Just started using BW and was looking for a version of the desktop app that will run on Windows 7.
On the Downloads page it looks like the lowest version of Windows it will run on is Windows 8.
Yeah, I know its an old version and I’ll be building a new PC in the next couple months, but for now, still stuck on 7.
Thanks
According to the Wayback Machine, it seems that Windows 7 installations were still officially supported by Bitwarden until August 16, 2022. The most recent Desktop release available at that time was version 2022.8.1, which can be downloaded from GitHub. The standard Windows installer for the 2022.8.1 release is Bitwarden-Installer-2022.8.1.exe.
However, unless you are running a self-hosted server (and revert the server version to one that is contemporaneous with the 2022.8.1 clients — such as Bitwarden Server 2022.8.3), you may or may not run into problems due to server-client incompatibilities.
The version that I am running on my Win7 is 2022.5.1. Auto-update after this version results in errors. You need to set this environment variable to stop the update.
ELECTRON_NO_UPDATER=1
Also, the portable version is supposed to not update, but I have never used it.
I am moving off windows 7 too. Can’t wait to use the Biometric unlock / encryption that hopefully is better than a BW PIN encryption.
1 Like
@Neuron5569 Great information! Are you self-hosting, and if so, what server version are you on?
No, I am using the cloud service, but I am not a premium user, and I don’t use organizations. No incompatibilities for the functions I use, except that there seems to be bugs in the (outdated) CLI that would result in corrupted backups. Also, no Argon2.
Thanks guys!
I downloaded and installed 2022.8.1, but when I fired it up, I got this error:
Uninstalled that version, then installed 2022.5.1. Fired it up and immediately got the prompt to upgrade to the latest version, forgetting to add the environment variable. Clicked on “Later” and started looking around in the app. Very impressive!
Just added the environment variable under System and will look at it again in the morning. Now I’m curious as to when this app will break at some point in the future.
Thanks again for the quick and detailed replies!
The 2022.5.1 gives me that “suspicious network” error, but strangely enough the BitWarden extension works fine in Chrome so I can still access my Vault on this Windows 7 machine…
The version that I am running on my Win7 is 2022.5.1. Auto-update after this version results in errors. You need to set this environment variable to stop the update.
ELECTRON_NO_UPDATER=1
Sorry but … where exactly to put this line? I don’t see an ini file, the environment variables have a name…
sorry to be lost 
thanks
I am no longer on Windows 7. But here goes:
Windows 7
- From the desktop, right click the Computer icon.
- Choose Properties from the context menu.
- Click the Advanced system settings link.
- Click Environment Variables.
Put it in the top “user” part.
8.1 and 5.1 :
your internet connection seems to be unavailable!
Pplease reconnect and click retry to resume
8.1 portable
error javascript
5.1 portable, the identification window opens and,
after entering login/pass : error : Failed to fetch
it’s finaly possible ?
thanks
Yeah. Probably would have to wait for somebody else with Win7, or running older versions, to confirm whether it’s the end: old versions no longer working.
They last updated the system some two weeks ago, though, so maybe it’s a glitch, or something else fixable from your end.
Variable d’environnment : avec ELECTRON_NO_UPDATER=1
la variable est ELECTRON_NO_UPDATER et sa valeur est 1 ?
bon de toute façon, la version portable ne l’a pas demandé (de mettre à jour) et je pense que le message d’erreur concerne le fait que bitwarden ne veut pas se connecter à Internet (puisque j’ai évidemment une connexion internet, par cable, et qui fonctionne) ou que le serveur bitwarden refuse la connexion de versions trop anciennes.
?
sauf si quelqu’un a une solution…
bon, j’ai fait acheter une clé à lecteur d’empreinte à ma fangine la semaine dernière, elle est sous W7, et je pense que c’ets pour rien…
(j’ai essayé la sous un vieil ordi portable sous W7 et commedit ci dessus, je n’y arrive pas)
OR les versions Web et Plugin Navigateur fonctionnent , mais le lecteur d’ampreinte oblige, et c’ets quand même lourd, inutile et pénalisant, a avoir la version ordi lancée…
(mon fils a un autre gestionaire qui l’emmm … pas avec ça, ya juste une case a cocher et c’est tout)
Yeah, if it doesn’t ask you to update, then you don’t need the environment variable.
Fingerprint readers on Windows are supposed to work along side with Windows Hello, which was only implemented in Windows 10. If you want to use biometric authentication on Windows, you would need to get new machines.
If someone doesn’t come along here, maybe you can still post on reddit, which is more active, although you may have to take the rip of not running a secure system.:
If this is the problem, then the only solution would be to download an old server version and self-host it.
J’avais zappé : il ya 2 serveurs, un en “eu” et un en “com”
les 2 ne sont pas connectés : il faut donner celui sur lequel on est pour avoir son coffre
par exemple sur la page Web de Bitwarden
Je suppose aussi avec l’appli : or pour choisir son domaine, la seule option, c’est d’indiquer vault.bitwarden.com dans l’appli et dans ce cas, je n’ai plus l’indication mauvais login ou pass…
patatras, à la place j’ai :
Une erreur est survenue.
Traffic from your network looks unusual. Connect to a different network or try again later. [Error Code 7]
donc c’est perdu aussi, on peut try again tant qu’on veut, rien a faire.(à part peut etre auto heberger le coffre comme le suggère grb)
Bref, tant qu’on n’a pas W10 … on oublie le lecteur d’empreinte
Heureusement, il reste le code PIN, 4 chiffres pour déverrouiller, ça peut aller (on a toujours besoin de taper son pass de la mort qui tue pour connecter Bitwarden, mais plus a chaque fermeture/ouverture du navigateur pour déverrouiller, c’est deja ça)
EDIT : c’est même encore mieux : la fermeture du navigateur avec code PIN, ne reverrouille pas Bitwarden ! on doit juste connecter sa session avec le mot de passe principal
évidemment, si on laisse la session windows accessible, à d’autres personnes, on verrouille manuellement Bitwarden…
For the connection error code, you can try these suggestions. If all else fails, you can contact BW support.