The highly anticipated Windows 11 24H2 update is now available. Don’t panic, there’s a good chance that your computer is still running Windows 11 23H2. Even though Windows 11 24H2 is officially available for download, the deployment is being done in waves and the update will be offered to all users over the coming weeks. Time for the Redmond firm to correct some problems that affect certain users.
However, Windows 11 may have an unpleasant surprise in store for you if it is already installed on a machine whose configuration does not meet Microsoft’s criteria. The system requirements of the operating system caused a lot of discussion when it was released and Microsoft is adding new restrictions with this update. Windows 11 24H2 requires a processor supporting the POPCNT instruction, as our colleagues at 01net remind us. The latter is part of the SSE4.2 instruction sets for Intel and SSE4A for AMD.
CPU-Z allows checking supported instruction sets
If this is a little obscure for you, just remember that to use Windows 11 24H2, your computer must have a chip compatible with a specific technology called SSE4.2 or SSE4A. Without this, you will not be able to install this new version of Windows, even if you are already using Windows 11 with version 23H2 on an – officially – compatible machine.
To be sure your machine meets Microsoft’s criteria, you can check with a utility called CPU-Z. Available at this address, this tool displays the characteristics of the processor present in your PC.
After installation, simply open CPU-Z on your machine and wait a few moments. The tool then displays a lot of information about your processor. In our specific case, you should stay in the CPU tab (generally displayed by default in CPU-Z) and go to the Instructions line. Just check that the mention SSE4.2 (Intel) or SSE4A (AMD) appears. If so, you will be able to install Windows 11 24H2 on an unsupported PC without any problem.
Only very old processors are affected
When Windows 11 was released, tools emerged to allow the installation of the operating system on officially non-compatible machines. This new restriction should not cause controversy, because all “recent” processors support the POPCNT instruction. Indeed, all models launched from 2007 by AMD and 2008 by Intel normally manage the SSE4a or SSE4.2 instruction set. Some processors from 2007, 2008 or 2009 do not have this support.
As a reminder, here is the list of processors supported by Intel, AMD and Qualcomm:
Intel :
- 8th generation (Coffee Lake)
- 9th generation (Coffee Lake Refresh)
- 10th generation (Comet Lake and Ice Lake)
- 11th generation (Rocket Lake and Tiger Lake)
- 12th generation (Alder Lake)
- 13th generation (Raptor Lake)
- 14th generation (Raptor Lake)
- Intel Core Ultra (Meteor Lake)
- Pentium – Gold et Silver
- Xeon – Skylake-SP, Cascade Lake-SP, Cooper
- Lake-SP, Ice Lake-SP
- All Intel processors supported
AMD :
- Ryzen 2000, 3000, 4000, 5000, 6000, 7000 (including 3D V-cache chips)
- Ryzen Threadripper Pro 59xxWX
- Ryzen Embedded V25xx et V27xx
- EPYC 2nd generation and 3rd generation
- Athlon – Gold, Silver, 3xxx, 300x
- All AMD processors supported
Qualcomm :
If you still have an old machine, we can only advise you to abandon Windows and discover the Linux world. Many distributions await you and there is something for everyone.
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