Technology @lemmy.world flop_leash_973 @lemmy.world 5 mo. ago

Windows 11 24H2 to enforce hardware requirement - gHacks Tech News

www.ghacks.net Windows 11 24H2 to enforce hardware requirement - gHacks Tech News

Windows 11 version 24H2 may enforce a new hardware requirement that will block older processors from running the operating system.

39 comments

This is kind of a nothingburger. It requires an instruction that first launched on AMD Phenom and Intel's Nehalem architecture (1st gen i5/i7). I would think the vast majority of people running 11 on unsupported CPUs would be running something newer than that.
- Doesn’t stop certain communities raging. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Even less reasons to move on from Windows 10, nice!
- This only affects people running Intel/amd chips pre 2008-2011
  
  The last version of win11 supporting these processors is EOL in 2025. Windows 10 is also EOL in 2025
- Switch to Linux
  
  This is also going to affect Linux distros, many are moving to x86-64-v2 or even v3. That comes with the same requirements this Win11 build is going to enforce.
  
  There's plenty of life left in some of the later hardware not on the official Win11 support list, but hardware old enough to be excluded by this build is really overdue for retirement and/or being considered retrocomputing.
  
  Hahahajahahajha
  
  OK.
  
  Show me tables in any open competitor to excel.
  
  Show me OneNote/Sharepoint
  
  Show me SCOM.
  
  Show me file compatibility that doesn't wack your files, so you can trust you're seeing what the author intended.
  
  Show me Publisher, any kind of CAD.
  
  Which shell are you using?
  
  I can go on for days why the "switch to Linux" mantra is simplistic and naive, at best.
  
  Linux has its place, but I'm not dealing with supporting users with it as a desktop OS. I don't even use it myself (other than to tinker), because I don't have time to play fuck-fuck with borked files from one system to another. My "get work done" machines run Windows, especially because I work with other people, and I need to ensure any documents I send to them appear as intended.
  
  There's a reason Windows is the defacto standard, and it's the standardized UI (and not by accident, if you read the MS research from the 80's). Add to that support for systems management since the early 90's, with SMS, Exchange/DC (a directory service) that all works natively with the OS since Win2k.
  
  Linux as the base for a hypervisor? Fantastic. As a host for docker? Great! As a base OS for lightweight, dedicated-purpose devices (RPi, consumer routers, hell, commercial routers! IoT)? Perfect!
- This barely affects anyone apparently, so feel free to upgrade. Windows 11 isn't bad at all. I'm enjoying it whenever I have to use it. (I basically boot Steam and play games and reboot to Linux, so that's the extent of it.)
  
  Windows 11 adds nothing good to 10, and introduces a bunch of highly anti-consumer features that are difficult if not impossible to disable. There's absolutely no good reason to "upgrade" to 11 if you already have 10.
  
  Windows 11 isn't bad. But it's a sidegrade from 10. For example, I have an ultrawide HDR display and 11 is a must for HDR. But the damn start bar can't move to the left anymore which is super annoying on an ultrawide.
What the POPCNT instruction is used for
From what I've read, it only affects AMD processors from 2011 and earlier, and Intel processors from 2008 and earlier.

So... just people who bypassed the earlier TPM requirement and installed Windows 11 on those older CPUs for some reason.

Who would do this, like three people in the world?
- Not having a TPM doesn't mean that old
  
  sure, but not having POPCNT means way older than not having TPM
  
  The oldest machines to support windows 11 are about years old at this point. It's OK to call them old.
  
  Old =/= unusable/useless
- Guess I'm one of the three. I did the tpm bypass on an old computer I built way back. Mostly just for fun, I don't actually use it for anything anymore.
  
  That said, looks like the CPU is new enough (i7 950) this change won't affect it.
If the CPU does not support POPCNT, Windows 11 version 24H2 will not boot. The instruction requires a processors that supports SSE4.2 or SSE4a.

[…] Intel launched support for SSE4.2 in Intel Nehalem core processors in late 2008. AMD added support for the instructions in late 2011. Older processors continued to be sold for some time.
- The article may be a bit off on the AMD processors, K10 (Phenom etc) supports SSE4a and was released in late 2007.
Don't worry MS, any PC with those processors in my house are already safely running Linux.

Thanks for your concern.
I think windows 10 is going to be the last windows I use on my personal computer.

I hope that proton and general native Linux gaming support gets to a fully supported level before they kill off windows 10.

With the popularity of the steam deck for the first time I’m actually somewhat confident it’s going to get there eventually.

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