Windows 7, 8 and 8.1

These editions have no WebView2, so they run the Windows 7 build: utly-remote-win7.exe, published as https://remote.utly.dev/remote-win7.exe. It is the same core, session controller, host service and agent as the main build with native dialogs in place of the webview console, and it hosts only — viewing from one of these machines uses the web viewer.

What it needs

• Windows 7 SP1, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Server 2008 R2 SP1, Server 2012 or Server 2012 R2, 64-bit. Nothing else: the C runtime is linked into the exe and no runtime package is installed.
• On Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2, update KB4474419 (SHA-2 code signing support, 2019). Utly Remote is signed with SHA-256 only; without the update Windows cannot read the signature, so the elevation prompt for the host service shows an unknown publisher. The program still runs — the ID window says so and shows a balloon pointing at the update (checked under the Windows 7 compatibility layer on Windows 10: a signed build stays quiet, an unsigned one raises the note).
• The main installer (remote-setup.exe) refuses to run on anything below Windows 10 and points at this build instead.

What is different

• No account page: the Windows 7 build hosts and connects without one, and everything an account adds (the synced address book) belongs to the viewer side.

• No self-update: download the current remote-win7.exe from utly.dev and replace the file.

• The scam warning before the first unattended password is a Yes/No system dialog rather than the board; the ten-minute cool-down and the acknowledgement are the same file the main build uses. There is no report form; report an ID from the main build or by mail.

• The console is three native windows: the ID window (ID, online state, unattended password, ask-on-screen, lock-on-end, host service install and removal, version and log path) which closes to the tray; the accept board with the peer ID, trust note, the four SAS words and the four grants; and the strip at the top of the work area while connected, with the live grants, Send a file and End. The tray icon shows the ID window, sends a file to the viewer and quits, and balloons report copied files, ended sessions and the update above.

• Screen capture goes through GDI, because DXGI desktop duplication needs Windows 8: BitBlt per monitor at 25 fps, a tile hash skipping unchanged frames, the cursor read separately. Expect more CPU per frame than the main build and no hardware paths.

• Audio, clipboard, files, multi-monitor, unattended access, reconnect, Ctrl+Alt+Del through the service and lock-on-end work as in the main build.

The host service

The ID window’s Install… runs the exe elevated with --install-service (the same step the main installer performs) and restarts the app to attach to the service; Remove… runs --uninstall-service. From an elevated prompt the same two commands work by hand, as do --service and --agent for diagnosis. Data lives where the main build keeps it: %LOCALAPPDATA%\dev.utly.remote for the portable identity, %ProgramData%\Utly Remote once the service owns it.

Building it

scripts\legacy.ps1 -release — see the README. The target x86_64-win7-windows-msvc is tier 3, so the script installs the pinned nightly it names and builds the standard library alongside; .cargo/config.toml links the C runtime statically for that target only. The version resource carries “Utly Remote (Windows 7 build)” so a support screenshot tells the two apart.