Windows 7/8.1/Server 2012R2: Deactivate Google Chrome notification to upgrade to Windows 10

[German]With the end of support for the Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 operating systems, Google will also end support for the Google Chrome browser. Google has therefore started to warn users of this browser on Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 – and also on its server pendants – that support is ending and that they should switch to Windows 10. After being asked bei German blog reader how to disable this warning, here's a brief overview of the issue.

Windows 7/8.1 support ends

After all, support for Windows 7 SP1 had already expired in January 2020 – but in enterprise environments there was the option of an ESU program to get Extended Security Updates until January 2023. I had covered this in the article Wow! Windows 7 get extended support until January 2023.

Windows 8.1 will also reach the end of support. This operating system will receive its last security update on January 10, 2023, on Microsoft Patchday, and will be considered "End-of-Life" (EOL) from that point on. The operating system should have been showing end-of-support warnings for some time (see Windows 8.1 now shows warnings "end of support in January 2023").

So far, I am not aware of Microsoft extending support beyond January 2023 for Windows 7 or Windows 8.1. This question came up once in August 2022 (see Will Microsoft provide ESU support for Windows 7/8.1 and Server beyond January 2023?). But Windows Server 2012 R2 gets security updates until October 2023. Whether these updates are installable in Windows 8.1 isn't known. Those who need to continue running Windows Server 2008 R2 can buy extended support through Microsoft until Jan. 9, 2024. Also oPatch wants to offer support for Server 2008 R2 until Jan. 2024. I had pointed this out in the above post.

Google Chrome Support ends

Google had promised that they would continue to support the Google Chrome browser under Windows 7 SP1 until January 2023 (see Windows 7: Google Chrome gets support until January 2023). At the end of October 2022, in the blog post Windows 7/8.1: Google ends support in February 2023, Edge also affected, I had reminded people of this date and pointed out that Windows 8.1 users would also be affected by the end of support for the Chrome browser.

In comments to my German blog post Chrome 108.0.5359.71/72/61 freigegeben user mentioned that the browser now shows a notification (translated):

You need Windows 10 or later to receive future Google Chrome updates. This computer uses Windows 7.
More information Version 108.0.5359.72 (Official Build) (64-bit).

So it's clear, that the support will end soon, but for December 2022 as well as January 2023 the browser is still in support after all. And also in February 2023 the browser will continue to run – it just does not receive any more updates and thus no more vulnerabilities are closed.

Users of Windows 8.1 receives a similar notification. And also administrators has left comments at the blog post Chrome 108.0.5359.71/72/61 freigegeben saying, that also Windows Server 2012 R2 triggers Google Chrome to show the notification, although this OS is still under support untill October 2023.

How to deactivate the notification?

Within my German blog, users asked here and here, how to disable this annoying notification in Google Chrome. The support article Disable "To get future Google Chrome updates, you'll need Windows 10 or later" from Google seems to be helpful. It states there that Chrome has been showing the following message since November 2022:

To get future Google Chrome updates, you'll need Windows 10 or later. Windows 8.1 is used on this computer.

So basically the same message as Windows 7 SP1. The latest version of Google Chrome without this message is 107.0.5304.122.

Disable notifcation in Windows 7/8.1

However, if you want to use the current browser without the message continuing to be displayed, you can hide this via a registry entry. To do this, you can save the following instructions in a .reg file:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Google\Chrome]
"SuppressUnsupportedOSWarning"=dword:00000001

If this .reg file is imported via double-click and the Chrome browser is restarted, the message should not appear in the future. The support article from Google, linked above, mentions, that the solution may not work for Chrome portable. But I received freedback from German blog readers, that it works for installed and portable versions of Google Chrome in Windows 7 SP1 and Windows 8.1.

Using the registry branch HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE instead of HKCU in the above .reg file shall suppress the notification for all user accounts on a machine.

The registry entry triggers a notification "Managed by organization", but that doesn't harm.

Disable notifcation in Brave browser

A German user reported, that Chrome based Brave browser also shows this notification, but the registry entries mentioned above won't work. Instead he used the following modified .reg file.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\BraveSoftware\Brave]
"SuppressUnsupportedOSWarning"=dword:00000001

to disable the notification. Using the registry branch HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE instead of HKCU in the above .reg file shall suppress the notification for all user accounts on a machine.

Microsoft Ege

Also Microsoft Edge will show the notification on Windows 7/8.1. Use the following modified .reg file to hide the notification.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Edge]
"SuppressUnsupportedOSWarning"=dword:00000001

Windows Server 2012 R2 GPO

Although Windows Server 2012 R2 is still under support untill October 2023, some German users reported, that they also receiving the "upgrade to Windows 10 notification" mentioned above. There the same registry settings may be uses to deactivate the notification. Or use a GPO setting:

Get-GPO -Name "Name der Chrome GPO" | Set-GPRegistryValue `
-Key "HKCU\Software\Policies\Google\Chrome" `
-ValueName "SuppressUnsupportedOSWarning" `
-Type DWORD -Value 1

Maybe that helps affected users and administrators.