Firefox ends support for Windows 7: Upgrade to 10 or Linux

It’s been a long road, gettin’ from there to here… with “there” being Windows 7’s release way back in 2009, and “here” being Mozilla’s eventual end of support for it in the latest version of Firefox. As of version 115, Firefox will no longer support Windows 7, 8, or 8.1. If you’re hearing taps in the background, you’re not the only one.

Version 115 is actually already pretty out of date—the latest generational release is 147 as of this writing. Version 115 is back in the Extended Support Release channel, a staggered version of the browser designed to get major updates less frequently (only once a year or so), sticking to only essential security patches on an advanced scale. It’s designed for enterprises that need more stability, or as is the case here, functionality on older software and hardware. Updates to the 115 ESR version will be offered “until the end of February 2026.”

Firefox’s support for older versions of Windows is actually pretty protracted already. Initially, Mozilla had intended to sunset its support in 2024, but ended up extending it twice. Previously, there was some ambiguity about yet another extension with an estimated end date, according to Neowin, but Mozilla has spelled it out as of now. Other browsers ended official support for Windows 7 long ago.

Mozilla has a few suggestions if you’d like to hang on… but you can probably guess what they are. On the release page, the company suggests upgrading to Windows 10 (tricky!) or Windows 11, or switching over to Linux (where Firefox is often the pre-installed default).