The Go Programming Language

go-legacy-win7 is a fork of the Go programming language that maintains support for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2, and allows for deprecated go get behaviour. This project aims to provide a stable Go environment for users who need to support legacy Windows systems or prefer the traditional Go workflow.

Gopher image by Renee French, licensed under Creative Commons 4.0 Attribution licence.

Differences from Upstream Go

1. Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 Support
   While the official Go project has dropped support for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2, this fork maintains compatibility with these legacy Windows systems.

   Tested on Windows 7 RTM (build 7600) — no updates required — through Windows 11 24H2

2. Classic go get Behaviour
   This fork allows for the deprecated go get behaviour when GO111MODULE is set to "off" or "auto". This means:

   • In GOPATH/src, go get and go install can operate in GOPATH mode.
   • Outside of GOPATH/src, these commands can use module-aware mode when appropriate.

3. Compatibility Notes
   Please be aware that some newer Go features may not be fully compatible with Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2. We try to maintain as much functionality as possible, but some limitations may exist.

Changes in Each Release

Every release includes the following modifications:

• Switched back to RtlGenRandom from ProcessPrng, which breaks Win7/2008R2 (reverted 693def1)
• Added back LoadLibraryA fallback to load system libraries (reverted a17d959)
• Added back sysSocket fallback for socket syscalls (reverted 7c1157f)
• Added back Windows 7 console handle workaround (reverted 48042aa)
• Added back 5ms sleep on Windows 7/8 in (*Process).Wait (reverted f0894a0)
• Restored deprecated go get behavior for use outside modules (reverted de4d503)
• Reverted to the previous removeall_noat variant for Windows (fixed issue #2)
• Includes all improvements and bug fixes from the corresponding upstream Go release

The Windows binary provided here also supports Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2

Download and Install

Binary Distributions

OS	Architecture	Filename	SHA‑256 Hash
macOS	Intel (amd64)	go-legacy-win7-1.25.1-1.darwin_amd64.tar.gz	4bd9d9a3079c1b4d81b22d999697903fa9ac95eb18dee9376a88e6fa82474943
macOS	Apple (ARM64)	go-legacy-win7-1.25.1-1.darwin_arm64.tar.gz	d269eb12273f6a94df965a4bcd46b67aafe45467701b6e1ddf0df31d687b55bb
Linux	x86 (386)	go-legacy-win7-1.25.1-1.linux_386.tar.gz	de0d649fff56dd0fcdd335c5a126ad5847cf0a227724cff44f86cb78d14ddc43
Linux	x64 (amd64)	go-legacy-win7-1.25.1-1.linux_amd64.tar.gz	452aafba7800600da66dfeb36d3cf291f9c01381fdc6e24441aba7697c49d33a
Linux	ARM (32‑bit)	go-legacy-win7-1.25.1-1.linux_arm.tar.gz	eb80a1f41bd3e21c0f857500b2d30afcd17311f902ea3c04c13e345664a54ff6
Linux	ARM64	go-legacy-win7-1.25.1-1.linux_arm64.tar.gz	a05468e7b90fbeee70610dc4c1a439d7929a0ec06765d5cb0454cd900e4f90cb
Windows	x86 (386)	go-legacy-win7-1.25.1-1.windows_386.zip	c7c90918f8506e2fd28270a38a03e5200635e2183e4365090e7b00aca5a320be
Windows	x64 (amd64)	go-legacy-win7-1.25.1-1.windows_amd64.zip	aa6c2a22bb7c8e4ac632e3656ce6eb3461de7ea0645064496f161bc4edc47555
Windows	ARM64	go-legacy-win7-1.25.1-1.windows_arm64.zip	fe498473f8f6cc7ad7f5d41a46acebc8f6ac1be7edaeb75f356eb604061b4276

Before you begin

To avoid PATH/GOROOT conflicts and mixed toolchains, uninstall any existing Go installation first.

Windows Installation

1. Download the go-legacy-win7-<version>.windows_<arch>.zip file.
2. Extract the ZIP to C:\ (or any preferred location). This will create a go-legacy-win7 folder.
3. Add the following to your system environment variables:
   • Add C:\go-legacy-win7\bin (or your chosen path) to the system PATH.
   • Set GOROOT to C:\go-legacy-win7 (or your chosen path).
4. Add the following to your user environment variables:
   • Add %USERPROFILE%\go\bin to the user PATH.
   • Set GOPATH to %USERPROFILE%\go.

macOS and Linux Installation

1. Download the appropriate go-legacy-win7-<version>.<os>_<arch>.tar.gz file.

   • For macOS: go-legacy-win7-<version>.darwin_<arch>.tar.gz
   • For Linux: go-legacy-win7-<version>.linux_<arch>.tar.gz

2. Extract the archive to /usr/local:

   sudo tar -C /usr/local -xzf go-legacy-win7-<version>.<os>_<arch>.tar.gz
   

3. Add the following to your shell configuration file:

   • For bash, add to ~/.bash_profile or ~/.bashrc
   • For zsh, add to ~/.zshrc

   export GOROOT=/usr/local/go-legacy-win7
   export GOPATH=$HOME/go
   export PATH=$PATH:$GOROOT/bin:$GOPATH/bin
   

4. Apply the changes:

   • For bash: source ~/.bash_profile or source ~/.bashrc
   • For zsh: source ~/.zshrc

   Note:

   • On macOS Catalina and later, zsh is the default shell.
   • On most Linux distributions, bash is the default shell.

After installation, verify the installation by opening a new terminal and running:

go version

Install From Source

To install from source, please follow the steps on the official website.

Contributing

Feedback and issue reports are welcome, and we encourage you to open pull requests to contribute to the project. We appreciate your help!

Note that the Go project uses the issue tracker for bug reports and proposals only. See https://go.dev/wiki/Questions for a list of places to ask questions about the Go language.