOL (James M Snell) [#31166](#31166) * (SEMVER-MAJOR) fs: deprecate closing FileHandle on garbage collection (James M Snell) [#28396](#28396) * (SEMVER-MAJOR) http: move OutboundMessage.prototype.flush to EOL (James M Snell) [#31164](#31164) * (SEMVER-MAJOR) lib: move GLOBAL and root aliases to EOL (James M Snell) [#31167](#31167) * (SEMVER-MAJOR) os: move tmpDir() to EOL (James M Snell) [#31169](#31169) * (SEMVER-MAJOR) src: remove deprecated wasm type check (Clemens Backes) [#32116](#32116) * (SEMVER-MAJOR) stream: move \_writableState.buffer to EOL (James M Snell) [#31165](#31165) * (SEMVER-MINOR) doc: deprecate process.mainModule (Antoine du HAMEL) [#32232](#32232) * (SEMVER-MINOR) doc: deprecate process.umask() with no arguments (Colin Ihrig) [#32499](#32499) * (SEMVER-MAJOR) build: update macos deployment target to 10.13 for 14.x (AshCripps) [#32454](#32454) * (SEMVER-MAJOR) win: block running on EOL Windows versions (João Reis) [#31954](#31954) * (SEMVER-MAJOR) deps: update V8 to 8.1.307.20 (Matheus Marchini) [#32116](#32116) PR-URL: #32181

- (SEMVER-MAJOR) crypto: move pbkdf2 without digest to EOL (James M Snell) [#31166](#31166) - (SEMVER-MAJOR) fs: deprecate closing FileHandle on garbage collection (James M Snell) [#28396](#28396) - (SEMVER-MAJOR) http: move OutboundMessage.prototype.flush to EOL (James M Snell) [#31164](#31164) - (SEMVER-MAJOR) lib: move GLOBAL and root aliases to EOL (James M Snell) [#31167](#31167) - (SEMVER-MAJOR) os: move tmpDir() to EOL (James M Snell)[#31169](#31169) - (SEMVER-MAJOR) src: remove deprecated wasm type check (Clemens Backes) [#32116](#32116) - (SEMVER-MAJOR) stream: move \_writableState.buffer to EOL (James M Snell) [#31165](#31165) - (SEMVER-MINOR) doc: deprecate process.mainModule (Antoine du HAMEL) [#32232](#32232) - (SEMVER-MINOR) doc: deprecate process.umask() with no arguments (Colin Ihrig) [#32499](#32499) - src: migrate to new V8 ArrayBuffer API (Thang Tran) [#30782](#30782) It is possible that this change will impact some native addons using `ArrayBuffer`. - (SEMVER-MAJOR) build: update macos deployment target to 10.13 for 14.x (AshCripps)[#32454](#32454) - (SEMVER-MAJOR) doc: update cross compiler machine for Linux armv7 (Richard Lau) [#32812](#32812) - (SEMVER-MAJOR) doc: update Centos/RHEL releases use devtoolset-8 (Richard Lau) [#32812](#32812) - (SEMVER-MAJOR) doc: remove SmartOS from official binaries (Richard Lau) [#32812](#32812) - (SEMVER-MAJOR) win: block running on EOL Windows versions (João Reis) [#31954](#31954) It is expected that there will be an ABI mismatch on ARM between the Node.js binary and native addons. - [#30786](#30786) - (SEMVER-MAJOR) deps: update V8 to 8.1.307.20 (Matheus Marchini) [#32116](#32116) - cli, report: move --report-on-fatalerror to stable (Colin Ihrig) [#32496](#32496) - deps: upgrade to libuv 1.37.0 (Colin Ihrig) [#32866](#32866) - fs: add fs/promises alias module (Gus Caplan) [#31553](#31553) - module: remove experimental modules warning (Guy Bedford) [#31974](#31974) PR-URL: #32181

