As is well known, Windows 11 demands quite strict hardware requirements from users who want to upgrade to it. So far, however, Microsoft emphasized that it has not changed since 2021, which basically also corresponds to the truth. Now the company has published an updated list for Intel processors compatible with the latest version of the operating system, Windows 11 24H2. It can be seen from this that the requirements have changed.
According to Microsoft, only Intel processors from the Elevenate generation, also known as Rocket Lake, are officially supported. This generation, released in 2021, set new standards in terms of performance. If you have an older processor, you could now face problems with the update to 24H2. For comparison, the original hardware requirements for Windows 11 said that an 8th generation Intel processor would be sufficient.
What does that mean?
On paper, Microsoft demands users who want to update to the latest version of Windows 11 to have even better hardware. However, this does not necessarily mean that devices with an older CPU cannot use Windows 11. The versions 22H2 and 23H2 still do not require big jumps in the processor architecture. However, version 22H2 has already reached its end of support, and in the case of 23H2, the end-of-life was reached on November 11, 2025.
To check whether your CPU is sufficient for the update to 24H2, you can check the Windows settings under system and then info to see which processor is installed and compare it with the list. Alternatively, use the PC Health Check app from Microsoft to see whether all components would generally be compatible with 24H2. It’s also worth noting that there are ways to install Windows 11 despite the CPU not being supported, but Microsoft does not recommend this procedure, as it can lead to problems with the operating system.
Why are the hardware requirements of 24H2 so high?
Microsoft states that the processor is “a decisive factor for the execution of Windows 11”. For the current version of the operating system, a higher clock frequency and a higher number of cores are required to correctly carry out all functions. The new AI services that have found their way into Windows 11 are probably also significantly involved. As is well known, these need more computing power and therefore place higher demands on the system. Most recently, Microsoft had implemented that some of these functions only run in connection with a paid Microsoft 365 subscription.