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

RD Mercer · May 3, 2024

I'm running 24H2 right now on my system, haven't really installed many apps on it, it's in my test mode right now.

Berton · May 3, 2024

I'm running 23H2 on 2 Notebooks from 2014 upgraded from Win10 22H2, no issues with the single-file tweak running setup.exe from the MCT USB thumb drive. I don't know yet if that will remain true when the fully-Released 24H2 version comes out.

spapakons · May 3, 2024

It remains to be seen if indeed 24H2 will make extensive use of PopCnt instruction or it is only a compatibility check to stop older computers running Windows 11. This was the case with the first edition of Windows 8. It required NX/PAE instruction to install and boot, but once you bypass the compatibility check you could run it on an unsupported Pentium 4 socket 478 CPU. Let's hope this is the case with the PopCnt instruction, just a compatibility check that can be bypassed.

erpster4 · May 6, 2024

looks like more older CPUs (certain old ARM processors included) won't be able to upgrade to 24H2 as well

First-generation Windows on ARM PCs will not be able to run Windows 11 24H2

NormanF · May 6, 2024

The kernel now excludes any chip sans the required set instruction.

Porting the 23H2 kernel into 24H2 will probably leave the OS in a broken state.

Either upgrade your hardware or stay on 23H2 or move to Linux.

jimbo45 · May 6, 2024

mecanicogolf said:
Or just go away.

Hi there

Still B/S

try dism /Apply-Image and then re-install the bootloader via bcdboot.

Cheers
jimbo

BrianInEngland · May 6, 2024

spapakons said:
It remains to be seen if indeed 24H2 will make extensive use of PopCnt instruction or it is only a compatibility check to stop older computers running Windows 11. This was the case with the first edition of Windows 8. It required NX/PAE instruction to install and boot, but once you bypass the compatibility check you could run it on an unsupported Pentium 4 socket 478 CPU. Let's hope this is the case with the PopCnt instruction, just a compatibility check that can be bypassed.

24H2 will not boot without this CPU instruction, it's been mentioned here a few times.

WAI · May 6, 2024

Yep... I tried replacing some files between 23H2 to 24H2 but no success so we are stuck

spapakons · May 6, 2024

In worst case I will buy a refurbished laptop which has the PopCnt instruction and give my test laptop to a friend or relative with Windows 11 23H2.

WAI · May 6, 2024

spapakons said:
In worst case I will buy a refurbished laptop which has the PopCnt instruction and give my test laptop to a friend or relative with Windows 11 23H2.

I mean Microsoft will not stop updating that build for awhile so

RD Mercer · May 6, 2024

spapakons said:
In worst case I will buy a refurbished laptop which has the PopCnt instruction and give my test laptop to a friend or relative with Windows 11 23H2.

I’m running a 4790K, I installed it on my PC and it works great, of course I haven’t installed any apps on it just browsers.

spapakons · May 7, 2024

This is a 4th generation Intel CPU which has the PopCnt instruction and is compatible. You only need to bypass compatibility check for the general Windows 11 hardware requirements (CPU, RAM, TMP 2.0, UEFI, Secure Boot).

erpster4 · Monday at 12:07 PM

neves said:
SSE4A is AMD only, while SSE4.2 is supported by both Intel and AMD.

SSE4.2 support on AMD CPUs began with the AMD FX Bulldozer & Piledriver series

spapakons said:
It remains to be seen if indeed 24H2 will make extensive use of PopCnt instruction or it is only a compatibility check to stop older computers running Windows 11. This was the case with the first edition of Windows 8. It required NX/PAE instruction to install and boot, but once you bypass the compatibility check you could run it on an unsupported Pentium 4 socket 478 CPU. Let's hope this is the case with the PopCnt instruction, just a compatibility check that can be bypassed.

don't count on it when 24H2 goes final around the fall/autumn of 2024
it's not just PopCnt but also SSE4.2

spapakons · Monday at 12:12 PM

Again let's hope this is only a hardware requirement for installation or upgrade. If most Windows 11 code doesn't use PopCnt instruction or SSE4.2 Microsoft would have to rewrite it to force this requirement. Not very likely to rewrite most of Windows 11 code.

BrianInEngland · Monday at 12:27 PM

spapakons said:
Again let's hope this is only a hardware requirement for installation or upgrade. If most Windows 11 code doesn't use PopCnt instruction or SSE4.2 Microsoft would have to rewrite it to force this requirement. Not very likely to rewrite most of Windows 11 code.

It would just need to be a boot-time process. No PopCnt or SSE4.2, no boot.
Wouldn't require a huge change for that.

Bree · Monday at 12:45 PM

spapakons said:
If most Windows 11 code doesn't use PopCnt instruction or SSE4.2 Microsoft would have to rewrite it to force this requirement. Not very likely to rewrite most of Windows 11 code.

BrianInEngland said:
It would just need to be a boot-time process. No PopCnt or SSE4.2, no boot.
Wouldn't require a huge change for that.

With AI becoming more significant in 24H2 the PopCnt instruction may well be turning up almost anywhere. Apparently it's particularly useful for AI computation....

POPCNT is useful for various workloads such as error correction, and even neural networks. According to Vaibhav Sagar, POPCNT can be used to help run binary convolutional neural networks, which are typically designed to run on lower-end devices, like smartphones and tablets. Neural networks normally use matrix multiplication, but a binary convolutional network runs using binary matrices.

This could be the reason why Microsoft is quietly enforcing POPCNT as an additional CPU instruction that all systems will need to support going forward if they want to keep using Windows 11. Having this requirement in place could mean that all Windows 11 machines starting with the 24H2 will be able to support binary neural networks. And Windows 11 24H2 is Microsoft's upcoming AI-focused patch coming later this year.

Older systems now won't be able to update to newer versions of Windows due to reliance on an arcane CPU instruction often used for AI neural networks: Report

Thankfully modern-day Windows 11 machines already support this instruction.

www.tomshardware.com

Code:
Where does popcount come into play? It’s used to calculate the dot product of two binary matrices:

Code:

a = xnor(x, y) b = popcount(a) c = len(a) dot(x, y) = 2 × b − c

You Won’t Believe This One Weird CPU Instruction! - Vaibhav Sagar

spapakons · Monday at 1:02 PM

They most likely use a new bootloader and installer requiring the PopCnt instruction. Both might be possible to bypass by replacing the relevant files with those from 23H2 version.

RD Mercer · Monday at 1:17 PM

Still using 10 Enterprise LTSB here 90% of the time,, no worries till Oct. 2026. 10 LTSB Enterprise is very good, with modern computers you will gain some performance compared to later OS’s. Of course, it's a little bit lighter/not "bloated" with store apps and those background processes. Its main force “IMO” is its rock stable, and without major updates every month, or so (and you can totally disable telemetry on Enterprise versions, like this one...)

WAI · Monday at 2:58 PM

spapakons said:
They most likely use a new bootloader and installer requiring the PopCnt instruction. Both might be possible to bypass by replacing the relevant files with those from 23H2 version.

Question is which Files bc I tried several with no success but it hasn't been released yet to but I was just doing varies placement from DUMP ISO from version 24H2 (26100.268)