Deprecations: - (SEMVER-MAJOR) crypto: move pbkdf2 without digest to EOL (James M Snell) [#31166](#31166) - (SEMVER-MAJOR) fs: deprecate closing FileHandle on garbage collection (James M Snell) [#28396](#28396) - (SEMVER-MAJOR) http: move OutboundMessage.prototype.flush to EOL (James M Snell) [#31164](#31164) - (SEMVER-MAJOR) lib: move GLOBAL and root aliases to EOL (James M Snell) [#31167](#31167) - (SEMVER-MAJOR) os: move tmpDir() to EOL (James M Snell)[#31169](#31169) - (SEMVER-MAJOR) src: remove deprecated wasm type check (Clemens Backes) [#32116](#32116) - (SEMVER-MAJOR) stream: move \_writableState.buffer to EOL (James M Snell) [#31165](#31165) - (SEMVER-MINOR) doc: deprecate process.mainModule (Antoine du HAMEL) [#32232](#32232) - (SEMVER-MINOR) doc: deprecate process.umask() with no arguments (Colin Ihrig) [#32499](#32499) ECMAScript Modules - Experimental Warning Removal: - module: remove experimental modules warning (Guy Bedford) [#31974](#31974) In Node.js 13 we removed the need to include the --experimental-modules flag, but when running EcmaScript Modules in Node.js, this would still result in a warning ExperimentalWarning: The ESM module loader is experimental. As of Node.js 14 there is no longer this warning when using ESM in Node.js. However, the ESM implementation in Node.js remains experimental. As per our stability index: “The feature is not subject to Semantic Versioning rules. Non-backward compatible changes or removal may occur in any future release.” Users should be cautious when using the feature in production environments. Please keep in mind that the implementation of ESM in Node.js differs from the developer experience you might be familiar with. Most transpilation workflows support features such as optional file extensions or JSON modules that the Node.js ESM implementation does not support. It is highly likely that modules from transpiled environments will require a certain degree of refactoring to work in Node.js. It is worth mentioning that many of our design decisions were made with two primary goals. Spec compliance and Web Compatibility. It is our belief that the current implementation offers a future proof model to authoring ESM modules that paves the path to Universal JavaScript. Please read more in our documentation. The ESM implementation in Node.js is still experimental but we do believe that we are getting very close to being able to call ESM in Node.js “stable”. Removing the warning is a huge step in that direction. Migrate to new V8 ArrayBuffer API: - src: migrate to new V8 ArrayBuffer API (Thang Tran) [#30782](#30782) It is possible that this change will impact some native addons using `ArrayBuffer`. Toolchain and Compiler Upgrades: - (SEMVER-MAJOR) build: update macos deployment target to 10.13 for 14.x (AshCripps)[#32454](#32454) - (SEMVER-MAJOR) doc: update cross compiler machine for Linux armv7 (Richard Lau) [#32812](#32812) - (SEMVER-MAJOR) doc: update Centos/RHEL releases use devtoolset-8 (Richard Lau) [#32812](#32812) - (SEMVER-MAJOR) doc: remove SmartOS from official binaries (Richard Lau) [#32812](#32812) - (SEMVER-MAJOR) win: block running on EOL Windows versions (João Reis) [#31954](#31954) It is expected that there will be an ABI mismatch on ARM between the Node.js binary and native addons. Native addons are only broken if they interact with `std::shared_ptr`. This is expected to be fixed in a later version of Node.js 14. - [#30786](#30786) Update to V8 8.1: - (SEMVER-MAJOR) deps: update V8 to 8.1.307.20 (Matheus Marchini) [#32116](#32116) Other Notable Changes: - cli, report: move --report-on-fatalerror to stable (Colin Ihrig) [#32496](#32496) - deps: upgrade to libuv 1.37.0 (Colin Ihrig) [#32866](#32866) - fs: add fs/promises alias module (Gus Caplan) [#31553](#31553) PR-URL: #32181

