 Friday, August 27, 2021 in Windows  1 Comment |  | Windows 11 will run on older CPUs 
Microsoft is announcing today that it won`t block people from installing Windows 11 on most older PCs. While the software maker has recommended hardware requirements for Windows 11 — which it`s largely sticking to — a restriction to install the OS will only be enforced when you try to upgrade from Windows 10 to Windows 11 through Windows Update. This means anyone with a PC with an older CPU that doesn`t officially pass the upgrade test can still go ahead and download an ISO file of Windows 11 and install the OS manually.
Microsoft announced its Windows 11 minimum hardware requirements in June, and made it clear that only Intel 8th Gen and beyond CPUs were officially supported. Microsoft now tells us that this install workaround is designed primarily for businesses to evaluate Windows 11, and that people can upgrade at their own risk as the company can`t guarantee driver compatibility and overall system reliability. Microsoft won`t be recommending or advertising this method of installing Windows 11 to consumers.
It`s a big change that means millions of PCs won`t be left behind, technically. Consumers will still need to go to the effort of downloading an ISO file and manually installing Windows 11, which the vast majority probably won`t do. But for those happy to install Windows manually, the actual minimum Windows 11 specs mean that CPU generations don`t matter, as long as you have a 64-bit 1GHz processor with two or more cores, 4GB of RAM, and 64GB of storage.
theverge.com | |
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