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Dropping support for Windows 7 - and what to do
 Leviathan.ArconVIP
Serveur: Leviathan
Game: FFXI
Posts: 691
By Leviathan.Arcon 2026-05-21 03:12:36
As many of you have noticed, the last Windower update broke Windower for Windows 7. This was not our decision, but is a result of Microsoft updating the tools we use to make Windower, which now produce code that is no longer compatible with Windows 7.
There were only three possible routes we could take:
1. Rewrite the parts of our code that produced an invalid Windows 7 application.
2. Change the tools we use to older versions that were designed to work with Windows 7.
3. Drop support for Windows 7.
The first option was the least viable. It would have taken a significant effort to do that, and it would have only produced a temporary fix. The next Microsoft update could have broken new parts of the code, which would then have to be rewritten again. It would have required constant effort on our part over the next few years, while making our code unnecessarily complex.
The second option is less effort, but still requires some adjustments. We tried that, and had to change some code because it used new features that the old tools couldn't process, but users have reported that it didn't fully fix the issue, and new issues and crashes started popping up. Over the last three days, since the initial update that broke Windower on Windows 7, we have been trying to get this option to work, but it was messy and we were not successful.
This leaves us with the third option. This is not something we take lightly. We have previously not upgraded our software specifically to avoid leaving Windows 7 users behind. But now we find ourselves out of other options.
To avoid leaving people hanging, we decided to take the last stable version, and publish it in a (mostly) read-only state. So Windows 7 users will not get access to new plugins or addons and new features of existing plugins or addons, but can still play the game as they did up until now.
Here are two step-by-step guides on how to set it up, depending on what you want. Please be sure to follow the steps precisely, unless you're very familiar with the Windower file structure and update process.
A clean install
This means you'll start over and have to set it up anew, or copy over settings manually. It's probably safer, but requires more effort to get it running again in the same way you had before.
Rename your current Windower folder to anything else. If it was previously in a folder called "Windower4", you can rename it to "Windower4-old", for example. I will use these names throughout this guide, but use whichever names you want.
Download the Windows 7 version of Windower from here.
Extract the contents to the place where your old Windower folder was, e.g. "Windower4".
At this point you should have the new Windower folder with the name of the old Windower folder (e.g. "Windower4"), and the old Windower folder with its new name (e.g. "Windower4-old") side by side.
Run the newly extracted Windower, without any shortcuts.
Go to the "Addons" tab and select the addons you want to use.
Close Windower.
You can now either configure Windower anew from the options screen, set up profiles, select plugins you want to use, and so on. Alternatively, you can copy the `settings.xml` file from your old Windower folder ("Windower4-old/settings.xml") into the new one. This will make sure you have the same addons, plugins, profiles and graphical and game options selected. But please only do this after you have selected the addons you want to use, and closed Windower, the two previous steps.
You can now copy over plugin settings from your old install. In the old Windower folder, go to "plugins", then "settings" ("Windower4-old/plugins/settings/"), and copy all files from there, and paste them into the same folder inside the new Windower install. If the "Windower4/plugins/settings/" folder does not exist, create it first, then copy the files over. If you use the "LightLuggage" plugin, please also copy all the files in "Windower4-old/plugins/ll/" over to the same folder in your new install, e.g. "Windower4/plugins/ll/". Same as before, if the "ll" folder does not exist, create it.
Now you can start copying addon settings over. For each addon that you use, go to the "Windower4-old/addons/<addon>/data/" folder in the old install, and copy all the files from there to the same folder in the new install, "Windower4/addons/<addon>/data/". If the "data" folder in an addon from your new install doesn't exist, create it first, then copy over the files.
If you use any unofficial addons, meaning addons that are not in the "Addons" tab inside Windower, you will need to copy them over as well. For example, if you use the "dupefind" addon, go to "Windower4-old/addons/" and copy the entire "dupefind" folder over to "Windower4/addons/". Repeat this for any addon you want to copy over.
Now you should be set up. Log in and test. Do not delete your old Windower folder yet, in case you forgot something. If you named the new Windower folder the same as the old one used to be, any shortcuts you have should still work.
Update your current install
This is the easier version, but may be less predictable, depending on which addons you use.
Make a backup of your current Windower folder. If it's named "Windower4", select it, hit Ctrl+C, then Ctrl+V. Windows will name it "Windower4 (Copy)" by default, you can rename it to something like "Windower4-backup", if you want. This is just in case something goes wrong with the next few steps, but is otherwise not important.
Download the Windows 7 version of Windower from here.
Extract the contents to a new folder, e.g. "Windower4-new".
Run the newly extracted Windower, without any shortcuts.