Deprecations: - (SEMVER-MAJOR) crypto: move pbkdf2 without digest to EOL (James M Snell) [#31166](#31166) - (SEMVER-MAJOR) fs: deprecate closing FileHandle on garbage collection (James M Snell) [#28396](#28396) - (SEMVER-MAJOR) http: move OutboundMessage.prototype.flush to EOL (James M Snell) [#31164](#31164) - (SEMVER-MAJOR) lib: move GLOBAL and root aliases to EOL (James M Snell) [#31167](#31167) - (SEMVER-MAJOR) os: move tmpDir() to EOL (James M Snell)[#31169](#31169) - (SEMVER-MAJOR) src: remove deprecated wasm type check (Clemens Backes) [#32116](#32116) - (SEMVER-MAJOR) stream: move \_writableState.buffer to EOL (James M Snell) [#31165](#31165) - (SEMVER-MINOR) doc: deprecate process.mainModule (Antoine du HAMEL) [#32232](#32232) - (SEMVER-MINOR) doc: deprecate process.umask() with no arguments (Colin Ihrig) [#32499](#32499) ECMAScript Modules - Experimental Warning Removal: - module: remove experimental modules warning (Guy Bedford) [#31974](#31974) In Node.js 13 we removed the need to include the --experimental-modules flag, but when running EcmaScript Modules in Node.js, this would still result in a warning ExperimentalWarning: The ESM module loader is experimental. As of Node.js 14 there is no longer this warning when using ESM in Node.js. However, the ESM implementation in Node.js remains experimental. As per our stability index: “The feature is not subject to Semantic Versioning rules. Non-backward compatible changes or removal may occur in any future release.” Users should be cautious when using the feature in production environments. Please keep in mind that the implementation of ESM in Node.js differs from the developer experience you might be familiar with. Most transpilation workflows support features such as optional file extensions or JSON modules that the Node.js ESM implementation does not support. It is highly likely that modules from transpiled environments will require a certain degree of refactoring to work in Node.js. It is worth mentioning that many of our design decisions were made with two primary goals. Spec compliance and Web Compatibility. It is our belief that the current implementation offers a future proof model to authoring ESM modules that paves the path to Universal JavaScript. Please read more in our documentation. The ESM implementation in Node.js is still experimental but we do believe that we are getting very close to being able to call ESM in Node.js “stable”. Removing the warning is a huge step in that direction. New V8 ArrayBuffer API: * **src**: migrate to new V8 ArrayBuffer API (Thang Tran) [#30782](#30782) Multiple ArrayBuffers pointing to the same base address are no longer allowed by V8. This may impact native addons. Toolchain and Compiler Upgrades: - (SEMVER-MAJOR) build: update macos deployment target to 10.13 for 14.x (AshCripps)[#32454](#32454) - (SEMVER-MAJOR) doc: update cross compiler machine for Linux armv7 (Richard Lau) [#32812](#32812) - (SEMVER-MAJOR) doc: update Centos/RHEL releases use devtoolset-8 (Richard Lau) [#32812](#32812) - (SEMVER-MAJOR) doc: remove SmartOS from official binaries (Richard Lau) [#32812](#32812) - (SEMVER-MAJOR) win: block running on EOL Windows versions (João Reis) [#31954](#31954) It is expected that there will be an ABI mismatch on ARM between the Node.js binary and native addons. Native addons are only broken if they interact with `std::shared_ptr`. This is expected to be fixed in a later version of Node.js 14. - [#30786](#30786) Update to V8 8.1: - (SEMVER-MAJOR) deps: update V8 to 8.1.307.20 (Matheus Marchini) [#32116](#32116) Other Notable Changes: - cli, report: move --report-on-fatalerror to stable (Colin Ihrig) [#32496](#32496) - deps: upgrade to libuv 1.37.0 (Colin Ihrig) [#32866](#32866) - fs: add fs/promises alias module (Gus Caplan) [#31553](#31553) PR-URL: #32181

xCykrix · 2020-04-24T04:48:39Z

I definitely disapprove of this restriction. While Windows 7 is EOL, it is also awfully stable and I see no foreseeable reason that Windows 7 cannot be supported and tested, at least optionally, or with minimal support in the event of issues arising.
It is a widely used and favored OS and Windows 10 left a very bitter taste in the mouth of many people, including myself.

huangxuewu · 2020-05-07T23:31:11Z

please have it support windows 7. at least for nodejs 14 version

jasnell · 2020-05-07T23:37:48Z

Supporting Windows 7 is something we just practically can't do as we do not have the capacity to test on Windows 7 in CI and it is impossible for us to ensure that things will continue to work when even Microsoft has ended support (the primary issues there are things like security issues, compiler support, etc). The best we can do here is remove the bit that kills the node.js process running on these platforms (which we're in the process of discussing) and emitting a clear warning that any issues that may be encountered will not be addressed.

quetzalsly · 2020-05-26T08:31:22Z

Can you please just add a warning instead of completly dissalowing us to run it on win7? I hate windows 10 with it's stupid apps and spyware. I use my win7 because it has all my dev stuff installed and ready to go without any gimmicks.

