Calibre v5.x on Windows 7 (use on your own risk!)

skariks · 11-15-2020, 12:25 PM

Hello all,

First I'd like to say a big "Thank you!" to the author and anyone who contributed to Calibre project for the great software!

In short I've got here while searching for a convenient way to upgrade Calibre from version 4.23 to the latest 5.5 on Windows 7. I wanted to post my findings in the thread "Windows 7 compatibility excessive restriction", but it seems closed, so I couldn't do that.

I'm sure there are still many people like me that for many reasons are staying on Win7 and in the same time want to use latest version of Calibre, which provides new features, fixes and etc.
I don't want to go into more details or discussions why I'm staying on Win7 or whatever, but just want to share the workaround I've found for myself and that it works excellent for me, so if someone else wants to try on his own risk - below is the best solution for me.

I'm not sure that I can post here any links to external sources, so I'll describe the way I've installed Calibre 5.5 64 bit edition MSI installer on my Win7.

There is a MS tool called Orca, which allows editing of MSI installers and it is part of Microsoft Windows Software Development Kit (SDK). It is available from MS and free to download on their site - just search for it.
I've used currently the latest version Windows 10 SDK (10.0.19041.0) and downloaded the .ISO package, so that I can install only Orca from in it.
You should mount the .ISO file or open it with 7-Zip and extract the whole "Installers" sub-directory somewhere on your computer and then install Orca-x86_en-us.msi.
It will install silently without any popup windows or setup wizards and will integrate in Windows Explorer Context Menu (Right click menu on a file).
After you have Orca installed already download the Calibre 5.x installer version you want and select it, right click on the file and choose "Edit with Orca" from the menu.
In the newly opened window of Orca located in the left pane titled "Tables" the row "LaunchCondition" and select it. On the right pane you will see a grid with 2 columns "Condition" and "Description".
Select the "Condition" column and double-click on the only row with text "Installed OR (VersionNT >= 602)" and you will enter in edit mode in the cell. Change the version required from 602 to 601, so that the text in the condition cell is "Installed OR (VersionNT >= 601)".
That's all and you are ready. Hit enter and to exit edit mode, close the Orca app and confirm saving the changes on exit.
Now you can install the Calibre 5.x using the install wizard without the blocking validation for Windows 8 and newer version. Note that the value of 601 means Windows 7 in condition validation ("Installed OR (VersionNT >= 601)").

For me Calibre 5.5 64 bit works excellent and books are displayed as it should in the Viewer (when I select "View" button in the toolbar). For me it is working the same way on v3.x, v4.x and now v5.x.

I hope that by providing this workaround anyone could try it on his own risk and if something goes wrong - doesn't blame or ask for help the author/developer of the Calibre, as it is clearly stated that Win7 is not officially supported for v4.x and newer!

Regards

Gozer404 · 11-17-2020, 01:48 PM

Great! I was just struggling with the same issue and will try your solution ASAP. By the way the portable version of Calibre 5.5 is working fine without any issues (as of to now) which is very difficult to understand !

-- EDIT
Tried on calibre-5.5.0.msi win32 version after installing Orca from 19041.1.191206-1406.vb_release_WindowsSDK.iso and it failed:

Error says The cabinet file 'calibre.cab' is corrupt and cannot be used during installation:

In the past I rolled back from calibre 64 bits to calibre 32 bits and I don't remember why...
Can anyone confirm that I can now use the 64bits version and keep all my configurations and books ?

[EDIT] For your information, trick is still working with calibre-64bit-5.40.0 !!!

automathias · 12-06-2020, 08:01 AM

Hello shariks,

Even as you, I'd like to say a big "Thank you!" to the author and anyone who contributed to Calibre project for the great software!

Otherwise, there are realy many People witch prefer Win 7. MeMyselfAndI enclosed. I do not understand why David Koyal made this restrictions, so that you have to use the newer Versions Win 8 or 10 !
Is it only the 'Dark Mode' of Win 10 ?

But many thanks for Your Hint. I did't know that there exists such a simple editor for .msi.
It works fine. No Problems on Calibre 5.7 64K !

Many Thanks again !

