Arduino IDE update spectacular fail

[jeffo777]

Updated working Arduino IDE to new version.

Received following error on startup of the new version in Win7:

Uninstalled new version. Installed Win7 "Legacy" version 1.8.19

Same error.

Any help would be appreciated.

[ptillisch]

Hi @jeffo777. Although it has never been an officially supported operating system for the Arduino IDE 2.x project, IDE versions before 2.2.0 did have incidental compatibility with Windows 7.

In case you are not able to update to a modern supported version of Windows, I'll provide instructions you can follow to install the last Windows 7 compatible version: Arduino IDE 2.1.1:

1. Click the following link to open the page for the 2.1.1 release in the Arduino IDE GitHub repository:
   Release 2.1.1 · arduino/arduino-ide · GitHub

2. From the list of download links under the "Assets" section of the page, click one of the following links:

   • If you want the installer package: arduino-ide_2.1.1_Windows_64bit.exe
   • If you want the "MSI" package: arduino-ide_2.1.1_Windows_64bit.msi
   • If you want the "ZIP" package: arduino-ide_2.1.1_Windows_64bit.zip

   ⓘ If you aren't sure which one you need, use arduino-ide_2.1.1_Windows_64bit.exe

3. Wait for the download to finish.

4. Install Arduino IDE from the downloaded file as you would normally do.

Disabling IDE Update Notifications

You will now find that Arduino IDE periodically shows an "Update Available" dialog to offer you an update to the newer version of Arduino IDE. You must not accept these updates since the newer versions are not compatible with the vintage Windows versions.

There are two methods for dealing with these update offers. I'll provide instructions for both of them. You can pick whichever one of the two is most convenient for you.

"SKIP VERSION"

The "Update Available" dialog contains a "SKIP VERSION" button. If you click that button, Arduino IDE will no longer show the dialog for the specific newer version being offered at the time you click the button.

The dialog will appear once again each time Arduino releases a new version of Arduino IDE, so you will need to click the button again after each release. That is slightly inconvenient, but the release cycle is fairly long so I don't think it will be very burdensome.

Disable All Update Offers

It is possible to completely disable the offers of updates in the Arduino IDE advanced settings. The downside is this setting also disables offers of updates for your installed boards platforms and libraries.

1. Press the Ctrl+Shift+P keyboard shortcut (Command+Shift+P for macOS users) to open the "Command Palette".
   A menu will appear on the editor toolbar:
   
2. Select the "Preferences: Open Settings (UI)" command from the menu.
   ⓘ You can scroll down through the list of commands to find it or type the name in the field.
   A "Preferences" tab will open in the Arduino IDE main panel.
3. Type arduino.checkForUpdates in the "Search Settings" field of the "Preferences" tab.
4. Uncheck the box under the "Arduino: Check For Updates" setting.
5. Close the Preferences tab by clicking its X icon.

If you chose this method, make sure to periodically check to see if newer versions of your installed boards platforms and libraries are available. You can do this by opening Boards Manager and then setting the "Type" menu to "Updatable", then repeating the process with Library Manager.

[jeffo777]

That worked perfectly ptillisch, Thank you!

Spectacular response time too, I think you got back to me in less than ten minutes.

Thanks very much.

[ptillisch]

You are welcome. I'm glad it is working now.

Regards,
Per