Minimum System Requirements for Windows 11

This article explains the minimum requirements to run Windows 11 on a PC, tablet, or laptop. Luckily, they're very similar to Windows 10's minimum system requirements. The only significant changes to the Windows 11 minimum requirements come from a few specialized features your CPU and motherboard need to support.

Windows 11 Basic Minimum System Requirements

Much like Windows 10, your PC needs to meet a few basic hardware requirements. These are the minimum system requirements to run Windows 11:

• CPU: 1 GHz or faster with two or more cores that's compatible with 64-bit operating systems
• Memory: 4 GB
• Storage: 64 GB
• Graphics: DirectX 12 or later compatible GPU with support for Windows Display Driver Model 2.0
• Display: 720p or greater that's at least 9 inches diagonally, with 8 bits per color channel 
• Internet Connection: Required for setup and updates alongside a Microsoft account

New Minimum System Requirements for Windows 11

While most of the minimum system requirements for Windows 11 aren't much different from Windows 10, there are a few more specialized minimum requirements to run Microsoft's newest operating system.

• TPM 2.0: The Trusted Platform Module 2.0 (or TPM 2.0) is a chip located on the motherboard supported by specific processors. If you have a supported processor, you will still have to enable TPM (which sometimes goes by PTT) on your motherboard. If you have a relatively modern CPU and motherboard, chances are your device supports TPM 2.0.
• UEFI: Older motherboards use BIOS during the initial stages of booting, while UEFI is the modern alternative. BIOS isn't always wholesale replaced, though, and some motherboards, for example, use some kind of BIOS functionality in conjunction with UEFI support.
• Secure Boot: Secure Boot is a UEFI feature you can enable before you load into Windows for additional security. While optional in Windows 10, Windows 11 requires Secure Boot. Once again, with a relatively modern device that supports UEFI, Secure Boot is likely already baked in. However, even if your device supports Secure Boot you may have to enable it.

Windows 11 CPU Requirements

To run Windows 11, you'll need a CPU that runs at least at 1 GHz with two or more cores. Luckily, the overwhelming majority of computing devices in use today meet these specifications.

However, on top of the above requirements, your CPU also must be a compatible 64-bit processor supported by Microsoft. While the majority of modern processors meet these specs, check Microsoft's supported processor list for Windows 11 to be sure.

Windows 11 Memory Requirements

Windows 11 requires a minimum of 4 GB of RAM to run. However, this likely isn't enough for anyone looking to do more than casual internet browsing. If you're on a desktop computer and can adjust how much RAM your computer has, you'd be wise to upgrade your PC's memory to at least 8 GB.

Windows 11 Storage Requirements

Windows 11 requires at least 64 GB of free space. However, you'll likely want much more than that because games and applications are often quite large, and that's without mentioning all the videos, music, and photos you'll probably want to store on the same hard drive.

Additionally, while you'll be able to run Windows 11 on a traditional hard disk drive if you'd like, it's strongly recommended to instead use a solid state drive, which offers significant speed and stability improvements.

Windows 11 Graphics Requirements

Windows 11 requires a DirectX 12 and WDDM 2.0 (Windows Display Driver Model) compatible graphics card.

DirectX 12 and WDDM 2.0 were introduced alongside Windows 10 back in 2015, so there has been considerable support for these technologies for over half a decade. If you can run Windows 10, chances are your graphics setup will run Windows 11.

Windows 11 Display Requirements

Windows 11 requires a minimum resolution of 720p. The overwhelming majority of modern computing devices and displays support a 720p resolution, so chances are you can do this on the hardware you already have. 720p first became popular beginning back around 2005, so this is not a hefty requirement.

Your display should also be greater than 9 inches when measured diagonally. If it's smaller than that, you might not be able to see the full Windows 11 user interface.