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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.

Top-Master
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Franky McCarthy
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    Support for Windows 7 ended on January 14, 2020.. – avocadoLambda 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

4 Answers4

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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.
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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
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    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
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    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
  • 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
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    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
  • Did some testing. v14.17.6 works but v14.18.0 does not. – Albert Wiersch Sep 01 '22 at 03:24
  • This works. I installed node-v18.12.1-win-x86.zip from the downloads on a windows 7 32bit. – Polymath Dec 18 '22 at 04:08
  • I had to remove the folders `C:\Program Files\nodejs\node_modules\npm` as well as `%APPDATA%\npm\node_modules\npm` before copying the install files over from the zip. Else the npm did not work properly afterwards. After copying the files from the zip I ran `npm install npm@latest -g`. – Roland Pihlakas Jan 05 '23 at 03:53
  • @RolandPihlakas Which node version did you install? – tttony Jan 05 '23 at 05:13
  • @tttony Currently I am using node-v18.12.1-win-x64 but earlier versions had similar problems – Roland Pihlakas Jan 05 '23 at 05:27
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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
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    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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    Thank you @zeroG. Your comment solved my issue. However, in my window, if I run node command in cmd it says node not recognized. However, if I run cmd as administrator everything works fine. – Saad Zahoor Jul 19 '22 at 04:05
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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