Following recent reports of new hardware requirements for the upcoming Windows 11 24H2 update, it’s clear that Microsoft is gearing up to introduce some new AI features. A new report now suggests that the company is working on adding new code to the operating system that will warn users if they don’t meet the minimum requirements to run AI-powered applications.
According to Albacore on X (formerly known as Twitter), systems that don’t meet the requirements will display a warning message in the form of a watermark. After digging into the latest Windows 11 Insider Build 26200, he came across requirements coded into the OS for an upcoming AI File Explorer feature. The minimum requirements include an ARM64 processor, 16GB of memory, 225GB of total storage, and a Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite NPU.
It turns out that Windows 11 build 26100 (alleged 24H2 RTM) includes the AI Explorer requirements 📃 built into the OS
💠 ARM64 CPU
💠 16 GiB RAM
💠 225GiB system disk (total, no free space)
💠 Snapdragon X Elite NPU (HWID QCOM0D0A)
I think this is a way to promote ARM64 adoption 😶🌫️ photo.twitter.com/ZbQf4KY1BN– Albacore ☁️ (@thebookisclosed) April 18, 2024
Apparently, the new AI File Explorer Advanced will be called Copilot and will offer features akin to a modern version of Cortana. Yes, the same app that was discontinued back in August of last year. While the CPU choice seems odd, Neowin points out that the feature could be exclusive to new Surface devices, or that Microsoft plans to add support for other PCs down the road. Interestingly, there is a way to bypass this check by disabling ID 48486440 on the RTM build.
The new hardware compatibility follows on the heels of recently discovered POPCNT and SSE 4.2 instruction set requirements. Essentially, CPUs with POPCNT and SSE 4.2 support are required to boot Windows 11. As previously mentioned, hardware compatibility for
It's important to note that Microsoft hasn't released an official statement on the minimum hardware requirements for the Windows 11 24H2 Update. The company is currently testing new features that may or may not make it into the final version.