FranckFreiburger · 2020-05-26T08:42:28Z

Or maybe add a command-line flag to accept running on an EOL system (--I-accept-that-there-is-no guarantee ...)

richardlau · 2020-05-26T08:56:24Z

@quetzalsly @FranckFreiburger see #33176 for the proposed change.

bnb · 2020-05-26T15:31:29Z

@richardlau perhaps once a solution is agreed to and implemented, we should comment that update in this PR and lock it so it says pinned as the last comment?

mattgresham · 2020-05-26T22:51:28Z

even Microsoft has ended support (the primary issues there are things like security issues, compiler support, etc).

@jasnell, I completely understand the reasoning behind not supporting Windows 7 and sorry I'm to be a pain. But this statement is not entirely correct, Windows POS Ready 7, which is based on Windows 7, is still under extended support and will continue to receive updates until October 2021.

edertone · 2020-11-07T13:29:27Z

This is absolutely ridiculous. Windows 7 is a stable OS and even being EOL anything will still work without problem for many years to come. What a stupid decision, there's no testing to do, cause it will work out of the box on windows 7. At least let us install it with our own risk and responsibility

quetzalsly · 2020-11-08T01:08:09Z

You can install it by using that environment variable and zip download, running it right now on my win7. The sad part is that if anything goes wrong there will be no support whatsoever. I really hate how microsoft leaves no choice but win10... honestly considering moving over fully to lubuntu at this point.

sryze · 2020-12-04T08:01:02Z

I'm ok with no support, but why block the installer from running on WIn7? IMO if it can run and install fine, just let it do it. You can put a giant banner or something warning about unsupported OS version inside the installer.

bzoz · 2020-12-04T13:00:49Z

No banner will stop people spamming the issue tracker with Windows 7 issues, especially when some update will finally make Node not start on Windows 7 at all.

FranckFreiburger · 2021-02-02T19:28:17Z

Planned obsolescence ! (very bad for the climate)

win: block running on EOL Windows versions

904a0ae

Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 EOL was January 14, 2020. Windows 8 EOL was January 12, 2016. Windows 2012 (not R2) is still supported and allowed to run. This clarifies that support is experimental.

joaocgreis added the semver-major PRs that contain breaking changes and should be released in the next major version. label Feb 25, 2020

nodejs-github-bot added c++ Issues and PRs that require attention from people who are familiar with C++. lib / src Issues and PRs related to general changes in the lib or src directory. labels Feb 25, 2020

joaocgreis mentioned this pull request Feb 25, 2020

Platform requirements for Node.js 14 nodejs/build#2168

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joaocgreis closed this Mar 5, 2020

BethGriggs mentioned this pull request Mar 10, 2020

2020-04-21, Version 14.0.0 (Current) #32181

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richardlau mentioned this pull request Apr 22, 2020

Node.js 14.x supported on windows 8.1 and above? #33000

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This was referenced Apr 24, 2020

Dispute of "block running on EOL Windows versions #31954" - Alternative Suggestion #33034

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src,win: Replacement of unsupported versions of Windows runtime exit. #33108

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targos mentioned this pull request Sep 30, 2020

Node v14.13.0-x64 does not install on Win7 x64 #35430

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PoojaDurgad mentioned this pull request Jan 15, 2021

Install nodejs/help#3172

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amphro mentioned this pull request Mar 8, 2021

Node.js used by sfdx-cli/8.89.2 does not support Windows 7 by default forcedotcom/cli#898

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BCsabaEngine mentioned this pull request Jul 27, 2021

PKG running executable not working on every client? vercel/pkg#1244

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This was referenced Jan 21, 2023

Drop Windows 8.1 compatibility, on Jan 1, 2024 libuv/libuv#3889

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win: block running nodejs on Windows 8.1 and before? #46299

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targos mentioned this pull request Jan 15, 2024

error running Node.js v20.3.0 on Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise #51465

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