Microsoft OneDrive for Windows 7 drives off a cliff for Business users
- Reference: 1618490828
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2021/04/15/onedrive_windows_7/
- Source link:
[1]Free support for Windows 7 itself ended more than a year ago, but the company is still looking after deep-pocketed enterprises unwilling or unable to make the move to something more modern.
[2]
Many of the Microsoft's apps (for example its Office productivity suite) also remain supported, as does (officially, at the time of publication) the desktop client used to synchronise local storage with the cloud-based OneDrive.
However, users might disagree.
[3]
Register reader, Matt, got in touch about a fleet of Windows 7 PCs suddenly reporting a 0x8004de40 error, normally associated with an iffy connection. However, after days of attempting to resolve the issue he told us: "I've spoken to a support person at Microsoft and they have confirmed that Windows 7 is no longer supported."
[4]
Nope
Yikes. A glance at Microsoft's [5]online documentation says the desktop client should be there, and that download links can be found to inflict the code on a Windows 7 installation (although a tame MVP told us he had been unable to set it up: "The download won't work at all. Poor Windows 7 users," he said.)
It remains possible to access the OneDrive web site under Windows 7 (through a supported browser) and we understand that opening and saving files through Office is also possible, but the desktop client seems very unhappy. Customers posting in [6]Microsoft's support forums also reported the issue, with one pointing to the TeamSite Permissions API as having difficulty.
"Please let me know if this is only temporary problem or One Drive service will no longer be available on Windows 7," the customer asked, only to be met by stony silence (other than a sad little "me too"-type response from another user.)
Please let me know if this is only temporary problem or One Drive service will no longer be available on Windows 7
The problem does not appear to be isolated. Cloud boffins at [7]ekco told us that something had definitely happened and they were aware of numerous users with the same problem. They speculated that perhaps something had gone awry with authentication.
After all, it would hardly be the first time that Microsoft has rolled out an infrastructure change that had inadvertently left customers borked due to pisspoor qualification. We imagine that Windows 7 is also a long, long way down the list of testing priorities.
It is all a bit unfortunate since stashing files in the cloud has become a critical part of many company workflows, particularly in light of the hybrid working model Microsoft is all too keen to bang on about.
We asked Microsoft if OneDrive for Windows 7 was OK and the software giant promised an explanation would be forthcoming. We will update when it lands.
Microsoft was, however, more than happy to emit this particular nugget from one of its social media orifices.
Little late to the party? All good 👍
Make the move from Windows 7 to Windows 10 easier with OneDrive. [8]https://t.co/pPtoFLr1Jc [9]pic.twitter.com/MSi8IeAkgH — Microsoft Support (@MicrosoftHelps) [10]April 11, 2021
[11]
"Late to the party"? Judging by the experience of its customers and the company's responsiveness, it seems to be less "late" for Windows 7 OneDrive for Business customers and more "not invited." ®
Get our [12]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2020/02/10/windows_7_wont_shutdown/
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/storage&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YHhjHVqT5iDMhFxER027nAAAANc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/storage&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YHhjHVqT5iDMhFxER027nAAAANc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://regmedia.co.uk/2021/04/15/onedrive.png
[5] https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/office/onedrive-system-requirements-cc0cb2b8-f446-445c-9b52-d3c2627d681e
[6] https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/onedrive-for-business/one-drive-for-business-stopped-working-on-windows-7/m-p/2270909
[7] https://www.ek.co/gb
[8] https://t.co/pPtoFLr1Jc
[9] https://t.co/MSi8IeAkgH
[10] https://twitter.com/MicrosoftHelps/status/1381351375032967176?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
[11] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/storage&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YHhjHVqT5iDMhFxER027nAAAANc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[12] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: What's going to cost more?
I don't think you are officially able to upgrade from 7 to 10 now, though a Windows 7 serial number will still activate Windows 10.
Re: What's going to cost more?
At this point anybody upgrading from 7 to 10 had better use a DIY plan. A broken OneDrive under 7 would have "unpredictable" consequences for the data during the upgrade. MS has form for just deleting the files...
Re: What's going to cost more?
Depends if you're factoring in the £10's of thousands of pounds it's gonna cost to replace the legacy ERP system that needs the Virtual XP VM you get a license for under Windows 7 Pro....
