Microsoft billed Windows 10 as the last version of Windows and be a universal operating system that would run on all windows devices eg Xbox , Surface Pro . Microsoft Phone etc.
The goal of the same version of Windows running on almost all devices has not had the results that Microsoft was hoping for. With 10 being used across pc’, tablets , Xbox and phones developers would be enticed from the old Win32 apps to the new Universal Windows Platform (UWP) apps and be easily sold through the Microsoft Store. UWP apps would be able to run across all devices , the takeup of Windows-dominated PC industry would initiate a cycle that would improve other hardware and software efforts.
UWP apps never took off, and Microsoft has now withdrawn from their UWP goal. To keep the Microsoft Store relevant it allows developers to submit whatever kinds of apps they want to. The Xbox, while successful, remains narrowly focused on gaming and And Windows Phone is dead,
So Windows 11 was officially released on 5/11/2021 and the new release offers a slew of features
SOME OF THE NEW FEATURES
- Window management improvements have been geatly improved across all area of managenent allowing improved computer repairs.
- Performs as well as Windows 10 on the same hardware.
- Computer Security is enhanced with Secure Boot and TPM,.
- Tons of beneficial tweaks to apps, touchscreen and pen support, and other fit-and-finish improvements.
- Microsoft is offering a free upgrade from Windows 10.
- Windows 11 features a new design with rounded corners, pastel shades and a and Taskbar. Past of the new look and feel is called Motion Design which provides a lot of animation.
- Native Android apps via the Amazon Appstore, which will be accessible from within the updated Microsoft Store while you could make some apps work on Windows 10. Windows 11 will now make them native .
- Improved Microsoft Teams integration
- Improved Xbox integration for better gaming. Auto HDR and DirectStorage, so that gaming performs better on PC.
- Better virtual desktop support.Windows 11 will let you crate virtual desktops similar to MacOS,
- Better speech recognition.
What are the minimum Requirements
There is a version of the Microsoft PC Health Check app now available via Microsoft which enables users to check whether your current PC is Windows 11 compatible.
The general requirements are;
- CPU—1 GHz or faster, two or more cores, x86_64 or ARM64 only
- RAM—4GiB or more
- Storage—64GB minimum for installation… but we’d recommend at least 128GB for a vaguely normal system
- Graphics—Compatible with DX12 or later, with WDDM 2.0 driver
- Firmware—UEFI, Secure Boot capable
- TPM—Trusted Platform Module 2.0 is listed as a minimum requirement; TPM 1.2 may or may not be “good enough”—but read on before throwing your hands up in despair!
- Display—720p minimum resolution, nine-inch minimum diagonal measurement, 8 bits per color channel or higher
Windows 11 Home needs an internet connection with a Microsoft account while the Pro version does not. This was usually required with Windows 10 however if you installed 10 yourself you could avoid using a Microsoft Account by unplugging the network connection. It is unsure if this is still possible with 11.
UPDATE I can confirm that you do not need a Microsoft Account to install Windows 11. If you enter a non-existent microsoft account when asked to enter one the installation will default to a local account.
Most PC motherboards don’t come with a hardware TPM module installed. However, most of those boards do support hardware TPM, with a special 19-pin header ready to plug a TPM module in. While a hardware TPM is considered the most hardened version , firmware TPM emulation is embedded in newer AMD and Intel processors, which satisfies Windows 11 requirements
The picture below is an example of the output from Microsoft’s PC Health Check app. As you can see my AMD Ryzen 5 1600 CPU wth a Asus Prime B350 Plus mother board does not pass muster. If you are not aware of of your motherboard type you can download the CPUZ
While my Asus motherboard actually supports TPM , I would need to enable in the BIOS, it does not physically have the module however the Ryzen CPU does not perform the TPU emulation.
Why are 11 requirements so strict?
The reason for the strict requirements comes from Microsoft’s testing of various PC’S. Microsoft said PCs that didn’t meet Windows 11’s minimum requirements crashed approx. 50% more often than PCs that did. PC’s that met system requirements were nearly free of crashes Microsoft asserts this is mostly comes down to active driver support. Newer computers mostly use newer DCH drivers a way of packaging drivers that Microsoft began supporting in Windows 10
The requirement for UEFI appears mandatory so no more legacy BIOS installs . It’s uncertain if Secure Boot itself if mandatory.
The UEFI firmware can boot from drives of 2.2 TB or larger because UEFI uses GPT partitions replacing MBR. It also boots in a more standardized way, launching EFI executables rather than running code from a drive’s master boot record.
UEFI boot process is faster. than the standard BIOS and it’s setup screens are better visually than BIOS settings screens, including graphics and mouse cursor support. However, many PCs still ship with text-mode UEFI settings interfaces that look and work like an old BIOS setup screen.
SECURE BOOT
Secure Boot establishes a “trust relationship” between the UEFI and the operating system that it launches at boot time.
Most consumer motherboards allow booting from either BIOS or UEFI, so if you installed Windows under BIOS, you won’t be able to simply convert it to UEFI and will need to do a clean reinstall.
While we have explained the benefits of using Secure Boot and TPM 2.0 modules, but there may be other reasons . Windows 11 (and also Windows 10!) uses virtualization-based security, or VBS, to isolate parts of system memory from the rest of the system. VBS includes a feature called “memory integrity.” however processors that don’t support mode-based execution control can cause problems
MBEC may well be germane to Windows 11 CPU support . MBEC support is included in newer processors, starting with the Kaby Lake and Skylake-X architectures on Intel’s side, and the Zen 2 architecture on AMD’s side—as this is a close match to Windows 11 processor support.
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