Continuing Windows XP, Vista, and 7 Support

PortableApps.com is happy to announce our continuing support for Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7. As we continue to update and improve our apps, platform, and utilities for Windows 11, newer versions of Windows 10, and Wine, we'll be continuing to support legacy Windows versions for our users around the world. In addition to our software, this work also encompasses our website and our download mirrors as well as utilities to help update the operating systems themselves. Windows XP and Vista users will notice some of these enhancements immediately.

Introducing Legacy Windows XP/Vista Downloads

We've introduced new legacy builds of many of our apps for Windows XP and Vista users. These downloads are available from the app homepages on our site within the Details section and broken out by operating system. Rather than a simple pointer to the last version, these packages are newly built with the updated improvements to our launchers and installer as well as improved portablization. They'll also install alongside your modern versions (InkscapePortableLegacyWinXP alongside InkscapePortable, for instance) and the platform won't attempt to update them, so they'll continue working on your legacy systems. You can track the available legacy versions and request additional packages here. We'll also be adding legacy builds for Windows 7 and 32-bit Windows as apps drop support over time.

PortableApps.com Platform, App Store, and Updater

We use specific configurations and testing to ensure that the PortableApps.com Platform continues to work on Windows XP even though our development environment ended support. Our app store and updater continue to be tested on Windows XP and Vista and have specific coding to detect whether unofficial patches for TLS 1.2 security have been applied to the OS. The platform also adjusts fonts to blend in with your OS and other apps on legacy Windows.

Download Server Compatibility

We mirror our downloads from SourceForge on our own hosting servers for Windows XP/Vista users who have not applied the unofficial TLS 1.2 patches, preventing them from connecting to SourceForge's download mirrors. The platform communicates this to our server code and it adjusts the download appropriately. This allows legacy machines to connect and download the vast majority of our apps. Even though these downloads are unencrypted, they are still secure thanks to the SHA256 hash checking on the client side. We're also working on mirroring Github and publisher-hosted downloads. These improvements have already been set live, so XP and Vista users can update to the latest platform and download updates for their apps.

Launcher and Installer Compatibility

Our launchers and installers are built to be compatible with Windows XP through Windows 11 out of the box. We'll be continuing to test going forward.

Updating Windows XP and Vista (TLS, Certificates, and OS Updates)

I put together a Root Certificate Updates For Legacy Windows (Vista, XP, 2000) package and instructions on Github to allow legacy users to update to current certificates and support for Let's Encrypt. I also put together an instruction set and reg update to Enable TLS 1.1/1.2 on Windows Vista. Additionally, there is LegacyUpdate.net which reverse engineers the old Windows Update system for legacy Windows allowing you to install all available updates as well as server updates in addition to updating certificates. Neither PortableApps.com nor I are affiliated with this or can speak to its security but it seems to work well in my testing.

We hope this helps our legacy users around the world continue using software that makes their lives better. And, if you're able, please make a donation so we can keep bringing you awesome apps and features.

Thank you!
John T. Haller