Google's online data storage service, known as Drive, will no longer be available on computers (PCs) running Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 starting in August 2023. The discontinuation of the Drive application service on these outdated Windows operating systems was recently mentioned on Google Drive's support page, which appears to have been updated not long ago.
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| Google Drive |
On that page, Google also states that starting from the same month, they will also stop supporting the Drive application on PCs running Windows Server 2012, as well as all 32-bit versions of Windows, including Windows 10.
The exact date when the support for the Google Drive application on PCs will be terminated is not mentioned. It is possible that the Drive application will no longer be usable on PCs running the aforementioned Windows operating systems by August 1, 2023.
If users still want to use the Google Drive application on their PCs, they are advised to update their operating systems to at least the 64-bit version of Windows 10 before August 2023.
Users of Windows 8, 8.1, and even Windows 10 32-bit can still access the Google Drive service on their PCs. However, this can only be done through an internet browser, not through the application.
By using the internet browser, users will naturally not be able to enjoy several Drive features that are usually offered specifically in the PC version of the application.
One of these features is the inability to synchronize folders on their PC storage with the folders stored in Drive's online storage.
Additionally, users will no longer be able to automatically back up photos and videos stored in a folder on their PC to the Google Photos service.
This means that file uploads or uploading photos and videos from a folder on a PC can only be done manually via an internet browser.