WithWindows 1124H2 all geared up to have AI-intensive applications,Microsofthas added a code that willwarn youif your PC does not meet the hardware requirements, according to codedug up by Twitter/X sleuth Albacore(viaNeowin). The warning will be displayed as a watermark so you know that you cannot use certain AI-powered built-in apps because of an unsupported CPU.
Earlier, it was thought that only PopCnt was the only requirement later but the coding revealed a mandatory SSE4.2 requirement. Regardless, this wouldn’t make much difference to practically most users as CPUs that support Windows 11 have SSE 4.2 instructions. Still, it is interesting to see Microsoft adding this check for its AI-powered apps. Some of these applications are likelyAdvanced Copilotand AI File Explorer. It was also revealed that the upcoming Windows 11 build will include aDirectX AI Super Resolution.
Looking at bits present in insider build 26200, AI Explorer indeed checks these requirements and if they aren’t met, a warning will be present in its overlays. You can however skip the check altogether by disabling ID 48486440. This only disables AIX making the check, not the API https://t.co/XmnjzCZqEwApril 22, 2024
Albacore investigated the Windows 11 Insider Build 26200 and found the AI Explorer to have an AI Explorer requirements coded in the operating system. The coding included hardware requirements for the CPU with the required instructions and a minimum of 16GB of memory. For example, he installed the Insider version on a system with an ARM64 CPU. Albacore did find a way to bypass this check by disabling ID 48486440 on the RTM build.
Interestingly, the software giant added this check since the Windows 11 24H2 will not boot without these instruction sets,according to a previous report. Though speculative, one would wonder if the company has this extra step in case someone uses bypasses to force the OS to boot with an unsupported CPU.
Check comes during time of criticism
This check comes at a time where Windows 11 has been increasingly criticized by enthusiasts. Microsoftdecided to display adslinking to its app store in the form of ‘recommendations’in the Start Menu. A few days ago, its Start menu’s performance was criticized by aformer developer. Microsoft also stifled the ability to customize Windows 11’s UIusing well-known apps.We’ll simply have to see how the user experience is with the upcoming update, and how flexible Microsoft is willing to be with the wide variety of CPUs and other components in use today.
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Roshan Ashraf Shaikh has been in the Indian PC hardware community since the early 2000s and has been building PCs, contributing to many Indian tech forums, & blogs. He operated Hardware BBQ for 11 years and wrote news for eTeknix & TweakTown before joining Tom’s Hardware team. Besides tech, he is interested in fighting games, movies, anime, and mechanical watches.
