Microsoft confirms a lot of old PCs will not run Windows 11

Microsoft published a blog post to clarify the minimum system requirements of Windows 11. The new operating system is largely a "reinvigorated" version of Windows 10 with some new user interface elements. One of the big surprises during last week's reveal is the fact that Microsoft beefed up various minimum system requirements that will leave a lot of older computers with no path to upgrade to the newest version of Windows.

The blog post confirms that, as things stand right now, you will at least need an Intel 8th Gen Core, AMD Zen 2, or Qualcomm 7/8 series processors to run Windows 11. The software giant will roll out Windows 11 to Windows Insiders with Intel 7th Gen Core and AMD first-gen Ryzen processors to verify whether these devices meet Microsoft's principles. Anything older is not even considered.

To meet Microsoft's new security principles, all supported processors must have embedded TPM, support secure boot, and support specific VBS (virtualization-based security) capabilities. Contrary to earlier reports, it does seem that TPM 2.0 will be a requirement for getting Windows 11 on your home computer. A TPM module can be added to your computer if your motherboard has a TPM 2.0 header -- but this will still not get your PC compatible if you have an unsupported CPU.

Windows 11 build for Windows Insiders arrives

Windows Insiders can now start testing Windows 11 as Microsoft has pushed the first preview build. Microsoft says they've lowered the bar for these builds to see how Windows 11 performs across CPU models:

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. By providing preview builds to the diverse systems in our Windows Insider Program, we will learn how Windows 11 performs across CPU models more comprehensively, informing any adjustments we should make to our minimum system requirements in the future. We look forward to the product feedback and learnings as it’s an important step to prepare Windows 11 for general availability this year – thank you to the Windows Insider community for your excitement and feedback thus far!

PC Health Check App to give more information

On a related note, Microsoft has pulled the PC Health Check app. This application is intended to check whether your PC supports Windows 11 but there have been a lot of complaints about the tool because it did not offer extra information. Microsoft is working on a new version that will offer details about why a PC doesn't support Windows 11.