JSWolf · 12-06-2020, 01:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by automathias

Hello shariks,

Even as you, I'd like to say a big "Thank you!" to the author and anyone who contributed to Calibre project for the great software!

Otherwise, there are realy many People witch prefer Win 7. MeMyselfAndI enclosed. I do not understand why David Koyal made this restrictions, so that you have to use the newer Versions Win 8 or 10 !
Is it only the 'Dark Mode' of Win 10 ?

But many thanks for Your Hint. I did't know that there exists such a simple editor for .msi.
It works fine. No Problems on Calibre 5.7 64K !

Many Thanks again !

I think you've made a typo. That would be Calibre 5.6 64-bit.

The reason for not allowing Calibre 5 on Windows 7 is because it doesn't work in a number of systems. So instead of having a support nightmare, it was decided to not allow Calibre 5 on Windows 7.

You really should upgrade to Windows 10. Given that Windows 7 is no longer supported, it just going to have more and more software not running on it.

Vortex · 02-19-2021, 04:14 PM

Thank you skariks!

I found you can just download Orca here: https://www.technipages.com/download-orca-msi-editor
Worked perfectly.

ShellShock · 02-21-2021, 02:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vortex

Thank you skariks!

I found you can just download Orca here: [snip]

Please don’t encourage people to download software from somewhere other than the genuine source, which in this case is Microsoft. Links to software on third party sites just desensitises people to clicking and downloading from any old link, and the next one might be a virus.

Even with a well known site like Microsoft, I would not provide a url (which can be spoofed), but enough information so someone can go direct to the Microsoft site, enter the appropriate search term, and find the correct download link for themselves.

Calibrebee · 03-02-2021, 03:54 PM

Hello Skariks,

Believe it or not, this discovery of yours might be a gift for me. I admit to being very comfortable with my Win 7. It was custom made (not by me exactly) and fits me just right. I've been told that Win 10 isn't much different as compared to 7. But right now is a bad time for me to change my operating system (due to covid).

I was excited about the upgrades to Calibre 5, but my smile soon turned into a poo-poo face when I saw that it was only for Win 10

It's good to know this is working out for you. I will keep you in mind when I give it a try.

CalibreBee

JSWolf · 03-03-2021, 05:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Calibrebee

Hello Skariks,

Believe it or not, this discovery of yours might be a gift for me. I admit to being very comfortable with my Win 7. It was custom made (not by me exactly) and fits me just right. I've been told that Win 10 isn't much different as compared to 7. But right now is a bad time for me to change my operating system (due to covid).

Why would Covid be an issue to upgrade to Windows 10? It is still free.

chaley · 03-03-2021, 05:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Why would Covid be an issue to upgrade to Windows 10? It is still free.

@JSWolf, perhaps it is time to back off on this crusade of yours. You don't know what is going on in everyone's life. Changing anything takes desire, mental energy, knowledge, time, and perhaps money; all which might be in short supply.

The above and the fact that the upgrade sometimes doesn't work no matter what you do. Example: I have a Lenovo laptop that came with Win 8.1. When I tried to upgrade to Win 10 I found that there were no W10 graphics drivers that worked, and the touch screen stopped working. When I downgraded, Win8 was no longer activated. I had to reinstall from scratch. That "null upgrade" cost me several days. It would have been catastrophic if I hadn't had full partition-level backups on a local NAS.

BetterRed · 03-03-2021, 06:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Why would Covid be an issue to upgrade to Windows 10? It is still free.

Sheez - I guess you missed Dot Joining 101 in nursery school ==>> https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...31&postcount=4

BR

Calibrebee · 03-06-2021, 09:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Why would Covid be an issue to upgrade to Windows 10? It is still free.

To meet with the demands of COVID, my position in healthcare doesn't leave much free time (for me) to become proficient with a new OS. And my Win 7 was customized, I know my way through the back doors, and it meets my needs. I realize I need to upgrade, and it's good to know that it's still free

However right now, I am finding it more difficult to use Calibre as I would like. But after encountering many conversion errors, I just realized I'd been running v 4.11 on Win 7, and now have to roll back to 3.8. I didn't pay attention to the directions on the Calibre download site.

