I have a couple of very decent computers, I am wondering if they will run Windows 11, and I am trying to determine how to proceed. What are the minimum hardware requirements for Windows 11?
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The trouble with the current answer [& also why I won't provide an alternative answer] is that these are moving goalposts. MS have already removed the absolute restrictions, so long as you don't do it through Windows Update. You accept the risk yourself. – Tetsujin Oct 06 '21 at 18:11
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This was not intended to be an answer for the moving goalposts. It was meant back then (July) to answer many of the (then) duplicate questions. It served its purpose then. – John Oct 06 '21 at 18:43
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But as 'duplicates' are being closed against it, someone needs to volunteer to maintain it… or we have to stop using it as the canonical. – Tetsujin Oct 06 '21 at 18:44
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1I will look back when Windows 11 has been out for a bit. It does not need to be long term canonical. – John Oct 06 '21 at 18:47
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Sometimes, you don't get the choice - you start it… you keep going back to it until it kills you ;)) See https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/309399/how-can-i-download-an-older-version-of-os-x-macos/309400#309400 which I kept up for 3 years until time & fatigue just eventually beat me. 42 edits so far... – Tetsujin Oct 06 '21 at 19:00
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I made an update to my answer as at today and the basic screen (UEFI, Secure Boot, TPM 2 and CPU Processor Generation) remains the same - Microsoft at this point has not given an inch., – John Oct 06 '21 at 19:07
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1Not quite an answer in its own right but https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/microsoft/microsoft-shares-windows-11-tpm-check-bypass-for-unsupported-pcs/ suggests there's ways to bypass tpm 2.0 requirements officially, and there's a unofficial tool that patches win 11 to disable enough checks I can run it in a vm – Journeyman Geek Oct 07 '21 at 05:51
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To answer this question, I started by running the Microsoft PC Health Check, and then by researching this issue more thoroughly.
Note at October 6 2021 1 day after Windows 11 was released.
PC Health Check updated itself and shows the same results as were obtained two different ways (PC Health Check and WhyNotWin11) back in July.
For this machine here (Lenovo X1 ThinkPad) the only red mark is PC Generation (4 years old). Everything Microsoft said in July is still true on the day of Windows 11 Production Release.
End of October 6 Note.
Work through the detail of each section to see how your computer might stack up. Newer computers will do better than older computers when determining if they can upgrade to Windows 11.
The Microsoft PC Health Check app said, "This PC will not run Windows 11". As I worked, I uncovered more information which I summarized below.
I ran an app written by Robert C. Maehl called "WhyNotWin11," which tells me more succinctly that the CPUs in my computers are too old (CPU Generation) to run Windows 11. WhyNotWin11 is more accurate overall than the Microsoft PC Health Check App.
This question comes up often and the answers are usually the same. This post is an attempt to provide a useful canonical answer to this question so far as we know at this point (June 27, 2021) .
In terms of a personal or small business strategy, Microsoft has now said (for the first time) that the end-of-life date for Windows 10 is October 2025.
There is time to determine what to and how to proceed in a measured, logical way.
Here is an official Microsoft Article on minimum Windows 11 requirements.
Processor: 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster with two or more cores on a compatible 64-bit processor or system on a chip (SoC).
RAM: 4 gigabytes (GB) or greater.
Storage: 64 GB* or greater available storage is required to install Windows 11. Additional storage space might be required to download updates and enable specific features.
Graphics card: Compatible with DirectX 12 or later, with a WDDM 2.0 driver.
System firmware: UEFI, Secure Boot capable.
TPM: Trusted Platform Module (TPM) version 2.0.
Display: High definition (720p) display, 9" or greater monitor, 8 bits per color channel.
Internet connection: Internet connectivity is necessary to perform updates, and to download and use some features.
Windows 11 Home edition requires an Internet connection and a Microsoft Account to complete device setup on first use.
Observations:
So far as we know now, Windows 11 will come only in a 64-bit version. That means no 32-bit computers and no 32-bit operating system.
Of course, 32-bit software will continue to run.
DirectX 12:
To see what version of DirectX you have, run DXDIAG. In Windows, open Start and type dxdiag. This launches dxdiag.exe and you see the DirectX Diagnostic Tool come up.
The first screen shows the Version (needs to be DirectX 12).
The second screen shows the WDDM driver version (needs to be WDDM 2)
UEFI and Secure Boot:
To see if Secure Boot is turned on, go to Windows 10 Start and type Secure Boot. This brings up the Device Security Screen.
This shows a summary for Secure Boot and TPM.
Trusted Platform Module (TPM) Version 2:
Trusted Platform Module is the facility which enhances security, provides for encryption, provides for Windows Hello features (enhanced login).
Newer computers have TPM 2, older laptops have TPM 1.2 (my own ThinkPad X230 has TMP 1.2), and numerous older desktop computers do not even have a TPM chip (my own ThinkCenter M73 does not have TPM at all).
For numerous users, "older" means 4 or 5 years old, and the computer is otherwise happily running Windows 10.
You may wish to see if your computer can use firmware based TPM. This is not necessarily simple, will require the BIOS to adapt, and may not meet the requirements overall.
