Let’s be honest: Windows 7 is the automotive equivalent of a perfectly broken-in leather jacket. It’s comfortable, you know every creak and shortcut, and you swore you’d never upgrade. But for engineers and CAD professionals, the “End of Life” notice from Microsoft felt like a gut punch.

Bentley’s 2023 and 2024 releases have quietly dropped support for Windows 7. If you try to install the newest version, you will get a cryptic .NET Framework error and a lot of frustration.

April 13, 2026

Stuck in the Past but Rendering the Future: Running Bentley View on Windows 7

It’s stable, it’s free, and it reminds us of a time when software did exactly what you asked it to, without trying to sell you a cloud subscription.