Microsoft reveals system requirements for Windows 10

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As with every bit of software you run on your PC, Windows itself has its own hardware specifications that are required to run the Operating System at an optimal degree. The System Requirements for Windows 10 have been revealed along with the July 29th release date. The hardware details listed are the PC requirements you’ll need when the OS rolls out starting July 29th.

To perform the free upgrade, you’ll need to be running the latest version of Windows 7 (that’s Service Pack 1) or Windows 8.1 with Update 2 (that’s Windows 8.1 with the August 2014 update).

  • Processor: 1GHz or faster or SoC (system on a chip) processor. 64-bit versions of Windows 10 require a processor which supports CMPXCHG16b, PrefetchW, and LAHF/SAHF capabilities.
  • RAM: 32-bit will require 1GB of RAM while 64-bit requires 2GB of RAM.
  • Hard disk space: 16GB for 32-bit or 20GB for 64-bit.
  • Graphics: DirectX9 or later with WDDM 1.0 driver. Some games will require DirectX 10 or higher for optimal performance.
  • Display: The lowest resolution supported is 1024×600 and the number of apps available on screen at one time will vary based on the minimum resolution for each application.

To use touch screen, you’ll also need a tablet, laptop or monitor which supports multi-touch. Windows 10 will also need an internet connection to verify Windows and a Microsoft Account is required for Xbox, Store and Cortana features. Cortana will only be supported in the United States, United Kingdom, China, France, Italy, Germany, and Spain. (Here I’ll point out they’re making a huge mistake leaving out a lot of markets but we’ll save that for another post). Speech recognition requires a microphone. Xbox Music and Xbox Video streaming are also limited in certain regions (but no-where near as bad as Cortana limitations).

Windows Hello, the feature which allows you to log into Windows using your iris, finger-print or face. This will require a specialized illuminated infrared camera for facial recognition or iris detection, or a finger print reader which supports the Window Biometric Framework. Continuum will require A tablet or 2-in-1 PC with GPIO indicators. Others can enter and exit Tablet Mode manually. Miracast features will require Windows Display Driver Model (WDDM) 1.3-compatible display adapter and a Wi-Fi adapter that supports Wi-Fi Direct. Instant Go will only work with computers designed for Connected Standby. Wi-Fi Direct Printing requires a Wi-Fi adapter that supports Wi-Fi Direct and a device that supports Wi-Fi Direct Printing.

Hyper-V, which allows you to run software in Virtual Machines and was available on Windows 8 as well, will require Windows 10 Pro or Enterprise 64-bit, second level address translation (SLAT) capabilities and an additional 2 GB of RAM.

BitLocker will require Windows 10 Pro or Enterprise, Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 1.2, TPM 2.0 or a USB flash drive while BitLocker To Go will need Windows 10 Pro or higher and a USB flash drive. Device encryption will need a PC with Instant Go and TPM 2.0. Secure Boot requires firmware that supports UEFI v2.3.1 Errata B and has the Microsoft Windows Certification Authority in the UEFI signature database.

Finally, we’re onto Device Guard which is only available in Windows 10 Enterprise. Requires UEFI Secure Boot with 3rd party UEFI CA removed from the UEFI database, TPM 2.0, virtualization support configured on by default in the System Firmware (BIOS), Intel VT-x or AMD RVI virtualization extensions, Intel EPT or AMD RVI Second Level Address Translation, Intel VT-d or AMD-Vi IOMMU, UEFI BIOS configured to prevent unauthorized user from disabling Device Guard hardware security features, and Microsoft signed and compatible kernel mode drivers.

That’s it, that’s all the requirements needed for Windows 10. Of course, applications may vary on the requirements they need (Such as games and high-powered apps like PhotoShop). It’s also important to note that most of you reading this will only need the requirements listed at the top which most towards the bottom only concern Enterprise users. If you’ve any questions, leave the comments and I’ll try (or someone else who knows) will try to help!

^Alan (@BeetleComet)

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