Windows 11 24H2 has un-bypassable hardware requirements...

CPU "must" have SSE4.2 instruction set (RED box).
This requirement can NOT be bypassed...

I fortunately have both.

I think that's pretty well covered in this thread:


in particular:


The CPUs that don't support it tend to date from before 2010.

jvickers said:

I fortunately have both.

Click to expand...

I just looked at some old overclocking pics... the AMD FX-8350 had both, and the AMD Phenom X4 955 had one of them.
The AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ didn't have either of them.

Ghot said:

I just looked at some old overclocking pics... the AMD FX-8350 had both, and the AMD Phenom X4 955 had one of them.
The AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ didn't have either of them.

Click to expand...

The Athlon 64 X2 could run Windows 8 X64, but not Windows 8.1 X64, due to missing the CMPXCHG16b instruction. (I'll leave it to the viewer to look that up. Means nothing to me.) That carried over to Windows 10 X64. I presume that it would be a problem with 11 as well, aside from other potential incompatibilities.

(I forget who inherited my old Athlon 64 X2 Socket 939 PC, which I assembled back when AMD unambiguously had the best desktop CPUs.)

I wouldn't be surprised if Microsoft enforces this at the kernel level. Meaning the dreaded "UNSUPPORTED_PROCESSOR" stop error code will be the processor ban enforcement.

I have an HP Envy 17 TS from 2014 that has the SSE4.2 and is running Win11 now, will wait and see what happens next. I did a hardware clone of the drive so can go back to Win10 if needed.

Berton said:

I have an HP Envy 17 TS from 2014 that has the SSE4.2 and is running Win11 now, will wait and see what happens next. I did a hardware clone of the drive so can go back to Win10 if needed.

Click to expand...

According to the article, with SSE4.2, it should be fine for 24H2

The ZIP version is the portable version. (No installation required).

I have one pc with SSE4.2, but this one is SSE4.1. I wonder if I could upgrade the CPU?

This one is Dell 960 tower with Intel Core (TM) 2DUO E8400 @3.00 GHZ

mackie said:

I have one pc with SSE4.2, but this one is SSE4.1. I wonder if I could upgrade the CPU?

This one is Dell 960 tower with Intel Core (TM) 2DUO E8400 @3.00 GHZ

Click to expand...

Find the specs for the DELL 960.
They usually list the optional CPUs.

But... I wouldn't really worry about it. If 24H2 is anything like 23H2... it's gonna be... "much ado about nothing".
If you think back... all the stuff we got in 22H2, 23H2, and probably in 24H2, is gonna be a whole lot of nothing.



DELL Optiplex 960 Tech Manual (PDF)... page 11
Tech manual - PDF

None of these are compatible with 24H2... they only go up to SSE4.1

RJARRRPCGP said:

I wouldn't be surprised if Microsoft enforces this at the kernel level. Meaning the dreaded "UNSUPPORTED_PROCESSOR" stop error code will be the processor ban enforcement.

Click to expand...

Well, I have managed to create a hybrid install usb for 24H2 from a 23H2 one by replacing sources\install.esd with the install.esd from a 24H2 ISO (the Insider Dev build 26052.1100). This can clean install 24H2 or be used for an in-place upgrade (with the usual 23H2 workarounds if installing on an unsupported device).

But this time round it isn't just an artificial restriction like the TPM one, the required PopCnt instruction is actually used in the OS kernel. Without it a clean install won't boot and an upgrade will fail and roll back.

For more, see my post #1,914 here: Let's install Windows 11 on incompatible hardware

@mackie

My neighbor is running Windows 10 Home and he is still on 1909.
He hasn't gotten a single update since then. He also hasn't had a single problem with his computer.

He doesn't ever surf the wild side of the web.
So your DELL 960 should be fine with the current CPU... forever, or at least a long, long time.

Ghot said:

Find the specs for the DELL 960.
They usually list the optional CPUs.

But... I wouldn't really worry about it. If 24H2 is anything like 23H2... it's gonna be... "much ado about nothing".
If you think back... all the stuff we got in 22H2, 23H2, and probably in 24H2, is gonna be a whole lot of nothing.



DELL Optiplex 960 Tech Manual (PDF)... page 11
Tech manual - PDF

None of these are compatible with 24H2... they only go up to SSE4.1


View attachment 86942

Click to expand...

Thanks Ghot!! So you can take this workhorse from a Dual Core (like mine) to a Quad Core Q9650/Q9550. I wonder if that upgrade would require a different cooling unit than what's in there now? But more importantly, is it SSE4.2? I think it would be a fun project for me.

Well, it looks like the Quad 9650, which was released in Aug 2008, won't do it. It says under Features that it goes as high as SSE4.1. So much for that.

mackie said:

Thanks Ghot!! So you can take this workhorse from a Dual Core (like mine) to a Quad Core Q9650/Q9550. I wonder if that upgrade would require a different cooling unit than what's in there now? But more importantly, is it SSE4.2? I think it would be a fun project for me.

Click to expand...

NO.

All of those CPUs are only SSE4.1
For 24H2 you need SSE4.2 or SSE4A


You could still upgrade to a Quad core, but it still won't be compatible with 24H2

Like this...

Ghot said:

NO.

All of those CPUs are only SSE4.1
For 24H2 you need SSE4.2 or SSE4A

Click to expand...

Yeah, I just saw that. Oh well, one out of two ain't bad...... and the good one is the 'production' pc here.

Thanks again!!

mackie said:

Yeah, I just saw that. Oh well, one out of two ain't bad...... and the good one is the 'production' pc here.

Thanks again!!

Click to expand...

You could get one of these and then use the DELL 960 for... a doorstop?


...is like 100X better than the DELL 960



Or one of these maybe...

intel 2nd gen i5 have SSE4.2. Even the pentium g2030 has it.
looks like cpus for socket lga1155 and newer should be ok.

Even my 14 year old Intel Core i7 950 has SSE4.2, as does my 4 year old Intel Core i9 10900X.
So, I guess it's not gonna bother too many people.



Edit: My 12 year old Intel Core i7 3930K also has SSE4.2.