CalibreBee

JSWolf · 03-06-2021, 04:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Calibrebee

To meet with the demands of COVID, my position in healthcare doesn't leave much free time (for me) to become proficient with a new OS. And my Win 7 was customized, I know my way through the back doors, and it meets my needs. I realize I need to upgrade, and it's good to know that it's still free

However right now, I am finding it more difficult to use Calibre as I would like. But after encountering many conversion errors, I just realized I'd been running v 4.11 on Win 7, and now have to roll back to 3.8. I didn't pay attention to the directions on the Calibre download site.

CalibreBee

You might be able to run Calibre 5 on your Widows 7 system. First backup your library database files (no need to backup the entire library). Install the current version 5 and try it out. Read post 5 in this thread for a .msi editor so you can install Calibre 5. If it doesn't fully work (preview in the editor and/or eBook viewer) then you can uninstall and try Calibre 4.23. 4.23 should work.

One note...If you are on a laptop with dual display chips and Calibre 5 fails to work, run it with the other display chip and see if it then works. The problem is that the version of QTWebKit being used has issues with some display drivers and Windows 7 systems tend to have older display drivers. But that doesn't mean it won't work. Just that it might not. And if you use the DeDRM plugin, don't update it until you are sure Calibre 5 works.

If you decide to do this, please let us know how it goes. I know I'd give it a go.

sebring.1980 · 08-25-2021, 09:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Why would Covid be an issue to upgrade to Windows 10? It is still free.

Cheese in a mouse trap is free as well...

belive it or not i downgraded to windows 7 because windows 10 is plain rubbish in my opinion just for the fact you cannot disable automatic updates.

Its only OS used to lunch icons (applications) of desktop so what difference what i use 7 or 10, i'd use windows 2000 if it still functioned with most apps.
Next i plan to go away from Microsoft OS all together and install something open source rather than OS that spy on your every move.

RobertJSawyer · 10-27-2021, 01:35 PM

As @Gozer404 said in this message, trying this trick with 32-bit calibre on a Windows 7 32-bit machine failed for me, too.

The error message I got from calibre Setup was: "The installer has encountered an unexpected error installing this package. This may indicate a problem with this package. The error code is 2356."

Ah, well. No Libra 2 for me.

11-15-2020, 12:25 PM	#1
skariks Junior Member Posts: 2 Karma: 9260 Join Date: Nov 2020 Device: Nook simple touch	Calibre v5.x on Windows 7 (use on your own risk!) Hello all, First I'd like to say a big "Thank you!" to the author and anyone who contributed to Calibre project for the great software! In short I've got here while searching for a convenient way to upgrade Calibre from version 4.23 to the latest 5.5 on Windows 7. I wanted to post my findings in the thread "Windows 7 compatibility excessive restriction", but it seems closed, so I couldn't do that. I'm sure there are still many people like me that for many reasons are staying on Win7 and in the same time want to use latest version of Calibre, which provides new features, fixes and etc. I don't want to go into more details or discussions why I'm staying on Win7 or whatever, but just want to share the workaround I've found for myself and that it works excellent for me, so if someone else wants to try on his own risk - below is the best solution for me. I'm not sure that I can post here any links to external sources, so I'll describe the way I've installed Calibre 5.5 64 bit edition MSI installer on my Win7. There is a MS tool called Orca, which allows editing of MSI installers and it is part of Microsoft Windows Software Development Kit (SDK). It is available from MS and free to download on their site - just search for it. I've used currently the latest version Windows 10 SDK (10.0.19041.0) and downloaded the .ISO package, so that I can install only Orca from in it. You should mount the .ISO file or open it with 7-Zip and extract the whole "Installers" sub-directory somewhere on your computer and then install Orca-x86_en-us.msi. It will install silently without any popup windows or setup wizards and will integrate in Windows Explorer Context Menu (Right click menu on a file). After you have Orca installed already download the Calibre 5.x installer version you want and select it, right click on the file and choose "Edit with Orca" from the menu. In the newly opened window of Orca located in the left pane titled "Tables" the row "LaunchCondition" and select it. On the right pane you will see a grid with 2 columns "Condition" and "Description". Select the "Condition" column and double-click on the only row with text "Installed OR (VersionNT >= 602)" and you will enter in edit mode in the cell. Change the version required from 602 to 601, so that the text in the condition cell is "Installed OR (VersionNT >= 601)". That's all and you are ready. Hit enter and to exit edit mode, close the Orca app and confirm saving the changes on exit. Now you can install the Calibre 5.x using the install wizard without the blocking validation for Windows 8 and newer version. Note that the value of 601 means Windows 7 in condition validation ("Installed OR (VersionNT >= 601)"). For me Calibre 5.5 64 bit works excellent and books are displayed as it should in the Viewer (when I select "View" button in the toolbar). For me it is working the same way on v3.x, v4.x and now v5.x. I hope that by providing this workaround anyone could try it on his own risk and if something goes wrong - doesn't blame or ask for help the author/developer of the Calibre, as it is clearly stated that Win7 is not officially supported for v4.x and newer! Regards

