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Windows ending support for Floppy Drives?

Agatong
By Agatong
in Windows
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Posted

Hello,

 

I keep seeing this on twitter so I am not entirely sure if it is true or not, but according to some people in the latest update or the next update of windows 10 they are ending support for floppy drives.

 

Does anyone know if this is true or not? I know people in the company I work for still use a USB floppy drive since they do not want to use flash drives.

 

Thanks

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No. As long as Windows reserves drive letters A and B for floppy disks, I don't see this changing. Microsoft often supports legacy hardware on Windows for a very long time.

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I don't think the Microsoft engineers are physically capable of removing support for anything

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On 7/13/2020 at 8:16 PM, handymanshandle said:

Tell that to native DVD-Video support

By native you mean Windows Media Player? Or just codec support?

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On 7/13/2020 at 11:22 AM, Agatong said:

Hello,

 

I keep seeing this on twitter so I am not entirely sure if it is true or not, but according to some people in the latest update or the next update of windows 10 they are ending support for floppy drives.

 

Does anyone know if this is true or not? I know people in the company I work for still use a USB floppy drive since they do not want to use flash drives.

 

Thanks

Twitter is wrong.

 

I am on Version 2004 Build 20170 - Insider Preview - Dev Channel. This is the latest and greatest version of Windows 10 in development open to the public. And my PC (~11 years old) which can sport a native Floppy or Diskette drive using the old FDD connector/cable.

 

Enabling it in the BIOS, makes Windows 10 File Explorer display the floppy drive as expected:

1719563886_Annotation2020-07-16002918.thumb.png.9d6d7c2bd2910114440c0190421606a9.png

 

While I do have a 1.44MB diskette, diskette drive and FDD cable to actually try. I sadly can't found my 4-pin molex to floppy drive 4-pin power supply connector adapter cable, so I can't power it to test. But, double-clicking on the drive A:, make Windows perform its read operation. So it is all there.

 

I think those saying that it doesn't work, most likely is their floppy drive that stop working. I mean we are talking about age old technology here. Heck I don't even know if mine will work after all these years collecting dust.

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To answer this question, another question should be answered first. Does removing support for floppy disk drives bring any security, speed or size benefit to Windows? If yes, Microsoft might probably put it among Optional Windows features and set it disabled by default.

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