Windows 11 is arriving later this year as a free upgrade for Windows 10 users, but many are discovering that their hardware isn’t compatible. Microsoft has altered its minimum hardware requirements, and it’s the CPU changes that are most surprising here. Windows 11 will only officially support 8th Gen and newer Intel Core processors, alongside Apollo Lake and newer Pentium and Celeron processors.
That potentially rules out millions of existing Windows 10 devices from upgrading to Windows 11 with full support, and even devices like Microsoft’s own Surface Studio 2 which the company is still selling right now for $3,499. Older devices that aren’t officially supported will be met with a warning during the Windows 11 install that the upgrade is not recommended, but the OS should still install.

Windows 11 will also only officially support AMD Ryzen 2000 and newer processors, and 2nd Gen or newer EPYC chips. You can find the full list of supported processors on Microsoft’s site, but here’s the basic breakdown:

Intel 8th Gen (Coffee Lake)
Intel 9th Gen (Coffee Lake Refresh)
Intel 10th Gen (Comet Lake)
Intel 10th Gen (Ice Lake)
Intel 11th Gen (Rocket Lake)
Intel 11th Gen (Tiger Lake)
Intel Xeon Skylake-SP
Intel Xeon Cascade Lake-SP
Intel Xeon Cooper Lake-SP
Intel Xeon Ice Lake-SP

Windows 11 support for AMD
AMD Ryzen 2000
AMD Ryzen 3000
AMD Ryzen 4000
AMD Ryzen 5000
AMD Ryzen Threadripper 2000
AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3000
AMD Ryzen Threadripper Pro 3000
AMD EPYC 2nd Gen
AMD EPYC 3rd Gen

Originally, Microsoft noted that CPU generation requirements are a “soft floor” limit for the Windows 11 installer, which should have allowed some older CPUs to be able to install Windows 11 with a warning, but hours after we published this story, the company updated that page to explicitly require the list of chips above. We’ve reached out to Microsoft to clarify its CPU requirements and support, and we’ll update you accordingly.

Windows 11 will be a free update. Here's how you'll download it (and see if your device is compatible)

Well poo on em, mine is only a 1700.

It'll still work, but don't expect it to work "right" ...

What To Do If The Windows 11 Health Check App Says Your PC Is Not Compatible

I went looking for that health check app and couldn't find it anywhere not even from the link provided on that site.

Ok found it is says I can't run 11 because of the secure boot option. Guess I have to check the bios settings, my machine is barely 2 years old and has never had anything but W10 on it.

Smart Boot is just a security option ...
It's easy enough to bypass ...

Was that the only thing tripped in the Smart Check?