11-17-2020, 01:48 PM	#2
Gozer404 Member Posts: 21 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2013 Location: France Device: SONY PRS-T2	Great! I was just struggling with the same issue and will try your solution ASAP. By the way the portable version of Calibre 5.5 is working fine without any issues (as of to now) which is very difficult to understand ! -- EDIT Tried on calibre-5.5.0.msi win32 version after installing Orca from 19041.1.191206-1406.vb_release_WindowsSDK.iso and it failed: Error says The cabinet file 'calibre.cab' is corrupt and cannot be used during installation: In the past I rolled back from calibre 64 bits to calibre 32 bits and I don't remember why... Can anyone confirm that I can now use the 64bits version and keep all my configurations and books ? [EDIT] For your information, trick is still working with calibre-64bit-5.40.0 !!! Last edited by Gozer404; 04-03-2022 at 07:04 AM. Reason: Tried and not working

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12-06-2020, 08:01 AM	#3
automathias Junior Member Posts: 1 Karma: 10 Join Date: Dec 2020 Device: calibre	Hello shariks, Even as you, I'd like to say a big "Thank you!" to the author and anyone who contributed to Calibre project for the great software! Otherwise, there are realy many People witch prefer Win 7. MeMyselfAndI enclosed. I do not understand why David Koyal made this restrictions, so that you have to use the newer Versions Win 8 or 10 ! Is it only the 'Dark Mode' of Win 10 ? But many thanks for Your Hint. I did't know that there exists such a simple editor for .msi. It works fine. No Problems on Calibre 5.7 64K ! Many Thanks again !

02-19-2021, 04:14 PM	#5
Vortex Groupie Posts: 171 Karma: 10 Join Date: Dec 2008 Device: Likebook Mars	Thank you skariks! I found you can just download Orca here: https://www.technipages.com/download-orca-msi-editor Worked perfectly.

03-02-2021, 03:54 PM	#7
Calibrebee Member Posts: 17 Karma: 40672 Join Date: Jan 2019 Device: Nook, iPod, iPhone, laptop, desktop	Hello Skariks, Believe it or not, this discovery of yours might be a gift for me. I admit to being very comfortable with my Win 7. It was custom made (not by me exactly) and fits me just right. I've been told that Win 10 isn't much different as compared to 7. But right now is a bad time for me to change my operating system (due to covid). I was excited about the upgrades to Calibre 5, but my smile soon turned into a poo-poo face when I saw that it was only for Win 10 It's good to know this is working out for you. I will keep you in mind when I give it a try. CalibreBee

10-27-2021, 01:35 PM	#14
RobertJSawyer Guru Posts: 733 Karma: 3911762 Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Toronto Device: Kobo Libra 2, Clara 2E, and Clara HD; Kindle PaperWhite	As @Gozer404 said in this message, trying this trick with 32-bit calibre on a Windows 7 32-bit machine failed for me, too. The error message I got from calibre Setup was: "The installer has encountered an unexpected error installing this package. This may indicate a problem with this package. The error code is 2356." Ah, well. No Libra 2 for me.

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