You can see the TPM Version in Device Manager under Security Devices
How do I get a summary of whether my computer will be able to upgrade to Windows 11? There is a Microsoft App (PC Health Check), but I think WhyNotWin11 is more accurate:
Study the WhyNotWin11 README file, scroll down to the Download Latest Stable Release hyperlink, download and run it. You will see the dialog below:
You see in this screen CPU Generation. This screen came from my ThinkPad X1 laptop, and it meets all the requirements for Windows 11 except for CPU Generation.
So far as I know now, the CPU must be newer than 3 years old to pass this Windows 11 test.
We will not conclusively know an answer until closer to the official Windows 11 release date when clearer advice and test apps are available from Microsoft.
I will typically purchase a commercial grade computer and so for me, four years is not particularly old, but apparently too old to run Windows 11.
This has been a summary to help us determine if our computers will run Windows 11.
Follow up Note: I have today (June 28, 2021) installed Windows 11 Pro pre-release on my Windows Insider machine, and it is working well.
John
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4Microsoft Health Check App was taken offline today since it was broken. Additionally, [Today, we’re releasing the first preview build of Windows 11 to the Windows Insider community. In support of the Windows 11 system requirements, we’ve set the bar for previewing in our Windows Insider Program to match the minimum system requirements for Windows 11, with the exception for TPM 2.0 and CPU family/model.](https://blogs.windows.com/windows-insider/2021/06/28/update-on-windows-11-minimum-system-requirements/), if anyone is wondering why they are able to run the Insider Preview build – Ramhound Jun 28 '21 at 20:03
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1Windows 11 Preview is installing now. Requirements for TPM, WDDM and CPU Generation suspended for the first version according the Microsoft Blog article. – John Jun 28 '21 at 20:06
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The major cutoff for hardware support for Win10 systems is generally the CPU with the hard requirement being that it supports the [execute disable bit](https://www.intel.ca/content/www/ca/en/support/articles/000005771/processors.html) (Prescott or later). Presumably Win11 will have the same requirement. For most people this is old enough of a feature to not need to worry about, but for certain embedded or legacy systems I've had this be the showstopper that forced hardware upgrades on systems that needed to keep their OS current but otherwise did not require a new or more performant system. – J... Jun 29 '21 at 17:27
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1@J... - There is evident directly from Microsoft that Windows 11 will require more than the execute disable bit functionality. Microsoft has specifically (until it's changed) indicated that is now at least hardware that has support for TPM 2.0 – Ramhound Jun 29 '21 at 18:05
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1@Ramhound Yes, but they're waiving that for the current preview so it makes us wonder how serious they are about that as a hard requirement. I guess my point is that raising the bar from NX to TPM2/SecureBoot is a **major** change from Win10 and that this, if retained, will likely be the critical decider for hardware being too old. With Win10 the NX bit is old enough that systems of that vintage are almost too old to care about, but TPM2/SecureBoot will throw *a lot* of otherwise highly serviceable systems into the EOL bin. – J... Jun 29 '21 at 18:16
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@J... - Windows 8.x+ has always required devices to be Secure Boot compatible at the OEM level, I am not aware of a single OEM (ASUS, MSI, etc.) motherboard that has zero support for Secure Boot, at least one that was released after Windows 8.0 in 2012. Windows 8.0 of course was the first version to support Secure Boot. We will have to wait and see if the system requirements are modified, or a public announcement that custom machines, will be exempt from the TPM requirement. I have a strong suspicion that Microsoft will hold on outdated OEM equipment from (Dell, HP, etc.). – Ramhound Jun 29 '21 at 18:38
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2Update from MS [Update on Windows 11 minimum system requirements | Windows Insider Blog](https://blogs.windows.com/windows-insider/2021/06/28/update-on-windows-11-minimum-system-requirements/) – DavidPostill Jun 29 '21 at 18:59
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@Ramhound Well, I definitely have systems running Win10 that do not support secure boot whatsoever - not even UEFI (Core2 era systems and older), so I'm pretty sure it's not a hard prerequisite at the moment. – J... Jun 29 '21 at 20:31
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@DavidPostill ...in fairness to Ramhound, that is the same hyperlink he posted in the very first comment above. – Run5k Jun 29 '21 at 20:41
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1@J... - I carefully worded my last comment to indicated that OEM machines (Dell, HP, ect. ) are required to sell devices that support Secure Boot. They are required to sell machines and allow Secure Boot to be disabled. *I never indicated that Windows 10 requires it to install it.* OEM level is far different than what can be done at the consumer level with consumer OEM motherboards (ASUS, MSI, etc.. ) – Ramhound Jun 29 '21 at 21:47
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The answer may be simple: If Win11 refuses to install on old hardware, people buy new hardware and MS profits from contracts with hardware vendors – Hagen von Eitzen Jun 30 '21 at 00:35
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This answer could benefit from adding a method for checking TPM on your machine: run "tpm.msc" and see what the window that pops up tells you. Either it will say that no TPM capabilities were detected, or it will have some information, including a "specification version" number in the bottom right (e.g. 1.2 or 2.0), which is the version of TPM you have. – TylerH Jun 30 '21 at 13:41