From September 2021, Focusrite will no longer provide any further driver/software updates compatible with Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 systems. All following updates will require Windows 10 (32 or 64-bit) version 1803 or later. 

Q: "Will my device suddenly stop working on my Windows 7/Windows 8 machine?" 

If your device was previously supported on Windows 7/Windows 8, it will continue to work. We will continue to host existing driver/software versions that support Windows 7/8 on the Downloads page of our website. 

However, you won't be able to install any new driver or software updates for your Focusrite device. For this reason, we recommend updating to a supported version of Windows where possible. 

Q: "Why are Focusrite no longer developing software for Windows 7 and 8?" 

Microsoft ended their ‘extended support’ for Windows 7 in early 2020. This means Microsoft no longer provides security updates or bug fixes for Windows 7. For security reasons alone, we recommend anyone running Windows 7 strongly considers updating to Windows 10 version 1803, or later. 

Microsoft’s ‘mainstream support’ for Windows 8.1 ended in January 2018. While Microsoft's ‘extended support’ will continue until January 2023, changes Microsoft has made to their driver signing requirements mean we cannot build driver software to support Windows 8.1.