Latest Steam Client Beta backport keeps Windows 7 and Windows 8 gaming PCs on life support — unofficial solution gives a lifeline to legacy users

While Steam may no longer support Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 8.1, the passionate community keeps gaming thriving on older PCs. Eazy Black (via The Bob Pony) has managed to unofficially bring the latest Steam Client Beta (December 4, 2025 build) to these beloved, unsupported systems.

The backport works best on 64-bit versions of Windows 7 with Service Pack 1 (SP1) and Windows 8.x. You'll need to have your operating system up to date for the backports to work correctly. But if you prefer to limit Windows updates, The Bob Pony suggests installing at least KB976932, KB2999226, and KB3080149 or KB4474419 to help keep things running smoothly.

You can find the 230MB installer on the w7revived.chefkiss.dev website. Additionally, The Bob Pony offers mirror downloads, which you can check out in the tweet below. While backports are a fantastic way to enjoy the latest Steam features and enhancements, please keep in mind that they are unofficial solutions. Responsibility for any issues that may arise with your system lies with you since Steam stopped supporting Windows 7 and Windows 8.x in January of 2024.

While Windows 7 has been a fantastic operating system, progress marches on. You’ll notice that Windows 7 gamers on Steam are now quite rare, with only 0.05% according to the latest hardware survey. This operating system is nearing the end of its journey, so there's not much anyone can do about it.

Meanwhile, Windows 11, which has received much criticism, continues to gain popularity and now holds a 69.2% share. Since Microsoft recently ended support for Windows 10, many gamers are bitterly switching over to Windows 11. Currently, only 30.66% of Steam users still use Windows 10, which is a 2.17% decrease from last month. That's the last of the gamers who are still holding out on upgrading.

PC gaming boasts a wonderful community, full of passionate enthusiasts who keep Steam gaming alive for legacy Windows systems. As Steam continues to update its client regularly, it might only be a matter of time before we see fewer backports, or perhaps a day will come when Steam makes it impossible to backport anything at all. Many of these enthusiasts are balancing real lives, and their efforts to create these backports are truly acts of love.

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