Windows 11 24H2 Update: New System Requirements & How to Check Your CPU Compatibility

Discover the new system requirements for Windows 11 24H2, including the enforced POPCNT CPU requirement. Learn how to check if your CPU meets the criteria with easy verification methods. Stay ahead with our comprehensive guide on Windows 11 24H2's latest updates and ensure your system is ready for the upgrade. Watch now to get all the details!

Article:
Look for SSE4A if you use an AMD processor and SSE4.2 if you use an old Intel chip.

Download utilities to check whether or not your CPU can run Windows 11 24H2:

[theit-unicorn]

Do you think Microsoft was wrong for doing this in the middle of the life cycle of an OS? Should they have waited until Windows 12?

[danburch]

It's a conspiracy between Microdoft and computer manufacturers to sell more copies of Windows and computer hardware to use that new OS.

[phoenixrising]

Just a good advertisement to start using Linux on that older hardware.

[YoStu]

This is amazing. People want to use MS product but MS doesn't want them to use it. Quite interesting business model this is.

[andiroyal]

😢 Linux Mint is starting to look a whole lot better 😊

[christopheoberrauch]

Intel has had SSE4.2 since 2009, so we're talking about 15 years. It certainly used to be fun to run Windows 2000 on a 386 CPU. All those who are threatening to switch to Linux will not do so for the most part. Guys, after 15 years buy a mini PC with an N100 processor for a little more than 100 dollars. Your electricity bill will soon pay for the system.

[robertjoe]

I think this requirement is less bad than the initial system requirements for Windows 11. Windows 11 required 8th gen and above for Intel, and Zen 2 and above for AMD to run Windows 11 without modifications or hacks. This means when Windows 11 was released (back in October 2021) 5+ year old Intel PCs and 2.5+ year old AMD PCs were considered to not meet the minimum requirements. This cutoff personally for me was absurd.

This SSE4 requirement affects (as of now) 16+ year old Intel PCs and 17+ year old AMD PCs. For these PCs, if you really need Windows, I suggest Windows 10 (the last officially supported version), as you'll get feature updates up to Oct 2025, and security updates up to Oct 2028. By that time your PC is already around 20+ years old. Windows 11 23H2 will also get updates by up to 2025, but for security updates better move back to Windows 10.

If by 2028 your 22+-year-old PCs is still alive I highly suggest running Linux. You'll get better performance due to Linux being leaner and not bloated like Windows. If you really need Windows, get something used that's newer than your 22+ year old PC (by 2028) for $100+ on eBay. Then you can run Windows 11 (via modifications) again.

[danjo]

Thank you, your presentation was very clear and concise. Thank you for the links in the description, mine passed. I'm glad my Ryzen 5 3600 passed the test, I would have been upset because I just bought it in the first part of 2021 and is part of my new computer.

[CesareVesdani]

How insane that can be for not being able to run a newer build of Windows 11 on your current CPU.

[Iron_Sights]

Still rocking a 13 year old laptop myself, works amazing for me and it can keep up with newer laptops through sheer brute force. Been trying to delay the migration to Windows 11 because it just sucks, but I should be able to bypass the "requirements" easily. Probook 4430s with a Gen2 i7 2630qm, 16gb ram, and a 1tb SSD. Main bottleneck is the integrated graphics

[SouthFacedWindows]

I switched over to Linux and having a ton of fun to be honest. I should have done earlier. Thanks of Windows 11 for pushing me to Linux.

[Matt]

I have never liked this OS, I was at first a Mac User. But I'm an 100% Linux user.

[asifshamsi]

CPUs above Core2Duo will not be affected. These are very old & most of the people using these will be planning to replace those. So it's not a big deal.

[jb]

It is about time that Intel and AMD are implementing high level instruction to make software functions easier. I worked on mainframe computers for 50 years and going back to the late 1960, the mainframe had a count binary ones instruction for error correction/detection and later encryption algorithms.

[stephenhargreaves]

If you want to check with Linux, lscpu in a terminal will tell you explicitly if popcnt is supported (at least, it does with my Ryzen 5900X). (or 'lscpu | grep popcnt' will filter out the noise).

[fullscaleme]

Another way to verify popcnt is to boot a Linux distro from USB; open a terminal, enter 'lscpu' and press enter. It will show (if available) in the flags section.

[powerpc]

Just disable updates by setting your internet connection to "metered" to prevent this update from ever being downloaded. Since I did this, no more updates are being applied whenever I shutdown my pc. And I'll keep it that way. I ran Win7 for over 13 years without updates and it was still running fine last year. Until Steam forced me to install Win10 and also Satisfactory due to running Unreal Engine 5. But since I got a new pc, they kinda forced Win11 upon me. It works but I have ads disabled and now updates too.

[lurkerrekrul]

How many of you out there choose the graphic drivers that you want to run, then pick a graphics card that supports them?

How many of you choose what tires you want, then shop for a car that they will fit on?

Nobody?

Then why is it now considered normal to get hardware to support your OS, rather than the OS being designed to support existing hardware?

[JynxedKoma]

Ahahaha, that Cat "WHAT" animation half a minute into the video reminds me of those classic Windows XP and Vista pop ups from websites back in the day, especially of those female dancers and the likes.

[curiousfox]

Nice! My 4790K supports POPCNT, time to download and install 24H2. 😂💀