In brief: Google has announced it is killing support for the Google Drive desktop app in three versions of Windows, though not many people still use these old operating systems. If you're one of those running Windows 8, Windows 8.1, or Windows 10 32-bit, this is yet another reason why you should upgrade to a more modern OS.
As spotted by Android Police, the Google Drive page now has a warning that, in August 2023, the company is ending support for Drive for desktop on Windows 8/8.1, Windows Server 2012, and all 32-bit versions of Windows.
Users of a 32-bit version of Windows will still be able to access Drive through a browser, but no support for the desktop app means folders will no longer be synced with the cloud storage service.
This is the latest Google product to end support for older Windows versions. Chrome killed off support for Windows 7, 8, and 8.1 in February.
According to Statcounter, Windows 8.1 had just an 0.72% share of the global Windows market in May, while Windows 8 was even lower at 0.37%. Both versions of the OS reached their end-of-support date in January. For comparison, Windows 7 had a 3.61% share.
Only Windows 8.1 64-bit appears on the Steam survey, used by 0.29% of participants, which is more than Windows 7's 0.08% share.
While Windows 10 64-bit or newer is now needed for the Google Drive desktop app, Microsoft continues trying to push more people onto Windows 11. The Redmond company will end support for what is currently its most popular version of Windows on October 14, 2025.
Windows 10 still has a nearly 72% global share of the Windows market, but with no more feature updates and enterprise users starting to upgrade to Windows 11, expect that figure to start falling soon. It's already happening in the Steam survey, where Windows 11 has been closing the gap over the last few months, reaching its current 34% user share.