Microsoft trims more CPUs from Windows 11 compatibility list
- Reference: 1740416473
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2025/02/24/microsoft_win_11_cpus/
- Source link:
We should reiterate that this warning is to OEMs only, not end users or corporations.
Windows 11 24H2 has been available to customers for months, yet Microsoft felt compelled in its February [1]update to confirm that builders, specifically, must use Intel's 11th-generation or later silicon when building brand new PCs to run its most recent OS iteration.
[2]
"These processors meet the design principles around security, reliability, and the minimum system requirements for Windows 11," Microsoft says.
[3]
[4]
Intel's 11th-generation chips arrived in 2020 and were discontinued last year. It would be surprising, if not unheard of, for OEMs to build machines with unsupported chips. Intel has already [5]transitioned many pre-11th generation chips to "a legacy software support model," so Microsoft's decision to omit the chips from the OEM list is understandable.
However, this could be seen as a creeping problem. Chips made earlier than that were present very recently, in the [6]list of supported Intel processors for Windows 11 22H2 and 23H2.
[7]
This new OEM list may add to worries of some users looking at the general hardware compatibility specs for Windows 11 and wondering if the latest information means that even the slightly newer hardware in their org's fleet will soon no longer meet the requirements of Microsoft's flagship operating system.
[8]Microsoft's Euro-mandated File Explorer surgery shows 'less is more' is still a thing
[9]Microsoft declutters Windows 11 File Explorer in the name of Euro privacy
[10]Microsoft makes sweet, sweet music with Windows MIDI Services
[11]Remember it'll cost ya to keep the lights on for Windows 10
It's a good question, and the answer – currently – appears to be that those "old" CPUs are still suitable. Microsoft has a list of [12]hardware compatibility requirements that customers can check, and they have not changed much since the [13]outcry when they were first published.
People were not happy back in 2021 when Microsoft made it clear that upgrading from Windows 10 would not be possible for millions of otherwise perfectly functional computers. However, eighth, ninth, and tenth-generation Intel chips should still be fine as long as the other requirements, such as TPM 2.0, are met, it said at the time.
We've repeatedly asked Microsoft to clarify the situation. While the company has responded to other queries, the question of whether this might be a prelude to a further CPU trim – or is just information given to OEMs – is still without a formal response.
The company has altered the hardware requirements before. Users must pray it does not alter them any further. ®
Get our [14]Tech Resources
[1] https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/design/minimum/supported/windows-11-24h2-supported-intel-processors
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2Z7z6FR54Ytz0ztFCF7Xd0wAAABI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Z7z6FR54Ytz0ztFCF7Xd0wAAABI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Z7z6FR54Ytz0ztFCF7Xd0wAAABI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000091662/graphics.html
[6] https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/design/minimum/supported/windows-11-22h2-supported-intel-processors
[7] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Z7z6FR54Ytz0ztFCF7Xd0wAAABI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2025/02/24/opinion_column_file_explorer/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2025/02/19/windows_11_24h2_preview/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2025/02/06/windows_midi_services_2/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2025/02/05/windows_10_esu_program/
[12] https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows/windows-11-specifications?r=1
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2021/08/31/windows_11_rollout_date_android/
[14] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Oh dear
What a shame
Never mind
"Microsoft is slowly but surely removing itself from the home user market."
NO-ONE should be that surprised by this - it's just shades of the old x86 two-step dance between Intel and Micro$oft going all the way back to the 486/Pentium and Win 3.x/95/98 etc:
RUN
1st step: Intel releases a new CPU and a new memory subsystem
2nd step: Microshaft releases a new version of WinDoze, which absorbs the extra speed of the new CPU and increases it's requirement for memory
GOTO 1st step
I'm being too literal-minded here,
But "People were not happy back in 2021 when Microsoft made it clear that upgrading from Windows 10 would not be possible for millions of otherwise perfectly functional computers" is not literally true.
It's not very difficult to install 11 on PCs that are not officially supported.
Windows 11 24H2 is, as far as I know, the first version that requires a CPU that supports a particular instruction set (SSE4.2) to run.
"These processors meet the design principles around security, reliability... for Windows 11"
So if you buy a 13th or 14th generation CPU, your PC melts down and you have to get yet another one and that way MS gets paid from two OEM sales instead of one. Truely inspired.
