Windows 7 has been a great operating system. Until recently, it had a large share of the global market share for operating systems. However, since January 2020, this OS has reached its end of support, ceasing to receive all kinds of updates and passing away. Microsoft continues to release updates to this system for companies that pay for them, but, domestically, it is abandoned. And, although it still works, as of today, downloading, installing and updating the drivers of this system will be a much more complicated task.
Last May the SHA-1 Trusted Root Certificate Authority for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 expired. This certificate is necessary to guarantee the integrity of the data received through Windows Update. Without it, apart from the Windows updater not working, nothing assures us that the driver we installed is really the one we downloaded.
After this certificate expired, Microsoft has tried to start using signed drivers with the new SHA-2 certificates. However, these have generated all kinds of data integrity errors and compatibility glitches in the operating system. Faced with the impossibility of continuing to use the SHA-1 drivers in Windows 7, Microsoft has finally decided to discontinue this function, putting one more nail in the coffin of this operating system.
Some users will still receive signed drivers
Since yesterday, June 17, 2021, Windows 7 SP1, Server 2008 and Server 2008 R2 users have stopped receiving signed drivers through Windows Update. And the decision cannot be reversed. However, users enrolled in the Extended Security Update (ESU) program (that is, those with paid Windows 7 updates) will still be able to receive signed drivers through Windows Server Update Services. Of course, from today, manufacturers will have to update the drivers and package them in a new way to reach these users.
Windows Hardware Compatibility Program (WHCP) drivers will continue to work on these versions of the operating system until January 2023.
With the elimination of the Windows Update drivers, Microsoft finally ends the use of SHA-1 in Windows 7. The company has been forcing users to install SHA-2 since August 2020 in order to receive the new ESU updates. via Windows Update.
Other ways to update drivers in Windows 7
Receiving the drivers through Windows Update was very convenient. However, now that Microsoft has removed this feature, we must look for alternatives.
One of the ways to download and update drivers in Windows 7 is by using ESU updates. As we have explained, users of paid updates for this operating system will continue to receive WHCP drivers signed with SHA2. In addition, we can also resort to the use of special programs, such as Driver Booster or Snappy Driver Installer Origin, to find, download and install drivers in Windows 7 easily.
Finally, if in the past we downloaded the drivers from our PC, and we have them saved, we can always install them by hand on the PC so that everything works normally. We can even search each manufacturer’s website for updated drivers for our components that are compatible with Windows 7.