VeraCrypt 1.25 drops Windows 8.1 and 7, and Mac OS 10.8 and earlier support
VeraCrypt 1.25, a new version of the open source cross-platform encryption software, is now available. The new version is the first release of the application for over a year; the last release dates back to November 2020 when a hot fix update for Mac OS X Big Sur was released.
VeraCrypt 1.25 is not yet listed as a download on the official project website, but downloads are available on the project's SourceForge project page. Note that the GitHub repo has not been updated yet as well.
The new version of VeraCrypt updates any existing version that is installed on the system. The system needs to be restarted after a successful installation, as the new driver needs to be loaded during system start.
VeraCrypt 1.25
VeraCrypt 1.25 is a major new version that changes system requirements significantly. The new version of the encryption software adds support for Windows on ARM64, Apple Silicon M1 and OpenBSD, but it also removes support for the following operating systems:
- Windows Vista
- Windows 7
- Windows 8
- Windows 8.1
- Mac OS 10.7
- Mac OS 10.8
The developers reveal that the dropping of support for the listed Windows versions was required because of "new requirements for driver code signing". No reasoning was provided for the dropping of support for Mac OS 10.7 and 10.8.
VeraCrypt 1.25 includes support for an MSI installler that administrators may utilize for silent mode deployments on supported Windows systems. The caveat is that the MSI installer can't be used if the system partition is encrypted with VeraCrypt.
The Windows version of VeraCrypt has seen several other improvements. The new version blocks Windows from resizing an encrypted system partition, addresses a memory leak in the EFI bootloader, fixes a potential memory corruption in the driver, clears a bootParams variable that may contain sensitive information, and includes a workaround for an issue that occurs during Windows Feature updates (maybe the automatic repair issue caused by the bootloader?)
The new version of VeraCrypt for Mac OS X introduces support for Apple's new Silicon M1 hardware, but it does drop support for the two older versions of Mac OS X, Lion (10.7) and Mountain Lion (10.8). The Mac version adds user interface language support using installed XML files.
Linux, FreeBSD and OpenBSD versions have seen a few fixes for the most part.
You can check out the full changelog of VeraCrypt 1.25 here.
Closing Words
VeraCrypt users who run pre-Windows 10 versions of Windows or Mac OS X 10.8 or earlier, can't upgrade to the new version. The last release version, 1.24-Update8 for Mac OS X and 1.24-Update7 for all other supported operating systems will continue to work.
Users of VeraCrypt who choose to do so may want to check the release notes of new versions to make sure that none fix critical issues, e.g. vulnerabilities, that could allow third-parties to gain access to the encrypted data.
Now You: do you use encryption tools?
The new version supports Windows XP but not Windows 7 or 8.1 !
https://veracrypt.fr/en/Supported%20Operating%20Systems.html
Silly, silly move.
That’s fine. TrueCrypt 7.1a is still secure as is. The original TrueCrypt homepage is not allowed to be archived on the WaybackMachine unfortunately but there is still a mostly complete archive on github:
https://github.com/DrWhax/truecrypt-archive
GRC’s old TrueCrypt page has also been scrubbed to support VeraCrypt but the old page does have an archive:
https://web.archive.org/web/20190302033032/https://www.grc.com/misc/truecrypt/truecrypt.htm
I have no particular distrust in VeraCrypt, however I believe in preserving beautifully written code and masterfully designed software if for nothing else other than posterity and educational purposes.
RIP VeraCrypt. What are some alternatives that don’t rely on the version of your OS?
SecurStar DriveCrypt Plus Pack supports all Windows versions but it isn´t cheap.
CipherShed is a minimal fork of TrueCrypt with only a few changes made to address the potential weaknesses found during the original TrueCrypt audit, plus some additions to better support Windows versions newer than 7. It’s basically what TrueCrypt 7.2 should’ve been.
MS Thumbscrews 4tw..
But performance issue on NVMe disks is still unresolved. All these changes are pretty minor in comparison to having SATA on NVMe.
> Do you use encryption tools?
Yes, I’m using Veracrypt on a Win8.1 machine to fully encrypt the system. Besides, I’m also using it for encryption of all my external USB hard disks. I have really been looking forward to seeing a new release of Veracrypt in the near future to upgrade from my 1.24, but these news are really sad news! I can understand that sooner or later Win7 will not be supported anymore (by any software) because it’s officially dead (at least for regular end users), but Win8.1 is still an officially supported OS. Maybe I need to have a look at DiskCryptor which is under GPLv3 license (good!) and seems to continue to support Win7/8.1 at least for now.