Now, there are some limitations that will need to be considered by those in the
Embedded space who may be wishing to upgrade to the new Windows 11 platform. The two most notable of these limitations are the fact it needs a minimum 8
th Gen. Core Intel or AMD Ryzen 3 chipset, and the requirement of a TPM2.0. More on that in a moment.
For now, here are the minimum requirements:
| Component / technology | Minimum requirement |
| Processor | 64-bit architecture at 1 GHz or faster; Intel: 8th Gen. or newer; AMD Ryzen 3 or better |
| System Memory | Minimum 4GB |
| Storage | 64GB or larger |
| System BIOS and Firmware | UEFI compatible bios with secure boot function |
| TPM | Trusted Platform Module Version 2.0 |
| Graphics Processor | Direct X 12 compatible or later |
| Display | High definition (720p) display greater than 9” diagonally, 8 bits per colour channel. |
CPU requirementsAs mentioned, Microsoft has declared that the minimum CPU requirements are Intel 8
th Gen. Core and upwards, which would include mobile, and the U and ATOM series that have been released since the birth of the 8
th generation chips. For AMD, the minimum is the Zen+ microarchitecture, starting with the Ryzen 3 2300x. A full list of supported processors is available from the Microsoft website
here.
We have a number of industrial and
embedded products which meet the minimum CPU requirements:
Trusted Platform Module (TPM2.0)TPM technology is designed to provide hardware-based, security-related functions, using a secure cryptoprocessor that carries out cryptographic operations via physical security mechanisms to prevent tampering and helping ensure platform integrity. Microsoft have mandated the requirement for a Trusted Platform Module (TPM2.0) in order to run Windows 11, but the good news is that onboard TPMs are available on some boards as standard, which can simply be enabled via the BIOS. For those that don’t come equipped with them, unfortunately there’s no one-size-fits-all when it comes to TPMs, so a physical header would need to be purchased from the board manufacturer. As a note, if you are using AMD based architecture then TPM is referred to as fTPM.
Many of our industrial and
embedded PCs offer TPM2.0 as standard:
UEFIA requirement announced by Microsoft in order to run Windows 11 is a UEFI-based BIOS that supports a secure-boot option. Fortunately, most (if not all) of the supported CPUs run on a UEFI BIOS, but you may need to enable it in your BIOS settings as it’s not always turned on by default with every board.
Display requirementsThis was a slight eyebrow-raiser within our technical team. For those wishing to run Windows 11 on tablets or panel PCs, resolution now has a minimum requirement. Windows 11 requires a high definition (720p) display that is greater than 9” diagonally, which means that small displays with 4:3 and 5:4 aspect ratios will be unable to run the platform.
Memory and storageMicrosoft’s minimum requirements for Windows 11 dictates that systems will require at least 4GB of system memory and a minimum of 64GB storage. Direct X12-compatible graphics are also required but, as with the need for UEFI, all supported processors with a GPU do indeed support DX12 graphics. For CPUs without a GPU, Nvidia 600 series and AMD Radeon 7000 series graphics cards onwards will support Direct X 12.