Can Your PC Run Windows 11?

Microsoft is ending Windows 10 support for most users. Unless you take steps to enroll your personal PC in extended updates, the most secure option is to upgrade to Windows 11. (All machines used for business should be running the latest supported version of Windows 11.)

But if you’ve had your personal Windows 10 PC a while, you might be wondering whether your machine even support Microsoft’s latest OS. As such, here are the official minimum specs:

• CPU: 1 Ghz or faster with two or more cores. Must be an approved CPU by Microsoft.
• RAM: 4GB for the OS itself, but 16GB for most programs. (You might be able to add more memory to a machine with less than 4GB of RAM.)
• Storage: 64GB or more. You may be able to add more storage, depending on your machine.
• System Firmware: UEFI (for Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) and Secure Boot capable. You might be able to enable Secure Boot on a machine that doesn’t seem to support it.
• TPM: Trusted Platform Module version 2.0. Microsoft has options for some machines that do not support TMP version 2.0.
• Graphics Card: Compatible with DirectX 12 or later with WDDM 2.0 driver.
• Display: Display with at least 720p resolution and larger than nine inches diagonally. Should support eight bits per color channel. You can potentially use Windows 11 with a display smaller than nine inches, but it might not be able to fit the whole window.
• Internet Connectivity and Microsoft Accounts: Windows 11 Pro for personal use and Windows 11 Home need both an internet connection and a Microsoft Account to set up.

As you might notice, there are plenty of caveats here. While Microsoft has minimum required specifications to run Windows 11, there are plenty of specs that the company offers some wiggle room on. It might not offer to fastest or most ideal experience, but your machine could very well run the latest versions of Windows 11.