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can Express be forced to use another browser for SSO? can't add devices anymore on windows7, fails on login

So I had to swap out my Fenix6 and Express wants to add it but cannot because it requires a sign-in, which fails with a blank screen.

I assume this is because Express on Windows7 tries to use CEFsharp browser and SSO became broken sometime in 2023 for most older browsers (also fails in very old Firefox)

Express is stuck of course on 7.18.4 for compatibility and yes I understand it is no longer officially supported

Can anyone else in this situation confirm the problem and is there possibly any kind of work around.

Maybe I can create the device locally in windows so it is added manually? By cloning the old Fenix6 subdirectories and changing the watch serial number?

I realize this is an advanced problem that is unsupported but thanks for any useful suggestions.

  • Yes, hence me mentioning several times in my post that I know it is not officially supported.

    However I am hoping other Windows7 die-hards have figured out a workaround.

    I've been poking around the registry and I think I might be able to make it happen manually.

    The SSO part may not be fixable, Garmin is now using cloudflare and when they made that switch last year they broke lots of things, like people can't sign up for the beta if there is a plus symbol in their email address. Lots of dumb bugs like that, they never fix.

  • SUCCESSFUL LOGIN ON WINDOWS 7 VIA EXPRESS !!!  

    new Fenix6 added

    Now I am not sure exactly why, for all I know Garmin fixed something on their end this hour (doubtful?)

    but after trying various things over the past day nothing else seemed to work.

    What I did that may work for others:

    actually updated Express to newest version, even well beyond what is stated to work/supported on Windows7

    at this time it is 7.20.3.0 (yes, running on Windows7 x64)

    then I went to the \Garmin\Garmin\Express\express.exe 

    and right clicked and changed PROPERTIES

    went to the Compatibility tab

    changed it to run in compatibility for Vista on the dropdown

    changed Privilege Level to run as Administrator

    and then when I ran express again it offered to add the new device and THIS time when it said I must Sign In and I did, I finally got the login form

    the previous two dozen times I tried that the past day or two it did not work, it was an endless spinning circle of death every time

    I was going to start tinkering with the CEFsharp browser process that Express uses because that is notorious for no longer supporting Windows7 (because it is based on chrome which Google killed w7 support)

    Anyway, I am all set until the next breakage but happy now and backing everything up while it works.

    Didn't want to build a whole virtual environment with Windows10 just for Express, was looking at linux but they don't have official support either after a decade.

    Hope that helps the next person. 

  • Many years ago and with Windows 10 GE would not reliably open.   After trying numerous potential resolutions, I ran the Compatibility check, allowing to chose what it felt was best, which was Windows 8.  I've never had an issue since, although I've never changed that setting since.  With GE, if it works, leave it alone (except for updates)!