Windows 7 and 8 support

[ivfit]

I understand that WebView2 SDK versions 1.0.1519.0 and higher no longer support Windows 7 and Windows 8/8.1.

This is not mentioned anywhere on Release Notes for the WebView2 SDK page?

So the latest SDK version supporting Windows 7/8/8.1 should be 1.0.1518.46.

What exactly to expect if we run the app compiled using the latest SDK version (e.g. 1.0.1722.45) on Windows 7/8/8.1?

[PCRacer]

As long as you don't use functions, procedures, and features that are found in higher listed packages than 1.0.1518.46, it will compile and run just fine.

You may use the latest SDK packages to stay up to date.

[sln162]

@PCRacer If I want to use an SDK version higher than this, and there is a new method that is only available in higher versions, we can do an internal check in the program. For example, we can use the new method for Win10/11, but not for Win7, or we can check if WebView2 is greater than 109 to determine whether to use the new method. This approach is also feasible, right?

[PCRacer]

Yes, that should work.

[novac42]

@ivfit We can update release notes to make it more clear, thanks for pointing out! Regarding running latest SDK on Win7/8 with 109 runtime, I've assigned a dev who can best answer your question. @ivfit @sln162 It would also help if you can tell us what particular methods you are interested in.

[sln162]

@novac42 There is no specific method, I am just assuming that if a very useful new feature appears in the future, at least we can use the new SDK and differentiate it internally in the program. Even if we don't use the new method, we can still confidently upgrade the SDK without being afraid to stay at version 1.0.1519.0 because of the demand from Windows 7/8 users.

[ivfit]

There is nothing specific for now, just wanted not to worry about underlying OS version.

Ideally we would always use the latest SDK version and SDK itself would take care/ignore settings/methods which are not supported under Windows7/8.

[LiangTheDev]

@sln162, both approaches works. "feature" detection actually should be done in all cases. You don't really know which version of the runtime is on a device.
For C++ apps, you would QueryInterface for interfaces of new features and if that failed, you would assume that the feature is not available in the runtime and fallback. That is what WebView2 sample app is doing. You could also behavior differently based on webview2 runtime version.

[ivfit]

@LiangTheDev if that's the case, what exactly this means:

WebView2 SDK versions 1.0.1519.0 and higher will no longer support Windows 7 and Windows 8/8.1:
https://blogs.windows.com/msedgedev/2022/12/09/microsoft-edge-and-webview2-ending-support-for-windows-7-and-windows-8-8-1/

It sounds to me that higher SDK versions will cause apps to malfunction on Windows 7/8?

[LiangTheDev]

We have stopped testing those SDKs on those OSes. So, it is possible that higher versions of SDKs could stop working there. Therefore the declaration of no longer supported.

The expectation of SDK is that all APIs will normally work, and new APIs require newer version of runtime. Therefore there is not much reason for officially supporting them on Win7.

Practically, the higher versions of SDK should continue to work on Win7, and the same app binary can run on win7 and win10/11 if you do feature testing.