Is Windows 8.1 Still Supported By Microsoft

[Henry Gallagher]

EveryMicrosoft product has a lifecycle. The lifecycle begins when a product is released and ends when it's no longer supported. Knowing key dates in this lifecycle helps you make informed decisions about when to upgrade or make other changes to your software. This product is governed by Microsoft's Modern Lifecycle Policy.

Customers can choose Long Term Support (LTS) releases or Standard Term Support (STS) releases. The quality of all releases is the same. The only difference is the length of support. LTS releases get free support and patches for 3 years. STS releases get free support and patches for 18 months.

A new major release of .NET is published every year in November, enabling developers, the community, and businesses to plan their roadmaps. Even numbered releases are LTS releases that get free support and patches for three years.

Customers choosing LTS need the latest patch update installed to qualify for support. If a system is running 6.0 and 6.0.x has been released, 6.0.x needs to be installed as a first step. Once a patch update has been installed, applications begin using the update by default. LTS releases are supported for three years after general availability.

Customers choosing STS need the latest patch update installed to qualify for support. If a system is running 7.0 and 7.0.x has been released, 7.0.x needs to be installed as a first step. Once a patch update has been installed, applications begin using the update by default. STS releases are supported for 18 months after general availability.

Updates are cumulative and released as patches, with each update built upon all of the updates that preceded it. A device needs to install the latest update to remain supported. Updates may include new features, fixes (security and/or non-security), or a combination of both.

Updates are released on the Microsoft "Patch Tuesday" (second Tuesday of each month), however there is no guarantee that there will be a .NET release on any given Patch Tuesday. Patches are announced on the .NET blog. A digest of monthly releases is published to dotnet/announcements. For more details about .NET servicing and patching, see the .NET releases, patches, and support article.

As the end of life nears for a given .NET version, we recommend that you move to a newer .NET version, and reduce/remove your use of the given .NET version. After support ends, we recommend that you uninstall a given .NET version if you are no longer using it, or install the latest patch, and accelerate your plans to remove your use of that .NET version. Your use of out-of-support .NET versions may put your applications, application data, and computing environment at risk. You are strongly recommended to not use out-of-support software.

Starting with .NET Core 3.1, end of life dates align with Microsoft Patch Tuesday (second Tuesday of each month). For example, .NET 6 was originally released on November 8, 2021 and is supported for three years. But the actual end of support day is the closest Patch Tuesday starting that date, which is November 12, 2024.

Support for ASP.NET Core 2.1 on .NET Framework matches the ASP.NET Support policy for other package-based ASP.NET frameworks. The complete list of packages covered by this policy can be seen in ASP.NET Core 2.1 Supported Packages.

Applications using the Framework Dependent Deployment model benefit from .NET updates delivered by Microsoft update. There is no change to apps that use the Self-Contained Deployment model, so these apps are still responsible for keeping the runtime updated.

Hello Nextcloud community,

Microsoft has announced that it will no longer support the WebClient service in future updates of Windows 10 and Windows 11.

As a result, it will soon no longer be possible to use WebDAV network drives with Microsoft Windows.

Fun fact: The first iteration of the Virtual Files feature of the Nextcloud Desktop Clinet was actually based on Dokan, but now they are using the natvie Cloud Files API (Cloud Sync Engine) in Windows.

A fourth option would be to open a feature request to implement this feature in the official Nextcloud client. However, I think the chances that any of the core developers are starting to work on this are pretty low, and even if you or someone else did the work, I personally doubt they would actually implement it.

Yes, but this should be a one-time issue for the initial sync of the file list. And since the Windows WebDAV client will remain in Windows for the foreseeable future, you can plan the migration accordingly.

And you also get some advantages over WebDAV drives, such as the fact that the files you download (the ones with the green checkmark) are also available offline, which is useful on mobile devices such as laptops

But maybe you can script something via Powershell and enforce it via Group policy or since it uses the Microsoft Cloud Files API you should also be able to control it via MS Storage Sense, which most likely also can be enforced via Group Policy.

There is a feature within Windows that automatically clean up temp folders etc. and cloud syncs, like OneDrive or Nextckoud VirtualFiles. You can adjust that to a specific time period within the windows settings (needs win10 or 11) or set it to never.

