Microsoft trims more CPUs from Windows 11 compatibility list

OEMs blowing dust from the processor stock cupboard, beware

Updated Microsoft has published the list of CPUs supported by Windows 11 24H2 – which confirms to OEMs that if they were hoping to raid stocks of pre-11th-generation Intel CPUs, they're out of luck.

We should reiterate that this warning is to OEMs only, not end users or corporations.

Windows 11 24H2 has been available to customers for months, yet Microsoft felt compelled in its February update to confirm that builders, specifically, must use Intel's 11th-generation or later silicon when building brand new PCs to run its most recent OS iteration.

"These processors meet the design principles around security, reliability, and the minimum system requirements for Windows 11," Microsoft says.

Intel's 11th-generation chips arrived in 2020 and were discontinued last year. It would be surprising, if not unheard of, for OEMs to build machines with unsupported chips. Intel has already transitioned many pre-11th generation chips to "a legacy software support model," so Microsoft's decision to omit the chips from the OEM list is understandable.

However, this could be seen as a creeping problem. Chips made earlier than that were present very recently, in the list of supported Intel processors for Windows 11 22H2 and 23H2.

This new OEM list may add to worries of some users looking at the general hardware compatibility specs for Windows 11 and wondering if the latest information means that even the slightly newer hardware in their org's fleet will soon no longer meet the requirements of Microsoft's flagship operating system.

It's a good question, and the answer – currently – appears to be that those "old" CPUs are still suitable. Microsoft has a list of hardware compatibility requirements that customers can check, and they have not changed much since the outcry when they were first published.

People were not happy back in 2021 when Microsoft made it clear that upgrading from Windows 10 would not be possible for millions of otherwise perfectly functional computers. However, eighth, ninth, and tenth-generation Intel chips should still be fine as long as the other requirements, such as TPM 2.0, are met, it said at the time.

We've repeatedly asked Microsoft to clarify the situation. While the company has responded to other queries, the question of whether this might be a prelude to a further CPU trim – or is just information given to OEMs – is still without a formal response.

The company has altered the hardware requirements before. Users must pray it does not alter them any further. ®

Updated to add on March 3:

Two weeks after publishing the supported Intel processor list for Windows 11 24H2, Microsoft updated it to add the missing 8th, 9th, and 10th generation Intel processor models.

The company admitted that its original update "did not reflect accurate offerings."

While the clarification is welcome – although we're not sure how many OEMs still have that particular silicon still knocking around in the stockroom – the fact it took Microsoft two weeks to acknowledge the error is worrying. Perhaps the whole hardware compatibility fiasco will also turn out to "not reflect accurate offerings" as the end of Windows 10 support nears.

Hattip to Reg reader Toby Kershaw for spotting the change.