diff --git a/packaging/tags.py b/packaging/tags.py
index 034c16bb..ae0b4e48 100644
--- a/packaging/tags.py
+++ b/packaging/tags.py
@@ -240,7 +240,11 @@ def _generic_abi() -> List[str]:
     ext_suffix = _get_config_var("EXT_SUFFIX", warn=True)
     if not isinstance(ext_suffix, str) or ext_suffix[0] != ".":
         raise SystemError("invalid sysconfig.get_config_var('EXT_SUFFIX')")
-    _, soabi, ext = ext_suffix.split(".")
+    parts = ext_suffix.split(".")
+    if len(parts) < 3:
+        # CPython3.7 and earlier uses ".pyd" on windows
+        return _cpython_abis(sys.version_info[:2])
+    soabi = parts[1]
     if soabi.startswith("cpython"):
         abi = "cp" + soabi.split("-")[1]
     elif soabi.startswith("pypy"):
diff --git a/tests/test_tags.py b/tests/test_tags.py
index dd2a2d14..d2fa9222 100644
--- a/tests/test_tags.py
+++ b/tests/test_tags.py
@@ -875,6 +875,14 @@ def test__generic_abi_linux_pypy(self, monkeypatch):
         monkeypatch.setattr(tags, "interpreter_name", lambda: "pp")
         assert tags._generic_abi() == ["pypy39_pp73"]
 
+    def test__generic_abi_old_windows(self, monkeypatch):
+        config = {
+            "EXT_SUFFIX": ".pyd",
+            "Py_DEBUG": 0,
+        }
+        monkeypatch.setattr(sysconfig, "get_config_var", config.__getitem__)
+        assert tags._generic_abi() == tags._cpython_abis(sys.version_info[:2])
+
     def test_generic_platforms(self):
         platform = sysconfig.get_platform().replace("-", "_")
         platform = platform.replace(".", "_")