Quick Tip: What are the minimum specs for Windows 10?

Microsoft has a minimum set of specifications that are required to install and use Windows 10 and this is the latest iteration of those specs for the recently released Anniversary Update.

Richard Hay, Senior Content Producer

August 25, 2016

1 Min Read
Quick Tip: What are the minimum specs for Windows 10?

The hardware specifications for the Windows operating system lay out the minimum requirements to install and run the OS.

Of course, many of us have likely installed Windows on a system that was under the published specs but still found that it would operate on that hardware. I even installed Windows 10 on an early Windows Vista era laptop and it did run on it - just not great.

So here are the published minimum specs for the Windows 10 Anniversary Update - Version 1607 - that was just released on 02 August 2016.

CPU

1GHz processor or SoC (System on a Chip)

RAM

2GB for either 32-bit or 64-bit version of Windows 10; 1GB for 32-bit or 64-bit OS upgrade

Hard Drive

16GB for 32-bit and 20GB for 64-bit version of Windows 10

Graphics Card

Must support DirectX 9 or higher and have a WDDM (Windows Display Driver Model) 1.0 driver

Display Resolution

800 x 600 pixels

Obviously, the more hardware specs you can throw at Windows then the better it will perform on many levels but at a minimum Microsoft states that you must have the above specs to run Windows 10.

If you want to take advantage of other new features in Windows 10 such as Windows Hello, Secure Boot, Hyper-V and Miracast you must have compatible hardware on your system.

You can review the entire set of hardware requirements for Windows 10 Version 1607, aka the Anniversary Update, over on MSDN.

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Be sure to check out all of our Windows 10 Anniversary Update Coverage.

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About the Author

Richard Hay

Senior Content Producer, IT Pro Today (Informa Tech)

I served for 29 plus years in the U.S. Navy and retired as a Master Chief Petty Officer in November 2011. My work background in the Navy was telecommunications related so my hobby of computers fit well with what I did for the Navy. I consider myself a tech geek and enjoy most things in that arena.

My first website – AnotherWin95.com – came online in 1995. Back then I used GeoCities Web Hosting for it and WindowsObserver.com is the result of the work I have done on that site since 1995.

In January 2010 my community contributions were recognized by Microsoft when I received my first Most Valuable Professional (MVP) Award for the Windows Operating System. Since then I have been renewed as a Microsoft MVP each subsequent year since that initial award. I am also a member of the inaugural group of Windows Insider MVPs which began in 2016.

I previously hosted the Observed Tech PODCAST for 10 years and 317 episodes and now host a new podcast called Faith, Tech, and Space. 

I began contributing to Penton Technology websites in January 2015 and in April 2017 I was hired as the Senior Content Producer for Penton Technology which is now Informa Tech. In that role, I contribute to ITPro Today and cover operating systems, enterprise technology, and productivity.

https://twitter.com/winobs

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