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I am trying to install NodeJS for windows 7. I tried installing the most recent NodeJS but it is not compatible with Windows 7. I was wondering if anyone knows what is the latest version of NodeJS you can install on Windows 7? Thank you.

Franky McCarthy
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    Support for Windows 7 ended on January 14, 2020.. – Peter Jun 05 '20 at 10:06
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    I can't as its a work laptop :/ – Franky McCarthy Jun 08 '20 at 11:02
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    million dollar Questions is why would NodeJs declare incompatibility with windows 7 i mean whats so special or rocket science they using that they need windows 10 for it ? more like Microsoft pay check they got so that users move from win 7 to win 10 – user889030 Mar 05 '21 at 06:22
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    @user889030 The Windows API is versioned, so if you compile with a feature set introduced in Windows 8 or Windows 10, then it cannot run on Windows 7. – Mark Rotteveel Mar 25 '21 at 10:55
  • ERROR: Node.js v13.8.0 is no longer supported. expo-cli supports following Node.js versions: * >=12.13.0 <13.0.0 (Maintenance LTS) * >=14.0.0 <15.0.0 (Active LTS) * >=15.0.0 <17.0.0 (Current Release) This is the error. You just can download node version between 12.13.0 to 13.0.0 It worked for me – Ashok Feb 15 '22 at 19:26

5 Answers5

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Update: Oct 2021, the latest versions working with below "trick" are:

  • Node v14.16.1 (or older but not below v14.5.0)
  • Node v15.8.0 (or older but not below v15.0.0)

Because Node updated from libuv v1.40 to v1.41, and with that, causing Win7 errors: ws2_32.dll does not have GetHostNameW function (or something alike).

The workaround Method (for versions mentioned above)

The v12.x branch seems to continue supporting Win7 (tested 2021 with Node v12.22.7).

But I needed 14.x version-branch and ended solving problem;
I just installed Node 14.15.0, like:

  • Go to Node-downloads
  • Download the Windows Binary (.zip) (either 32/64 bit)
  • Extract it in the directory where your node is installed and say yes to replace all files (remember that the zip comes with npm, which is in node_modules/npm directory; I didn't copy from the zip because I already updated npm before replacing the files)
  • Create an Environment variable called: NODE_SKIP_PLATFORM_CHECK and set it to 1
  • Ready to use Node in Windows 7 for now.
Top-Master
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tttony
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    This works, I installed 15.5.1 on x86 Win7. This should be the accepted answer as this is the most helpful. Thanks tttony! – Andras Jan 07 '21 at 12:33
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    To be precise you need to do this command in your cmd : `set NODE_SKIP_PLATFORM_CHECK 1` to setup your environement variable – MrSolarius Jun 14 '21 at 12:50
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    Yes it works, best answer! Thanks a lot! – Brudka Jul 08 '21 at 09:31
  • Thank you very much, confirmed working on Windows 7 Ultimate SP1. Tested with node version 15.8.0 and npm v7.5.1. Cheers! – Dale Ryan Nov 12 '21 at 02:20
  • node-v14.17.6 is also runnable on x64 Win7 – vitalh Nov 13 '21 at 21:26
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    With this method, currently I am able to use v16.6.2 – peter.bartos Nov 23 '21 at 19:33
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    I can confirm that 16.6.2 is working (tried 16.13.1 before, without success). For this `node` version you would probably want to update `npm` to avoid warnings, for me only [this](https://stackoverflow.com/a/50955293/5177728) answer worked, just don't forget to also rename `npx` – Sam Jan 05 '22 at 18:55
  • @Sam Thanks this version worked on windows 7 x64 I should check more later. but i could upgrade npm to latest version now. – RSA Jan 28 '22 at 14:39
  • Thanks Man its work – Niket Tongare Feb 10 '22 at 11:30
  • You might also want to delete the contents of the nodejs directory. The older undeleted files may cause issues. – IS4 Mar 31 '22 at 16:42
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    I can confirm that this method is working for node version 16.15.0 on my pc (64bt). Thank you for sharing. Big help – sakun9526 Apr 27 '22 at 06:10
  • I had to use cmd prompt as admin and use `setx NODE_SKIP_PLATFORM_CHECK 1` which worked for v16.15.0 x64 – Supamic Jun 01 '22 at 17:26
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Latest node.js version that (officially) supports Windows 7 is 13.6.0. https://nodejs.org/download/release/v13.6.0/

dziku86
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    To add some context, newer 13.6 versions might also work fine but 13.6 was the last one *tested*: Using EOL Windows versions is discouraged, we offer no guarantees that Node.js works correctly. The last Node.js versions tested on Windows 7/2008R2 are 10.18.1, 12.14.1 and 13.6.0. This does not block major Node.js versions up to 13 from running on EOL Windows as it's probably better to use a later version, even if untested (since there are no breaking changes). https://github.com/nodejs/node/pull/31954 – InterLinked Nov 29 '20 at 19:03
  • 13.9.0 last version of node js which worked for me (win7x64) : https://nodejs.org/dist/v13.9.0/node-v13.9.0-x64.msi : 14+ versions are not installed on my win7. – zeroG Mar 21 '22 at 14:23
  • I'm running Node.js v15.13.0 on Win7x32 with no problems at all. – dziku86 Mar 21 '22 at 16:43
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It seems that v13.14.0 is the last installer that works on Window 7

go here and select the package related to your version of windows 32 / 64 bits:

https://nodejs.org/dist/latest-v13.x/

Giovanni Paolin
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I just install in Windows 7 x64 this version

https://nodejs.org/download/release/v13.14.0/

deyener1k
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  • didn't work for me ... v13.6.0 is the last working as dziku86 mentions – webMan Feb 07 '21 at 06:28
  • @webMan Manually download the required, archived version from https://nodejs.org/dist/ , extract it and replace current version with the newer one. – dziku86 Mar 21 '22 at 16:54
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Normally old operating system needs an old version of Node.JS. you can refer to old version of Node.JS here, you can also download this one, which is tested and working fine with Win7( win7 Ultimate v6.1 SP1).

صلي علي محمد Atef Farouk
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Kai
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    I get the desire to be be helpful, but this doesn't answer the actual question. There are a lot of reasons folks might still be running Win7 – MandisaW Nov 02 '20 at 02:56
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    "ask your organization to" is not a simple task to do in a "system" where workers have to choose between a salary and starvation while the same "system" maintains a constant pool of unemployed. – Rayhunter Nov 22 '20 at 20:58
  • The original answer clearly shows that the person who wrote it had no idea what they were talking about. No idea why how this could be selected as the accepted answer while the most upvoted answer is an actual solution to the problem. – 6infinity8 Nov 10 '21 at 15:15