Nextcloud Desktop App is a sync client and thus occupies space on the locsl device while WebDav grants direct access to the remote filesystem.

I am using WebDav to access my Nextcloud data for a long tome now, having the cloud storage integrated into explorer is best way to access files imo.

Storage is cheap these days. And with the Virtual Files / Microsoft Cloud Files API, only the files you are actually using are downloaded to your device, and you can control how long they are stored and how much space you want to allocate to them.

I know, but i still prefere direct access. Same with keepass databases, i access my db with keepass2 clients using webdav and the same db from android using keepass2android. I am not sure if this will still work after webdav is removed from windows.

This will still work as keepas uses there own WebDAV API. WebDav in Windows is only usable by Windows itself, as far as I know. I never seen a program using WebDav implementation by Windows.

Btw, even Microsoft Office apps and OneDrive uses WevDav (or used for a long time ).

Windows XP is a major release of Microsoft's Windows NT operating system. It was released to manufacturing on August 24, 2001, and later to retail on October 25, 2001. It is a direct successor to Windows 2000 for high-end and business users and Windows Me for home users.

Development of Windows XP began in the late 1990s under the codename "Neptune", built on the Windows NT kernel and explicitly intended for mainstream consumer use. An updated version of Windows 2000 was also initially planned for the business market. However, in January 2000, both projects were scrapped in favor of a single OS codenamed "Whistler", which would serve as a single platform for both consumer and business markets. As a result, Windows XP is the first consumer edition of Windows not based on the Windows 95 kernel or MS-DOS. Windows XP removed support for PC-98, i486, and SGI Visual Workstation 320 and 540, and will only run on 32-bit x86 CPUs and devices that use BIOS firmware.

Upon its release, Windows XP received critical acclaim, noting increased performance and stability (especially compared to Windows Me), a more intuitive user interface, improved hardware support, and expanded multimedia capabilities. Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 were succeeded by Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008, released in 2007 and 2008, respectively.

Mainstream support for Windows XP ended on April 14, 2009, and extended support ended on April 8, 2014. Windows Embedded POSReady 2009, based on Windows XP Professional, received security updates until April 2019. Unofficial methods were made available to apply the updates to other editions of Windows XP. Microsoft has discouraged this practice, citing compatibility issues.[5]

Five years since Windows XP's end of support date, a large majority of PCs in Armenia still appear to be running Windows XP.[6][7] Few have also had some significant share, such as Colombia. As of 2024[update], globally, under 0.6% of Windows PCs[8] and 0.1% of all devices across all platforms continued to run Windows XP..mw-parser-output .toclimit-2 .toclevel-1 ul,.mw-parser-output .toclimit-3 .toclevel-2 ul,.mw-parser-output .toclimit-4 .toclevel-3 ul,.mw-parser-output .toclimit-5 .toclevel-4 ul,.mw-parser-output .toclimit-6 .toclevel-5 ul,.mw-parser-output .toclimit-7 .toclevel-6 uldisplay:none

In the late 1990s, initial development of what would become Windows XP was focused on two individual products: "Odyssey", which was reportedly intended to succeed the future Windows 2000 and "Neptune", which was reportedly a consumer-oriented operating system using the Windows NT architecture, succeeding the MS-DOS-based Windows 98.[9]

However, the projects proved to be too ambitious. In January 2000, shortly prior to the official release of Windows 2000, technology writer Paul Thurrott reported that Microsoft had shelved both Neptune and Odyssey in favor of a new product codenamed "Whistler", named after Whistler, British Columbia, as many Microsoft employees skied at the Whistler-Blackcomb ski resort.[10] The goal of Whistler was to unify both the consumer and business-oriented Windows lines under a single, Windows NT platform. Thurrott stated that Neptune had become "a black hole when all the features that were cut from Windows Me were simply re-tagged as Neptune features. And since Neptune and Odyssey would be based on the same code-base anyway, it made sense to combine them into a single project".[11]

At PDC on July 13, 2000, Microsoft announced that Whistler would be released during the second half of 2001, and also unveiled the first preview build, 2250, which featured an early implementation of Windows XP's visual styles system and interface changes to Windows Explorer and the Control Panel.[12]

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