Intel removes old end-of-life drivers from website

Intel will remove end-of-life drivers from its site. It concerns old drivers that have not been updated for a while, but were still used by users with old hardware.

Intel has not officially announced the removals. Several users of internet forums note that certain drivers from the company suddenly show a warning. “This download will no longer be available after December 2, 2019,” it reads. The dates when the drivers will no longer be available will vary, but in most cases it will be this year. It concerns different drivers, both bios drivers and network drivers as well as drivers for Arduinos, for example. This usually concerns drivers for old operating systems, such as Windows XP or Windows Vista.

Intel has not provided an explanation for the removal of the drivers. Old drivers usually no longer receive security or functionality updates, but will remain online. Some websites note that there are still old ftp sites available via Archive.org where the drivers can still be downloaded, although these are snapshots from 2014.