Can Your PC Run Windows 11? Not if It's More Than 4 Years Old, Says Microsoft

If you own a laptop that's more than four years old, then Microsoft thinks your PC shouldn’t run Windows 11. The company has released a list of CPUs that will officially support Windows 11—and it suggests that AMD and Intel processors launched before late-2017 won’t support the OS. 

The requirement is already angering consumers. But before you join in, there's some evidence the CPU requirement may be easy to bypass. 

For Intel Core products, Microsoft says Windows 11 should only run on processors starting with the Coffee Lake family (for example, the i3-8300), which arrived in October 2017. 

As for AMD, the Windows 11 support starts with the Ryzen 2000 series, which launched in 2018. The first-generation Ryzen CPUs from the year before are conspicuously left out. 

The CPU requirements were underscored on Friday when Microsoft released a new version of its PC Health Check app. The software has been updated to tell you why a laptop or desktop can’t run Windows 11 if the hardware fails the compatibility test. 

We ran the app on a Dell XPS 13 I bought a mere four years ago. Surprisingly, the laptop failed to pass the Windows 11 compatibility test. The reason? The Intel dual-core i5-7200U chip, which launched in 2016, is apparently too old. 

Microsoft announced the system requirements for Windows 11 during Thursday’s big reveal. But at the time, it was unclear if the CPU requirements applied to only upcoming PC systems from hardware manufacturers—or if it extended to existing laptops and desktops. The same system requirements also say a dual-core compatible 64-bit processor with a 1GHz clock speed is enough to run Windows 11. That left us with hope older machines could run the OS. 

But on Friday, Microsoft vice president Steve Dispensa indicated the CPU requirements apply to all PC hardware. “No, Windows 11 has more specific CPU requirements than just dual-core 1GHz and up,” he said in a tweet. 

Still, a laptop from 2017 certainly isn’t that old. So it’s no surprise the CPU requirement is already infuriating consumers. 

“Well this is rather shocking. I have a three-year-old ThinkPad P51, Xeon CPU E3-1535M processor and it's not supported,” wrote one user on Twitter. “It's disappointing to see a machine this new and powerful not supported, I expected better.” (The Xeon E3-1535M processor itself launched in 2015.)

Fortunately, there may be some good news: A Microsoft web page did note the CPU generation represents only a “soft floor” for whether a PC can run Windows 11. The “hard floor” is the dual-core 1GHz processor requirement. 

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“Devices that do not meet the hard floor cannot be upgraded to Windows 11, and devices that meet the soft floor will receive a notification that upgrade is not advised,” the web page said.

So it sounds like bypassing the CPU requirement may only require clicking through a warning page. However, it appears Microsoft has updated the web page to remove mention of the "hard floor/soft floor" requirement. We've reached out to the company for comment.

Another requirement for Windows 11 is the need for a security chip called Trusted Platform Module (TPM). The tech industry began incorporating TPM version 2.0 into PCs five to seven years ago. You can learn whether your PC has the chip by visiting our guide.

Microsoft plans on rolling out the OS to Windows 10 users as a free upgrade starting this holiday season.

Microsoft Windows 11 Preview