Remember when Microsoft announced that Windows 10 would be the “forever” version of windows, apparently they have changed their minds on that.

With Microsoft’s recent announcement of Windows 11, you may be wondering if your current PC will run it.   It’s a good question and there will shortly be a windows 11 compatibility checker available for you to check, but as it stands it appears that most system built since 2019 should be compatible.   Older systems using AMD Ryzen 1000 series processors and older and Intel 6th Gen processors or older will be blocked from being able to run the new operating system.

Security is at the heart of Windows 11 it would seem, your system must support TPM 2.0 (trusted platform module).  Many systems do include this but it is often disabled, users will need to go into the BIOS and enable it.  For others, it is possible to add a TPM module to many desktop systems using a device such as Gigabytes TPM Module.  TPM modules enable secure storage of encryption keys for bitlocker with bitlocker being enabled by default on Windows 11.

Secure Boot support will also be mandatory to get Windows 11 to work, that’s been standard on systems for a few years now so anything from 2017 onwards is likely to support this.  

Windows 10 will still continue to receive updates for the foreseeable future, End Of Life is not scheduled till October 2025 so you won’t have to upgrade to 11 immediately for a support and security point of view anyway. 

Why has Microsoft been so strict with their Windows 11 requirements?   It’s likely they really want you to buy a new computer!   It will be free to update compatible systems but they likely want to reduce the number of current systems that will be suitable so you buy a new one so they can make income from the sale of a new licence.   With their push for Microsoft 365, an annual subscription model for Windows and Office mainly aimed at businesses and their further offerings in Virtual Desktops it may be only a matter of time till Windows becomes an annual subscription though.