Windows 11 requirements6/18/2023 ![]() ![]() ![]() HVCI can be enabled on any Windows 10 PC that doesn't have driver incompatibility issues, but older computers will incur a significant performance penalty because their processors don't support mode-based execution control, or MBEC.Īnd that acronym seems to be at the root of Windows 11's CPU support list. ![]() VBS includes an optional feature called "memory integrity." That's the more user-friendly name for something called Hypervisor-protected code integrity, or HVCI. Windows 11 (and also Windows 10!) uses virtualization-based security, or VBS, to isolate parts of system memory from the rest of the system. Microsoft goes to greater lengths to explain the benefits of using Secure Boot and TPM 2.0 modules, but the key may actually be the less-discussed virtualization requirement and an alphabet soup of acronyms. That's where the security requirements come back into play. Presumably, installing Windows 11 manually on these PCs will feel more or less as stable as installing it on an officially supported device, but it's something we'll need to test for ourselves. Drivers and stabilityĬertainly, computers from 2012 or 2014 are going to be running outdated drivers that cause crashes-using Windows 7-era drivers on older computers running Windows 10 can lead to instability or general weirdness. But Microsoft's numbers make no distinction between these older systems and newer computers that nearly, but don't quite, miss the system requirements, like 6th- and 7th-generation Intel Core systems and first-generation Ryzen systems that include TPM 2.0 modules and still enjoy active DCH driver support from Intel, AMD, and (in many cases) the companies that manufactured the computers. A new post from Microsoft today breaks down those requirements in more detail and also makes an argument about system stability using crash data from older PCs in the Windows Insider program. Microsoft's rationale for Windows 11's strict official support requirements-including Secure Boot, a TPM 2.0 module, and virtualization support-has always been centered on security rather than raw performance. Microsoft actually used the ability to run on older hardware as a selling point for Windows 10, making it available as a free upgrade to all computers running Windows 7 and Windows 8-if you get as many people as possible using the newest version of Windows, the reasoning went, it would be easier to get developers to take advantage of the latest features. This is a break from previous versions of Windows, which up until now have had more or less the same system requirements for a decade. Anyone else will be able to run the operating system if they meet the performance requirements, but they'll need to jump through the hoop of downloading an ISO file and installing the operating system manually rather than grabbing it through Windows Update. But none of that matters if your computer can't run the software, and Microsoft has only promised official Windows 11 support for computers released within the last three or four years. Windows 11 promises to refine window management, run Android apps, and to unify the look and feel of the operating system's built-in apps after years of frustrating hodgepodge. ![]()
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