Go to the "Addons" tab and select the addons you are using with your current install. If you use a lot of unofficial addons, this may be hard to figure out, for an easier way to view which addons from the launcher you are using, open the "settings.xml" file in your current Windower folder, and check the entries that are marked by the "<addon>" tag, for example "<addon>Distance</addon>" means you're using the "Distance" addon.
Close Windower.
Delete the "settings.xml" file in this folder, e.g. "Windower4-new/settings.xml".
Copy all the contents of the new "Windower4-new" folder into your regular Windower folder. Overwrite any files it asks you to.
This should be it. Launch your regular Windower, through whichever way you normally start it, and see if everything works. If you find an addon that doesn't quite behave like before, it's possible that it overwrote its settings. In that case, go to the "Windower4-backup" folder, and copy that particular addon's settings under "Windower4-backup/addons/<addon>/data/" into your current addon's "data" folder.
Notes
This version of Windower will no longer update core, plugins or addons. It will, however, still update resources. This could be a problem in theory, if we ever change the structure of our resources. However, we haven't changed their structure in over 10 years, and I don't foresee this happening anymore. If it does, we will find a solution for it.
Finally, if you're still on Windows 7 you have probably heard this line often, and are tired of it, but the best solution really would be to upgrade your OS. If you're on old hardware, or tired of Microsoft's ***, you should look into Linux. There are plenty of gaming oriented Linux distributions that work well on old hardware, and are easy to set up for newcomers. And with Lumoria, installing FFXI with Windower is painless on Linux these days, possibly more so than on Windows.
If you're experiencing any issues with any of this (including using Windower on Linux, with or without Lumoria), please let us know, either here or in our Discord server.
By Garretts 2026-05-21 05:43:08
I look at your effort and time as valuable to me. I am happy that you are no longer stressing over supporting windows 7.
I understand your desire to try and make such a fantastic product available to as many folks as possible, but I am also inclined to look at someone still using windows 7 as 1) lazy, 2) ignorant 3) financially constrained...? (To which i say, if you cant upgrade to a free version of Linux and/or cheap modern hardware maybe you shouldn't be spending your excess time playing an MMO?)
Maybe that makes me an ***. If so, so be it, but to that I say "Then we are both ***" You want these devs to support you when you aren't willing to "get with the times", I want these devs to not have to worry about bending over backwards, taking away time/effort from innovation and upgrades to accommodate a deprecated system.
Sorry not sorry,
Arcon and the team, I know your intentions are good, and I understand its been tough, but I support ya.
 Asura.Karppa
Serveur: Asura
Game: FFXI
Posts: 562
By Asura.Karppa 2026-05-21 05:56:16
You've really gone through a lot of trouble. I personally liked Windows 7, and I totally understand that some people still use it. I use Windows 10 and 11 myself, so I probably won't install it at all. Linux could be an option, but I have no idea if it supports FFXI.
By Garretts 2026-05-21 05:59:49
Windows 7 was the last windows before the great data harvesting of the 2020's began. It was a decent OS, but its rife with vulnerability at this point.
 Asura.Eiryl
Serveur: Asura
Game: FFXI
By Asura.Eiryl 2026-05-21 06:59:28
Oh a legacy version of windower, awe jeez so entitled
The right call. The last few W7 holdouts will be happy.
As many of you have noticed, the last Windower update broke Windower for Windows 7. This was not our decision, but is a result of Microsoft updating the tools we use to make Windower, which now produce code that is no longer compatible with Windows 7.
There were only three possible routes we could take:
1. Rewrite the parts of our code that produced an invalid Windows 7 application.
2. Change the tools we use to older versions that were designed to work with Windows 7.
3. Drop support for Windows 7.
The first option was the least viable. It would have taken a significant effort to do that, and it would have only produced a temporary fix. The next Microsoft update could have broken new parts of the code, which would then have to be rewritten again. It would have required constant effort on our part over the next few years, while making our code unnecessarily complex.
The second option is less effort, but still requires some adjustments. We tried that, and had to change some code because it used new features that the old tools couldn't process, but users have reported that it didn't fully fix the issue, and new issues and crashes started popping up. Over the last three days, since the initial update that broke Windower on Windows 7, we have been trying to get this option to work, but it was messy and we were not successful.
This leaves us with the third option. This is not something we take lightly. We have previously not upgraded our software specifically to avoid leaving Windows 7 users behind. But now we find ourselves out of other options.
To avoid leaving people hanging, we decided to take the last stable version, and publish it in a (mostly) read-only state. So Windows 7 users will not get access to new plugins or addons and new features of existing plugins or addons, but can still play the game as they did up until now.