Goodbye Windows 11
Yet another reason for home users and SMEs to install Mint or Ubuntu.
Then install Edge for Linux, and run Office 365 online version if they can't / don't want to use the lastest incarnation of StarOffice. This will probably be enough for 80-90% of users.
Re: Goodbye Windows 11
Yet another reason for home users and SMEs to install Mint or Ubuntu.
I would suggest Linux Mint Debian Edition, Ubuntu has some disadvantages.
Re: Goodbye Windows 11
JFC. Strong "Judean People's Front" vs. "People's Front of Judea" vibes. Until the Linux community can display more welcome and less nit-picking and internecine squabbling over minor technical details, Linux On The Desktop TM will remain a niche endeavor (in my opinion, of course).
Re: Goodbye Windows 11
Most domestic users haven't a clue what O/S they are running when browsing the internet, so Linux infighting isn't on their radar.
The big reason M$ is on most PC's, is because M$ paid hard cash and flirted, nay, cornered and married unfair market practice to be number one and to stay number one.
Re: Goodbye Windows 11
True. Linux-on-the-Desktop is not a viable option for a majority of Windows users, for reasons that many El Reg readers don't quite get, because it seems natural to Unix programmers and shouldn't everyone think like that? Windows 10 without support, however, is a great long-term option. And 0patch for those paranoid enough to think they need updates.
Re: Goodbye Windows 11
Autocad, Exchange, and iTunes are about the only common packages I can think of that won't run under Wine properly. Even Adobe products work under Wine now. Given that Exchange and Autocad are not exactly in the wheelhouse of "majority of Windows users", then your argument of "for reasons many El Reg readers don't quite get" is flawed.
People only get Windows because it comes with the computer. Maybe it's time for the EU to madate "OS Choice on the Desktop", the same as how they implemented "Browser choice" to prevent MS from having a full monopoly.
If I can migrate PC illiterate 80 year old grannies to linux, anyone can do it.
Re: Goodbye Windows 11
>> If I can migrate PC illiterate 80 year old grannies to linux, anyone can do it. <<
I wouldn't say anyone, but it is true that if the person is willing, it is not a massive learning curve, especially using something like Linux Mint. Easiest to convert are children. They have no preconceptions. I'd never use Microsoft's advert/telemetry etc laden crap again, and I'm 78. I reckon it took me a few months to adjust my muscle memory, but the trick is to persevere with it. I do, however, accept that not everyone can abandon Windows due to software used etc. YMMV.
Re: Goodbye Windows 11
Sky sports?
Re: Goodbye Windows 11
I dunno, I use Mint and it's operationally no different than my Win7 machine was. It just works. The only reason I abandoned my Win7 machine is it was physically coming apart on me. Duct tape can only do so much, and can't bring parts like the mouse pad back.
Bit rich coming from MS
"These processors meet the design principles around security, reliability, and the minimum system requirements for Windows 11," Microsoft says.
What about your development and design principles
Microsoft somehow does not know
Their inside chaos and redirection of people towards whatever marketing hypes leaves big gap of knowledge.
Result: Microsoft does not know. And therefore cannot answer.
Waiting on the ability to provide Windows 10 Extended Security Updates
I use Windows 11 at work, but have never been over enamoured with it. Will definitely be signing up for three years of Windows 10 extended updates in the meantime, and making a bit more of an effort to move to FreeBSD with some suitable VMs. My day to day box has been FreeBSD for a few years now, it's just when I want to use something other than Firefox, Libreoffice, and various network tools Windows is, unfortunately, a more convenient and reliable platform when it has to work Right Now
(it's not that FreeBSD doesn't work - it generally does. However application updates can easily break other programs, and it is a pain to put in the infrastructure locally to deal with that)
Why is my wife still suffering through these interminable "upgrade to Win11 right now with one click" popups?
Her 4-5 year old NUC (which does everything she needs) doesn't even meet the requirements, and day by day it meets them ever less.
Because as far as M$ is concenned, you WILL spend that upgrade money, and you WILL buy those new machines which they are almost certainly getting a kickback on. If M$ wasn't getting a kickback, they would have no financial incentive to limit what hardware they run on and every incentive to run on whatever hardware is available.
Microsoft is slowly but surely removing itself from the home user market.