Windows 7 support
Revision as of 09:57, 8 September 2010 by Torley Linden (talk | contribs)
This question comes up a lot in the forums in varied forms, and this page is a stopgap to answer:
- Is the Second Life Viewer compatible with Windows 7?
- Does Second Life run on Windows 7?
- Can I use Second Life on Windows 7?
The answer is officially yes from Linden Lab, with the following caveats:
- The System Requirements page needs to be updated, since omission of "Windows 7" has caused considerable confusion. Changes are pending in the queue behind other web updates. Yes, it sounds counterintuitive — dontcha wish it was as easy to change some text there as this wiki? ;)
- The Second Life Viewer supports 32-bit Windows 7. Official 64-bit Windows 7 compatibility is unconfirmed. Torley's asked to find out if there are any particular known issues with 64-bit Windows 7, since there are an increasing number of modern systems that have >3 GB of RAM. There are many reports of the Viewer running fine on 64-bit, also called "x64". What's the difference between 32-bit and 64-bit?
- Some of the most common problems reported with a "Viewer 2.x and Windows 7" system are due to non-Windows 7-specific reasons:
- Non-existent or outdated graphics card drivers. Be sure to update them — that's true for every version of Windows.
- If your hardware is underpowered to begin with and doesn't otherwise meet the System Requirements, the Viewer won't run well, or at all. For example, netbooks with "Windows 7 Starter" that have too slow a CPU or graphics card.
Updates needed for this page? Contact Torley.