Here are two step-by-step guides on how to set it up, depending on what you want. Please be sure to follow the steps precisely, unless you're very familiar with the Windower file structure and update process.
A clean install
This means you'll start over and have to set it up anew, or copy over settings manually. It's probably safer, but requires more effort to get it running again in the same way you had before.
Rename your current Windower folder to anything else. If it was previously in a folder called "Windower4", you can rename it to "Windower4-old", for example. I will use these names throughout this guide, but use whichever names you want.
Download the Windows 7 version of Windower from here.
Extract the contents to the place where your old Windower folder was, e.g. "Windower4".
At this point you should have the new Windower folder with the name of the old Windower folder (e.g. "Windower4"), and the old Windower folder with its new name (e.g. "Windower4-old") side by side.
Run the newly extracted Windower, without any shortcuts.
Go to the "Addons" tab and select the addons you want to use.
Close Windower.
You can now either configure Windower anew from the options screen, set up profiles, select plugins you want to use, and so on. Alternatively, you can copy the `settings.xml` file from your old Windower folder ("Windower4-old/settings.xml") into the new one. This will make sure you have the same addons, plugins, profiles and graphical and game options selected. But please only do this after you have selected the addons you want to use, and closed Windower, the two previous steps.
You can now copy over plugin settings from your old install. In the old Windower folder, go to "plugins", then "settings" ("Windower4-old/plugins/settings/"), and copy all files from there, and paste them into the same folder inside the new Windower install. If the "Windower4/plugins/settings/" folder does not exist, create it first, then copy the files over. If you use the "LightLuggage" plugin, please also copy all the files in "Windower4-old/plugins/ll/" over to the same folder in your new install, e.g. "Windower4/plugins/ll/". Same as before, if the "ll" folder does not exist, create it.
Now you can start copying addon settings over. For each addon that you use, go to the "Windower4-old/addons/<addon>/data/" folder in the old install, and copy all the files from there to the same folder in the new install, "Windower4/addons/<addon>/data/". If the "data" folder in an addon from your new install doesn't exist, create it first, then copy over the files.
If you use any unofficial addons, meaning addons that are not in the "Addons" tab inside Windower, you will need to copy them over as well. For example, if you use the "dupefind" addon, go to "Windower4-old/addons/" and copy the entire "dupefind" folder over to "Windower4/addons/". Repeat this for any addon you want to copy over.
Now you should be set up. Log in and test. Do not delete your old Windower folder yet, in case you forgot something. If you named the new Windower folder the same as the old one used to be, any shortcuts you have should still work.
Update your current install
This is the easier version, but may be less predictable, depending on which addons you use.
Make a backup of your current Windower folder. If it's named "Windower4", select it, hit Ctrl+C, then Ctrl+V. Windows will name it "Windower4 (Copy)" by default, you can rename it to something like "Windower4-backup", if you want. This is just in case something goes wrong with the next few steps, but is otherwise not important.
Download the Windows 7 version of Windower from here.
Extract the contents to a new folder, e.g. "Windower4-new".
Run the newly extracted Windower, without any shortcuts.
Go to the "Addons" tab and select the addons you are using with your current install. If you use a lot of unofficial addons, this may be hard to figure out, for an easier way to view which addons from the launcher you are using, open the "settings.xml" file in your current Windower folder, and check the entries that are marked by the "<addon>" tag, for example "<addon>Distance</addon>" means you're using the "Distance" addon.
Close Windower.
Delete the "settings.xml" file in this folder, e.g. "Windower4-new/settings.xml".
Copy all the contents of the new "Windower4-new" folder into your regular Windower folder. Overwrite any files it asks you to.
This should be it. Launch your regular Windower, through whichever way you normally start it, and see if everything works. If you find an addon that doesn't quite behave like before, it's possible that it overwrote its settings. In that case, go to the "Windower4-backup" folder, and copy that particular addon's settings under "Windower4-backup/addons/<addon>/data/" into your current addon's "data" folder.
Notes
This version of Windower will no longer update core, plugins or addons. It will, however, still update resources. This could be a problem in theory, if we ever change the structure of our resources. However, we haven't changed their structure in over 10 years, and I don't foresee this happening anymore. If it does, we will find a solution for it.
Finally, if you're still on Windows 7 you have probably heard this line often, and are tired of it, but the best solution really would be to upgrade your OS. If you're on old hardware, or tired of Microsoft's bullshit, you should look into Linux. There are plenty of gaming oriented Linux distributions that work well on old hardware, and are easy to set up for newcomers. And with Lumoria, installing FFXI with Windower is painless on Linux these days, possibly more so than on Windows.
If you're experiencing any issues with any of this (including using Windower on Linux, with or without Lumoria), please let us know, either here or in our Discord server.
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