Google Drive end of support for Windows XP and Vista
Google announced yesterday that its Google Drive software won't support Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows Server 2003 anymore starting January 1, 2017.
Google Drive is the company's official desktop program that enables Google users to manage and sync files between their devices and the Google cloud.
Today, we’re announcing that on January 1, 2017 we will discontinue support for the Google Drive desktop app on Windows XP, Vista and Server 2003 since these platforms are no longer actively supported by Microsoft. The Google Drive desktop app (officially: "Google Drive for Mac/PC") will continue to function on these platforms, but will not be actively tested and maintained.
Two things are particularly interesting about the announcement. First, that the programs will continue to work.
Google won't add a kill-switch to those programs or change compatibility information. This means that Windows users on XP, Vista or Server 2003 will be able to continue using the software for the foreseeable future.
Google notes that it won't support, maintain or actively test new releases on these platforms. It seems likely that things will fail to work eventually, but not right away because of that.
The second interesting observation is that Google mentions that these platforms are no longer actively supported by Microsoft. While that is indeed the case for Windows XP and Server 2003, it is not for Windows Vista.
Windows Vista is in its extended support cycle currently which means that it will receive security updates just like any other supported version of Windows. Vista's extended support cycle ends in April 2017, but until that day, it is actively supported by Microsoft.
Granted, Microsoft has all but forgotten about Vista and ignores it for the most part. Still, security updates are released on each Patch Tuesday, and will be until April 2017.
Google recommends that Google Drive users on these platforms "move to a newer version of Windows to continue using" the Google Drive desktop app.
Google Drive customers who run unsupported versions of Windows may use third-party clients instead should the official Google Drive desktop program stop working at one point.
There is the free version of MultiCloud for instance, and you can always use the web version of Google Drive to manage files. The latter is not super comfortable for large file operations, but it is better than not being able to access the files at all anymore.
I found this thread most helpful. . I’d never heard of MultCloud but within 10 mins I’d downloaded thousands of files that I’ve been all day trying to get Google Drive to synch between my Vista and Windows 10 PCs.
I still need to be sure that I can sync properly but it looks like being useful whilst I work out why Google Drive doesn’t work on Vista. It may be because I’ve got two Google accounts and they’re screwing up each other or because my Vista is defective – I’ve just had my hard drive replaced which took me back to a very old Vista which I’ve only just managed to get back up to Service pack 2.
I access it from DOS! :)
I guess I’m not seeing the problem. Just go to drive.google.com and drag your files in or tell it to download selected files. No need for the app.
Sounds like collusion between Microsoft and Google. Even if only on a small scale, it is still wrong. There are reasons for the disconnect with XP, but for Vista there is NO excuse other than spite from MS.
I really wish ALL software vendors would make this decision. XP and Vista need to go. NO one should be running those OS’s in my opinion.
Windows XP has more users than Windows 8+8.1. Why not stop ALL software support for this version of OS as well ?
Do you mean google drive will continue active for windows 8.1 in 2017?
I never managed to get Google Drive working on XP at work. I found that the third party client called Syncdocs worked and syncs to a USB memory stick.