Windows 11: Phenom II and Core 2 are now finally out
The latest Windows 11 versions require additional CPU instructions. Installation tricks with very old processors no longer work
Numerous older to ancient AMD processors. Most of them can no longer run Windows 11, even with tricks.
(Bild: c't)
Windows 11 requires the Streaming SIMD Extensions SSE4.2 in x86 processors from build version 26080, i.e. with the current 24H2 update. This is not a problem for officially supported CPUs, as SSE4.2 has been integrated as standard in Intel processors since 2008 and in AMD processors since 2011. Among other things, the instruction set extension has introduced new string operations.
Only people who have circumvented Microsoft's minimum requirements and installed Windows 11 on (very) old PCs are not allowed to update to the current operating system. Otherwise the system will no longer boot. This was discovered by the X account "TheBobPony", among others. The website Deskmodder has already confirmed that adjustments to the registry no longer help.
Affected CPUs are more than ten years old
Intel first introduced the SSE4.2 instruction set extension with the Nehalem architecture in the Core i7-920, i7-940 and i7-965 Extreme. Since then, it has been integrated into all Core i models. However, Windows 11 24H2 no longer runs on predecessor models such as the Core 2 Quad and Core 2 Duo.
AMD followed suit in 2011 with its Bulldozer processors such as the FX-8100, FX-6100 and FX-4100. The previous Phenom IIs only support SSE4a.
Meanwhile, this is the second time that Microsoft has raised the (true) minimum requirements for instruction sets. POPCNT(Population Count) instructions, which count all 1s in a binary sequence, have been mandatory since the beginning of 2024. POPCNT is part of SSE4.2, but has already found its way into some processors –, primarily AMD's Phenom II, without comprehensive SSE4.2 support. The updates show that installation tricks that work today may soon come to nothing.
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(mma)