This is good news. I use Windows 7 to make sure that shite like OneDrive doesn't work ;)
Is Win10 stable yet?
Since MS doesn't bother to even look sideways at due dilligence nor quality assurance testing, it's an utter crapshoot if your machine will continue to work between reboots.
Every time ElReg posts about Patch Tuesday's updates it's usually followed a few days later by another article about what MS broke & how badly. It's almost as if MS is trying to see how much shite the customers will put up with before they form an angry mob.
I need stability, I need reliability. I need my OS to just work & keep working. I can't fix issues myself any longer & can't afford to pay BestBuy GeekSquad to fix them on my behalf, certainly not with the frequency that MS inflicts on Win10 users.
"A not-so-subtle hint that it really is time to move on?" only holds true if the "upgrade" is better than what I'm already running, & Win10 isn't in any way, shape, nor form.
Win7 may be an old lumbering dinosaur, but at least it's not so "agile" that it trips over it's own feet & slams face-first into the mud every time it tries to get anything done.
Re: Is Win10 stable yet?
It has been 5+ years since Windows 10, and i am surprised that they have not started to request a subscription. Then again, with so many issues appearing, they perhaps realised that they couldn't really charge for it.
They have a captive audience, so they don't really need to try too hard.
Re: Is Win10 stable yet?
Remove One Drive immediately upon arrival.
Re: Is Win10 stable yet?
To be fair, Windows 10 has been stable for quite some time. After the second major update all the dodgy suspend issues on my work laptop fixed themselves.
The key is : always run the Professional or Enterprise version. With Pro updates can be delayed for a few months, so the guinea pigs on Home can find all the issues.
It does, however, occasionally break some software on upgrades (a random person on Twitter found an old Virtualbox suddenly stopped working), and I've found on my gaming system that the quite legacy Soundblaster X-Fi only works if installed on a clean Windows 10 system with no updates, which is then updated.
If you're running a standard configuration with modern hardware you're likely to be fine. Work in a non standard way or use unusual or legacy hardware and the situation may be more problematic.
TLS 1.2
My money is on that now being a firm requirement, and while Windows 7 does support it, it's not enabled by default out of the box
Re: TLS 1.2
Unfortunately adding the TLS 1.2 registry key doesn't solve it...
Ok
So the web browser version still works, eh? No problem.
1. Move everything out of OneDrive using the web browser version.
2. Evaluate whether or not we actually need cloudy crap. If we do, get cloudy crap from DropBox or Apple or Google or… there’s a long, long list. Oh. Wait. We already have cloudy crap from two other vendors, explicitly to have multiple site backups so that one service going down doesn’t screw us over. And we have our own cloudy NAS.
3. Close down OneDrive on our systems.
4. Contact our lawyers to have a word with the Beast of Redmond re getting a refund for our not being able to use a part of our Office365 services. What’s that you say? Redmond won’t let go of the cash? Get stand-alone Office, cancel O365. Or just get a different office suite and live with the round trip issues. Tell the spreadsheet jockeys that they’re just going to have to suck it up and live without Excel. (Invest in lots of cattle prods and quicklime.)
5. Put serious thought into scrapping all Windows installs and going to just Linux and Apple. After all, we already have substantial numbers of both Linux (mostly Ubuntu) and Apple systems.
We inherited an awful package management system from DXC in our organisation. DXC's support contract is long gone, but their legacy still makes a mark, for all the wrong reasons.
One result of the awful package manager is that there are there are large numbers applications with only a few users lurking. As they were never catalogued or supported correctly (because of stupidly expensive package-management costs; cue local-admin bodge being the default answer, in violation of all of our security policies), these packages were missed from subsequent migrations from Win7 to Win 10.
Quite a few users hanging onto 7 for specific cases only. The kind of thing a VM would be good at hosting, actually. Or maybe, we should sack off the DXC garbage legacy and get a package manager worthy of the name. Oh, yes, that thing that MS still hasn't worked out how to do itself... And could make a killing on if they did it right.
Fun!
What's going to cost more?
Upgrading to Windows 10 for free, or buying support for Windows 7? The problem is that Windows 7 extended support is limited, although that does means that your operating system "features" don't keep changing, so applications normally keep working.
"The big difference between software for money and software for free is that software for money usually costs a lot less." - Brendan Behan (updated for the modern world).