Support for Windows 7, 8 and 32-bit architecture

[billziss-gh]

Currently WinFsp supports Windows 7 to Windows 11 and the x86, x64 and ARM64 architectures.

Unfortunately it is becoming increasingly harder to support older operating systems and the x86 (32-bit) architecture:

• Microsoft in their latest WDK has removed support for operating systems prior to 10 or the x86 architecture. For this reason WinFsp is being built with VS2019 and an older WDK.

• Automated testing on Windows 7 or the x86 architecture is not currently possible. (Automated testing on Windows 8 is still possible.)

• As old systems die, building dev/test VM’s with old operating systems and architectures is difficult.

Consequently WinFsp may have to eventually drop support for Windows 7, 8 and the x86 architecture. To clarify there is currently no plan to drop this support, but it is something that may be necessary in the future.

Your feedback is appreciated.

[socram8888]

Microsoft is going to support 32-bit systems until at least January 9th, 2029, so I am not sure if it'd be wise to remove support for that architecture anytime soon.

[NiKiZe]

Keep a separate branch with the support, and/or document which release is the last one with the support.

Alternatively use a separate solutionfile for legacy, only do basic checks on this.