Hi,
Just asking for a friend (honest!) on another forum, who is looking for a VST host, but it needs to run on WIN7.
They are looking at Cantabile, but they think that a stumbling block is that Cantabile needs .NET 4.7.1 which is not available for WIN7, but on a quick look it appears you can download that version of .NET for WIN7
But I thought it might be easier to just ask this wonderful community to see if people are still using WIN7 and whether it is still a viable option?
Hi,
Iām still on Win7 for one of my live laptops.
I have 2x Dell E6430 3rd gen i7 for live play. One is a backup.
Both used to be Win7 but I updated one to Win10 and it was no longer able to play the same set without significant drops outs.
Pretty sad, I tried everything to get performance back under Win10.
It simply must have been a driver issue. I have a hunch itās Intel Dynamic Platform and Thermal Framework.
Iām building a pair of 3U rack PCs out of old Dell T1700 workstations.
Iāll be installing Win7 on one and Win10 on the other for testing over the next week or so.
Someone started a āwonāt run on Win10ā thread a while ago.
I run a wide range of plugins under Win7 and I think a pretty close to latest C3 build.
I can only add the obvious words of caution - it definitely isnāt advisable to stay on Windows 7 for much longer - unless you keep that machine in a āsealed spaceā, away from any outside impact.
Windows 7 is by now over 12 years old, Microsoft support has ended in January 2020, so there will be no more security updates or bug fixes; also hardware driver availability is an increasing issue. In a rapidly moving cyber security landscape, active Windows 7 systems are definitely a significant security risk, so anyone running Win 7 systems in a professional capacity are putting their business at unnecessary risk.
There may be some legacy applications or hardware components that still arenāt compatible with Win 10, but over six years after the launch of Windows 10, there should be good reasons to retire / modernize these pieces of hardware and replace the applications with modern alternatives.
Sure, different story if you are a hobbyist and need to make software and hardware last as long as possible, but you should be aware of the risksā¦
Just my 0.02 EURā¦
Cheers,
Torsten
Still running Win7 on my DAW as well as live rigs. No drop outs, driver issues or crashes.
Unless you have a VST or other software demanding Win10, Win 7 can still be used. There may be some security issues going forward, however, as Win10 and now Win11 gain ācritical massā in deployment, hackers will abandon attempts to breach older machines.
Hi, Torsten
I would agree myself, I am just asking if it is possible to run Cantabile on WIN7. The person I am asking for is pretty savvy from a technical perspective so will be aware of the risks and mitigations. 
Hi,
Thanks for replying. I assume you have had no issues with getting the right version of .NET on the system? And no complaints from Cantabile?
Should be ok, but recently I needed to look at unofficial channels for Win7 64bit iso as theyāve disappeared from Microsoftās site. (I found them on the internet archive)
Maybe starting to happen for components too?
According Intel datasheet, Windows10 is required to make the best use of recent processors. Of course, if you are using 3rd to 6th generation i5/i7, Windows 7 is also fine.
More, some new plugins (like my Waves IR1), wonāt work with Windows 7.
In 2018 I tried to setup a Windows 7 4th gen i7 gig-laptop. I got:
Latencymon reports āunable to use for real-time musicā. Well, after Windows 10 install, all these problems disappeared. Not a fast PC, but rock solid. I gave it to my guitarist, to explore the amp sims world, never a crash.
So, Torsten is right: Windows 7 is OK for hobby and old hardware compatibility. For serious things, better Win10.
Thanks, all
I donāt want this to get into a lengthy debate about the pros and cons of running WIN7 instead of WIN10 in this day and age.
Please assume that my friend wants to run on WIN7 and cannot or does not wish to run on WIN10 (for whatever reason), and is conversant with the risks of running on an obsolete OS that is no longer getting security updates, and is happy to accept and manage that risk. Also assume that their WIN7 laptop is fine for running real time apps like Cantabile.
Can we please limit any further responses to peopleās experience of running on WIN7 if they still are, and, more specifically, if .NET versions has been an issue?
Thanks in advance.
Derek,
Sorry for the unnecessary information overload.
Iām installing Cantabile 3 on my VMware Windows 7, I see no issue. The .NET 4.7.1 was already installed, anyway.
Do you need further specific test?
Paolo
Hi Derek, as I stated, I have had NO problems with Cantabile and Win7. Your friend should do a clean install of Win7 then proceed to install ALL updates. Next, he should read and implement EVERYTHING in Bradās guide to Glitch Free Audio.
Thanks, both.
I will feed back to my friend and point to this thread.
I run Cantabile 3 on Windows 7 with no problems. The Cantabile installer took care of NET 4.7.1 for me.
I havenāt tried Cantabile 4 on the Windows 7 machines though.
At last resort, Win 8.1 is a good upgradeā¦just may be hard to find.
Hi, all
Just to report back, my friend now has Cantabile working on WIN7. Turns out the .NET issue was to do with some missing trust certificates.
They are very happy with what they have setup and running, and, as I expected, they do have some specific reasons for staying on WIN7 due to some software compatibility issues that preclude later versions of Windows, and the security issues are well understood and managed.
My reinstall of Win7 was a pain.
First I needed to find a specific KB patch so that Dell drivers would install!
Then I ran into the out of date root certificates issue which manifested as the RME HDSPe AIO drivers refusing to install.
Thereās a roll up of post SP1 fixes from MS that sorts most of this out.
My fried had the same issue with certificates. Once that was sorted itās all running nicely.
Just for completeness, Rara, my friend has posted the following over on Yamaha Musicians and our forum on how to solve the WIN7 certificates issue.
Awesome!
I ran LatencyMon on the Win 7 system and was pleased to see some of the best stats Iāve ever seen.
I hadnāt optimised apart from the power plan.
I think what made a big difference was not using an Nvidia graphics card and keeping the USB 3.0 ports
The Win10 system (virtually identical hardware) wasnāt as good (some 10% extra time load), until i moved devices off the USB3.0 ports, then it was more even.
Iām going to have to test further with identical set lists to see how things stack up in the real world.
Yes. Cantabile will run on WIN7. I have a laptop that wont upgrade (not the term I would actually use) to WIN 10. These days, I turn off hte networking and use sneakernet to transfer files.
