The list includes only Intel 8th Generation Core processors or newer, and AMD Ryzen Zen+ processors or newer, effectively limiting Windows 11 to PC to anything that is four to five years old.

Amusingly absent from the list is the Intel Core i7-7820HQ, the processor used in Microsoft's current flagship $3500+ Surface Studio 2. Users are angry that their very Surface PC is failing the Windows 11 upgrade check.

Windows 11 will only support 8th Gen and newer Intel Core processors, alongside [Intel's 2016-era] Apollo Lake and newer Pentium and Celeron processors. That immediately rules out millions of existing Windows 10 devices from upgrading to Windows 11. Windows 11 will also only support AMD Ryzen 2000 and newer processors, and 2nd Gen or newer AMD EPYC chips. You can find the full list of supported processors on Microsoft's site.

Originally, Microsoft noted that CPU generation requirements are a "soft floor" limit for the Windows 11 installer, which should have allowed some older CPUs to be able to install Windows 11 with a warning.

Many Windows 10 users have been downloading Microsoft's PC Health App to see whether Windows 11 works on their systems, only to find it fails the check. We just did a test on our PC and discovered it failed this check because secureboot was unsupported.

Microsoft is also requiring a front-facing camera for all Windows 11 devices except desktop PCs from January 2023 onwards.

"In order to run Windows 11, devices must meet the hardware specifications", explains Microsoft's official compatibility page for Windows 11.

"Devices that do not meet the hardware requirements cannot be upgraded to Windows 11."