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Microsoft, sometime in March earlier this year, quietly updated the Windows 11 minimum system requirements page. With the update, the company has tried to clarify the processor requirements that users need to look out for if they are eyeing a Copilot+ PC. After all, Microsoft does officially recommend buying a new system, and especially its Copilot+ AI PCs for the best Windows experience, and For those who may not be in the loop with some of the recent developments, Microsoft has a new range of Windows PCs dubbed "Copilot+ PCs" that are more geared towards processing AI tasks. Windows 11 24H2 is packed with several AI features which were initially limited to only Qualcomm Snapdragon X chips but now Intel and AMD systems have them too; and the list of features keeps growing with new additions at regular intervals. While the baseline Windows 11 requirements have not changed from what they were originally, Microsoft has published a new set of requirements specifically for Copilot+ PCs. Last year, the company made it clear that for a system to qualify as a Copilot+ AI PC, it needed to deliver more than 40 NPU TOPS (trillion operations per second). The NPU is essentially a dedicated AI neural processor meant to hardware-accelerate AI and ML tasks and Microsoft thinks Windows 11 24H2 is too hard for a system without this kind of power. Aside from the NPU TOPS requirement, Microsoft has also raised the RAM requirement for its AI PCs to a minimum of 16 GB and has made 256 GB of fast storage like SSD or UFS mandatory. In the recently updated minimum requirements page for Windows 11, Microsoft also added helpful links to the processors from AMD, Intel, and Qualcomm, respectively, that are Copilot+ PC-ready. The previous version of the page read: "Copilot+ PCs are a class of Windows 11 devices that are powered by a neural processing unit (NPU) capable of performing 40+ trillion operations per second (TOPS). An NPU is a specialised computer chip for AI-intensive processes like real-time translations and image generation." For most scenarios, customers will need to acquire new hardware to run Copilot+ PCs experiences. In addition to the above minimum system requirements for Windows 11, hardware for Copilot+ PCs must include the following: Processor: A compatible processor or System on a Chip (SoC). This currently includes the Snapdragon® X Plus and the Snapdragon® X Elite. We will update this list periodically as more options become available. RAM: 16 GB DDR5/LPDDR5 Storage: 256 GB SSD/UFS" The updated page now says: "Copilot+ PCs are a new class of Windows 11 AI PCs that are powered by a turbocharged neural processing unit (NPU)—a specialised computer chip for AI-intensive processes like real-time translations and image generation— that can perform more than 40 trillion operations per second (TOPS)." To run unique Copilot+ PC experiences, customers will need to acquire new hardware. In addition to the minimum system requirements for Windows 11, Copilot+ PCs must include the following: Processor: A compatible processor or System on a Chip (SoC) with an NPU capable of performing 40+ TOPS. This currently includes: AMD Ryzen™ AI 300 series Intel® Core™ Ultra 200V series Snapdragon® X series RAM: 16 GB DDR5/LPDDR5 Storage: 256 GB SSD/UFS The change should be a helpful one though it would have been even better had Microsoft begun maintaining separate support pages for the list of compatible Intel, AMD, and Qualcomm chips, similar to what it does for the general OS CPU requirements. The last meaningful update for that was made in February this year. The new addition of CPUs and links is not the only helpful requirement-related change Microsoft has made lately. The company also made a big update regarding USB-C in order to improve and boost Windows 11 support for the protocol. Source Hope you enjoyed this news post. Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every day for many years. News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025 (till end of May): 2,377 RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend

Earlier this month, Neowin was on the prowl for some tasty news when we stumbled upon an updated webpage on Microsoft's site. The page, a support article regarding installation of Windows 11 on unsupported hardware was recently updated to include some new things. First, Microsoft corrected the waiver users need to agree to when they proceed to installing Windows 11 on any hardware that is not officially supported by Microsoft. Second, a very handy direct link to the Windows Recovery menu was added such that users experiencing issues on incompatible systems can roll back to Windows 11. You can find the detailed changes in our dedicated piece. If you recall, Microsoft officially recommends a new PC for upgrading to Windows 11 from very old systems and we speculated that perhaps the changes to the support page were made since the Redmond company probably understands not everyone may upgrade. Following our discovery of the updated page, others in the press also started reporting on it too. Microsoft has noticed the buzz and has updated the article yet again. This time, the headline of the piece has been updated from "Installing Windows 11 on devices that don't meet minimum system requirements" to "Windows 11 on devices that don't meet minimum system requirements". Aside from that, Microsoft has also clarified that it does not officially allow users on unsupported hardware to run Windows 11 and users should immediately go back to Windows 10. It writes: Hence, for those running Windows 10 on devices that don't meet the system requirements of Windows 11, it looks like Microsoft is in favor of a new PC after all once 10 reaches the end of support state. You can check out some of the tips in this article on ways to reuse such a system. Source Hope you enjoyed this news post. Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every day for many years. 2023: Over 5,800 news posts | 2024 (till end of November): 5,298 news posts RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend

