Microsoft releases Windows 11 (and Office 2021) on October 5, 2021, for devices that meet minimum hardware requirements. If your computer has an 8th gen Intel CPU or 2nd gen AMD Ryzen CPU with SecureBoot and TPM 2.0, you can expect Windows 11 to arrive on your device via Windows Update. Older computers will have to stick to Windows 10, which is on track to receive a feature update somewhere alongside Windows 11. Microsoft is yet to announce the release date, but the company has already shed some light on hardware requirements.
While Windows 11 hardware requirements are a major controversy among Windows users, Windows 10 21H2 brings absolutely no changes to existing requirements. That applies to WHCP requirements, Windows Hardware Lab Kit, Errata, Windows HLK playlist, Driver signature, and Submissions. Windows 10 21H2 does not contain any updates for Windows Hardware Compatibility Program, which will utilize the same guidelines Microsoft applies to Windows 10 21H1 and 20H2.
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Similar to Windows 10 21H1, version 21H2 has a very modest changelog with no new features that might be interesting to an average consumer. Its changelog contains just three points:
- Windows 10 21H2 brings support for WPA3 H2E standards for enhanced Wi-Fi security.
- Windows Hello for Business gets simplified passwordless deployment models for "achieving a deploy-to-run state" within a few minutes.
- GPU compute support and the WSL and Azure IoT Edge for Linux on Windows (EFLOW) deployments for machine learning and other compute-intensive workflows.
No changes in hardware requirements and other parts of the Windows Hardware Compatibility Program mean existing hardware, software, and drivers should work well with Windows 10 21H2. Users can be sure that the new version will not cause havoc among users as it was with Windows 10 1809 in late 2018.
Microsoft plans to support Windows 10 until October 14, 2025. It remains unknown whether Microsoft plans to introduce new features to Windows 10 or focus exclusively on Windows 11.
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