Which is required according to this article.
You can try to update it unless you have an unsupported GPU.

Get Windows 10.

From what I remember cp2077 uses DX12 but it has been specially back ported (not sure that's the right term) to work on 7, so it should work, and 7 is listed on the minimum requirements.

Are you running it from gog galaxy or the offline installers?

It runs excellent on Windows 7 SP1 64-bit. But it will not run under 32-bit OS.

If you have 64-bit Win7 then you don't need any tricks because it was made to work without any "workarounds".

The game requires DX12 but it is included within Cyberpunk 2077 but for this game only:
https://devblogs.microsoft.com/directx/porting-directx-12-games-to-windows-7/

Tried this already. I'm on 1080ti. offline installers my os has both: 32/64

Would it be too hard and expansive for cdprojekt red to support dx11; what do you all think?
It wasn't too hard and expansive for me to buy three copies of CP2077 and two hardcover guides from them..

What "both"? What version of MS Windows 7 do you have?

Open "System" window:
1) "MS Flag" button + Pause/Break
2) through Control Panel
Some help:
https://pc.net/helpcenter/answers/view-system-properties-windows-7

Your Windows 7 must have this information "System type: 64-bit Operating System" (second picture in above link).

If you can see "32-bit" then there is no chance to run CP2077.

Both as in: "I can run 32bit and 64bit" games.

Ok here:
Processor: X 980
Installed memory (RAM): 23.0 GB
System Type: 64-bit Operating System

If you use Galaxy, have you tried launching it directly from the game executable? I had an issue not long ago where it did this any time I tried to launch via Galaxy but then I tweaked some settings using a player-made tool and disabled the overlay in the game. Now it runs fine both via Galaxy and the executable.

EDIT: Just noticed that I missed that you mentioned you're using the offline installers. Sorry for not spotting that earlier. I'll leave my original comment for anyone who wants to try it though.

You can run GOG Galaxy to execute "Verify / Repair" for this game:
https://support.gog.com/hc/en-us/articles/360003930017-My-game-data-is-corrupt-How-can-I-repair-my-game-?product=gog

Be careful, because if you don't have latest 1.31 version then GOG Galaxy could start "update" with c.a. 50 GB of data.

After above you can run game without GOG Galaxy.

Other help:
https://support.cdprojektred.com/en/cyberpunk/pc/sp-technical#installation-sp
Especially this:
https://support.cdprojektred.com/en/cyberpunk/pc/sp-technical/issue/1568/the-game-is-not-launching-5
(make sure you have latest Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable Packages).

It should work just "out of the box" but something is wrong in your OS (Win 7). I have Windows 7 SP1 Professional 64-bit (with paid ESU) and since the very beginning Cyberpunk 2077 runs without problems.

Hardware::
Intel i5-4670K
16 GB RAM
Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 (8 GB VRAM)
Samsung SSD 850 PRO 256 GB
WDC RED PRO 4TB

1080ti came out with dx12 support I think.

Would be wonderful if CD Projekt Red released dx11 version and Linux version. I was playing around with that and game almost starts but then it flatlines.
-offline

In this case you should have it supported. What does dxdiag say about directx version?
If it's the 11 one, you need to do researching on the web on how to update it.
Maybe your OS got corrupted.

Also I can recommend to look into both system's Event Viewer and game's logs for any relevant detailed messages.

DX11
CDPR I need you to respond on this matter! -CP2077; Does not natively support Win7 X64 Sp1!
Now I've waited this long, I bought three copies. I will nolonger tolerate your backdoor dealings with Microsoft!

Realease Witcher III & Cyberpunk 2077 on Linux!
Release Cyberpunk 2077 on Windows 7! (DX11)

Your Owners Have No Conscience!

Gra "Cyberpunk 2077" działa bez żadnego problemu w 64-bitowym systemie Windows 7 SP1. Wiem, bo sam używam. Jeśli nie masz wersji SP1, to należy system zaktualizować.

Czy Ty w ogóle przeczytałeś moją odpowiedź powyżej? Czy próbowałeś zastosować którąkolwiek z porad? Masz problem ze swoim systemem operacyjnym skoro CP2077 nie może być uruchomiony.

Biblioteki DX12 są dołączone do gry i nie ma potrzeby robienia wersji DX11.

Maszyny wirtualne oraz emulatory Win7 nie są obsługiwane.

Gry dla Linuksa? A na którą dystrybucję? Zbyt mało chętnych, zbyt dużo problemów...

Skoro "zakupiłeś trzy kopie" (fizyczne, tak?) i masz problem z grą, to dlaczego nie zwrócisz się do producenta/wydawcy? Forum jest dla użytkowników i pracownicy CDPR nie są zobligowani do odpowiadania na wszystkie posty.

I was curious so I just installed it on a 64bit windows 7 with a 1660S (driver 472.12) and it worked no issue.
edit: I made sure I installed the February 2020 and the June 2020 updates so it was the last version of windows 7 Microsoft had released.

I have no idea what your issue is but If your running the latest version of Windows 7, the latest graphic drivers you can get for windows 7 and made 100% sure you used a driver cleaner to kill everything (assuming you have a long running install) else and then installed your game as long as your graphics card is supported (can run DX12) the game will see it via the new drivers and run it. You may need to kill all driver cache for your system to see your card supports DX12. These files are in C:/Users/Username/AppData/Local/Cd Projekt Red/Cyberpunk 2077 UserSettings.json and C:/Users/Username/AppData/Local/Cd Projekt Red/Cyberpunk 2077/Cache GamePipelineLibrary.cache the game may verywell crash after deleting these. Could just reinstall it and make sure these are deleted.

Only a very small handful of games run on 7x64 with DX12 and only if they have the latest patch for the OS, the latest GPU drivers, your GPU manufactures supports running it like this in 7 and the game itself has worked to make this happen.

For me I can confirm it works no issue. With so many people all over the net, Reddit, CDP fourms, myself, all fully running this on 7 the issue is on your side and your hardware.

Also, Windows 10 is still free, windows 11 is 100% free and will be forever. Just give some thought to upgrading to 10 as a last resort. it's only going to get harder as time moves on to try and stay on 7 at this point.