The Windows 11 system requirements have always been a bone of contention among enthusiasts and users alike as Microsoft deemed relatively new processors (at that time), like Intel's 7th gen (Kaby Lake) and AMD's first-gen Ryzen (1000 series), as incompatible. These were fairly capable CPUs and would have easily been able to run Windows 11. However, these chips, and anything older, did not possess certain security features that the Redmond giant felt were crucial in order to run its latest OS. Aside from CPUs, TPM version 2.0 was also made mandatory. Again, Microsoft reasoned that such were the strict security characteristics Windows 11 brought. Regardless, people have continued to use bypasses so as to be able to install Windows 11 on unsupported hardware. Interestingly, Microsoft too, made a registry bypass official, though with a fair amount of warning. Back in October 2023, we reported about a single command trick that allowed users to bypass the Windows 11 system requirements check during the setup process. While we only came across it in October, this trick had been doing the rounds from back in 2022 itself. A similar trick has been discovered wherein a user will be able to bypass the system requirements, though this works on Windows 11 LTSC (Long Term Servicing Channel). It's a one-click trick that works by choosing the Windows 11 IoT Enterprise LTSC option in the OS selection during setup. For those that have not kept up with LTSC news, recently, Microsoft officially confirmed "Windows 11 2024 LTSC" as well as KMS (Key Management Solutions) client product keys, following the leaked images of the same. The tech giant had promised an LTSC edition for Windows 11 back in April last year. Source

Back in July, Microsoft for the first time, publicly announced Windows 11 version 23H2. Alongside that, the company also clarified that the system requirements for the feature update will remain unchanged. While many thought, including Neowin, that the recent September 26 feature update was 23H2, Microsoft clarified later that it had been planned for a different date. However, Microsoft did roll out a bunch of 23H2 features early with the Moment 4 update. In case you missed it, it has been live since last night. Simultaneously, the tech giant rolled out the first Windows 1123H2 build to the Release Preview channel. Following that, today, the company has announced the Windows Hardware Compatibility Program (WHCP) certification for Windows 11 23H2, though it notes there is hardly any change compared to 22H2 as the system requirements are unaltered. On a Tech Community blog post, Microsoft explains: Microsoft is pleased to announce the release preview of Windows 11, version 23H2 annual feature update, which shares the same servicing branch and code base as Windows 11, version 22H2, and will be delivered via an enablement package (eKB). [..] There is no plan to update the certification status issued by the HLK: the certification status that was used for the HLK for Windows 11, version 22H2, which is “Certified for Microsoft Windows 11 Client family version 22H2”, will continue to be used for this this HLK release for the Windows 11, version 23H2 update. While there are no changes to WHCP or certification status, the updated HLK release with Windows 11, version 23H2 will be required when using Windows 11, version 23H2 to certify. Note, certifying for Windows 11, version 23H2 is optional. If you are not familiar with it, the WHCP certification program is meant to ensure that the hardware is compliant with the minimum system requirements and such, so that Windows application compatibility is maintained. Source

At their special event, Microsoft announced the all new Windows 11. The new operating system comes with a visual overhaul, multi-tasking improvements and more. Microsoft is expected to roll out Windows 11 to users later this year but not every device will be able to run Windows 11. If you are planning to try out Windows 11 then you can check out the minimum specs below: 1Ghz 64-bit dual-core processor 4GB RAM 64GB storage 9-inch display (1366x768 resolution) UEFI, Secure Boot & TPM 2.0 compatible DirectX 12 compatible graphics / WDDM 2.x The biggest change with Windows 11 is the 64-bit only operating system. Microsoft does not plan to release a 32-bit version of Windows 11, but the OS will continue to support 32-bit software. Apart from that, Microsoft will now need a 9-inch display as well as 64GB storage to run. These changes should make the Windows 11 experience better on all devices but will also increase the specification requirements for budget devices. If you are worried about Windows 11 requirements, then you can download the Windows PC Health Check (via WalkingCat) app to see if your PC meets the requirements. Source: Here are the official minimum system requirements for Windows 11 (via Neowin)

If you go back three years to 2021 when Windows 11 was first announced by Microsoft, one of the biggest talking points about the OS was the system requirements the tech giant put forth. Microsoft deemed CPUs, even a few years older, like the Ryzen 1000 series or Intel 7th Gen CPUs, as incompatible or ineligible to run Windows 11. Microsoft stated that features like VBS (virtualization-based security) would lead to more performance loss on processors without a feature called MBEC (Mode-based execution control). Thus, even some of the relatively newish CPUs also ended up in the not-compatible list. To help users determine whether their chips were supported or not, Microsoft released the PC Health Check app. However, the utility was far from perfect, as it even gave a Pentium 4 a thumbs up. A third-party app called WhyNotWin11 was released by GitHub user Robert C. Maehl, and it was mostly free from such inconsistencies. The app received a new update earlier today, and it now supports new processors. Over time, both AMD and Intel have released new CPUs that Microsoft has added to the supported CPU list. The last update to its list was done earlier this year in March. Aside from an updated processor list, the new release also fixes a bug related to WMIC ( Windows Management Instrumentation Command-line) for Intel CPUs. If you are wondering, WMIC can provide SMBIOS (system management BIOS) details from Windows itself. The full changelog for WhyNotWin11 version 2.6.1.0 is given below: You can download the app from this page on its official GitHub repo Source Hope you enjoyed this news post. Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every single day for many years. 2023: Over 5,800 news posts | 2024 (till end of June): 2,839 news posts