How to Find Windows 10 Computer Specifications & Systems Requirements

Here’s an overview of how to find computer specification requirements, versions, and languages available for Windows 10.

Table of Contents

System requirements for installing Windows 10

These are the basic requirements for installing Windows 10 on a PC. If your device does not meet these requirements, you may not have the great experience intended with Windows 10 and might want to consider purchasing a new PC.

RAM: 1 gigabyte (GB) for 32-bit or 2 GB for 64-bit

Hard drive size:

32GB or larger hard disk

Note: See below under “More information on hard drive space to install or update Windows 10” for more details.

Compatible with DirectX 9 or later with WDDM 1.0 driver

Display: 800×600 Internet Connection:

Internet connectivity is necessary to perform updates and to download and take advantage of some features. Windows 10 Pro in S mode, Windows 10 Pro Education in S mode, Windows 10 Education in S mode, and Windows 10 Enterprise in S mode require an internet connection during the initial device setup (Out of Box Experience or OOBE), as well as either a Microsoft account (MSA) or Azure Activity Directory (AAD) account. Switching a device out of Windows 10 in S mode also requires internet connectivity. Learn more about S mode here.

There may be additional requirements over time for updates, as well as requirements to turn on specific features within the OS.

Keeping Windows 10 up-to-date

Windows 10 is designed to deliver updates for the supported lifetime of the device. Two types of updates may be provided: quality updates and feature updates. Quality updates include both security and non-security updates and are typically targeted to be released once a month. Feature updates also include security and non-security fixes as well as new features to Windows 10 and are typically provided twice a year. Ensuring that your device receives these updates and is kept up-to-date is important for your device security. Windows 10 periodically checks for updates so you don’t have to. When an update is available—and sufficient free disk space is available on your device—it will be automatically installed. So that Windows 10 continues to stay updated, it’s important to ensure your device has sufficient free space. See additional applicable details in the following notes.

Important notes about updates:

• A device might not be able to receive updates if the device hardware is incompatible, if it lacks current drivers or sufficient available hard drive space, or if it’s otherwise outside of the Original Equipment Manufacturer’s (“OEM”) support period. Visit the Windows Lifecycle Fact Sheet or the Lifecycle FAQ for Windows products to learn more about the servicing timeline for each feature update.
  • Some of the disk space needed for installing updates is only temporarily required. Typically, ten days after installing an update, a disk cleanup will be automatically performed to delete copies of the older, unneeded Windows files and free up space again.
• Not all features in an update will work on all devices.
• An internet connection is required to perform updates and Internet access (ISP) fees might apply.
• If you need assistance installing an update, Windows 10 Update Assistant may be able to help.

More information on hard drive space requirements to install or update Windows 10

The size of the Windows operating system that comes with your device and the amount of space needed to download and install Windows updates, are highly variable as they depend on a variety of factors. Visit here to learn why. The factors that impact the amount of free hard drive space needed to take an update include: the versions of Windows previously installed on the machine, the amount of disk space available to reuse from Windows files, such as the virtual memory pagefile or hibernation file, which applications are installed on your device and how those applications store data. Starting with the May 2019 Update, the system requirements for hard drive size for clean installs of Windows 10 as well as new PCs changed to a minimum of 32GB. The 32GB or larger drive requirement is set to leave space for users to install apps and to keep data on the device. Installing Windows or updating from a previous version of Windows on devices with less than 32GB storage will continue to work if the device has enough free space available. When updating, Windows will attempt to automatically free up enough hard drive space and guide you through freeing up even more if the automatic cleanup is not sufficient. You can also take steps to free up space on your own. For more information, see Free up space to install the latest Windows 10 update or visit the related FAQ.

Feature-specific requirements for Windows 10

In addition to the requirements above that are needed to run Windows, some features have additional requirements. In some cases, features included with updated versions of Windows 10 will be best experienced with newer processors. For specific hardware support please refer to your Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM). Below are some additional details regarding requirements for key features:

• BitLocker Drive Encryption (available with Windows 10 Pro or Windows 10 Enterprise only) requires a Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 1.2 or higher and Trusted Computing Group (TCG)-compliant BIOS or UEFI. BitLocker can be used on devices without TPM, but you will need to save a startup key on a removable device such as a USB flash drive. TPM 2.0 and InstantGo support is required when you want to automatically encrypt the local drive when joining a device to Azure Active Directory (AAD). Check with your PC manufacturer to confirm if your device supports the correct TPM version and InstantGo for the scenario you want to enable.
• BitLocker To Go requires a USB flash drive (available in Windows 10 Pro and Windows 10 Enterprise only).
• Client Hyper-V requires a 64-bit system with second level address translation (SLAT) capabilities and additional 2 GB of RAM (available in Windows 10 Pro and Windows 10 Enterprise only).
• Cortana is only currently available on Windows 10 for the United States, United Kingdom, China, France, Italy, Germany, Brazil, Mexico, Japan, Canada, Spain, Australia and India.
• Microsoft account is required for some features.
• Miracast requires a display adapter which supports Windows Display Driver Model (WDDM) 1.3, and a Wi-Fi adapter that supports Wi-Fi Direct.
• Movies & TV application is not available in all regions. For the most up-to-date list of regions, please go to the Movies & TV information page.
• Secure boot requires firmware that supports UEFI v2.3.1 Errata B and has the Microsoft Windows Certification Authority in the UEFI signature database.
• Skype is available only in select countries and regions. Calling to select countries and regions only. Excludes special, premium and non-geographic numbers. For details, visit the Office FAQ page.
• Snap: The number of applications that can be snapped will depend upon the minimum resolution for the application with a limit of two applications in Tablet mode and four applications in Desktop mode.
• Speech recognition will vary by device microphone. For a better speech experience, you will need a:
  • High fidelity microphone array
  • Hardware driver with microphone array geometry exposed
• Tablet mode is available on tablets and 2-in-1s with GPIO indicators or those that have a laptop and slate indicator will be able to be configured to enter «tablet mode» automatically.
• Touch: To use touch, you need a tablet or a monitor that supports multi-touch.
• Two-factor authentication requires the use of a PIN, Biometric (finger print reader or illuminated infrared camera), or a phone with Wi-Fi or Bluetooth capabilities.
• Windows Hello requires a camera configured for near infrared (IR) imaging or fingerprint reader for biometric authentication. Devices without biometric sensors can use Windows Hello with a PIN or a portable Microsoft compatible security key.
• Xbox application requires an Xbox Live account, which is not available in all regions. For the most up-to-date list of regions, please go to Xbox Live Countries and Regions website.
• Wi-Fi Direct Printing requires a Wi-Fi adapter that supports Wi-Fi Direct and a device that supports Wi-Fi Direct Printing.

Windows 10 Compatibility Check – Test System, Software & Driver [MiniTool Tips]

By Vera | Follow | Last Updated March 03, 2021

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Summary :

Can you run your computer on Windows 10? It is necessary to check your PC for Windows 10 compatibility. Well then, how to perform a Windows 10 compatibility check? After reading this post written by MiniTool, you can know some simple ways for the test.

Quick Navigation :

It Is Necessary to Check for Windows 10 Compatibility

Nowadays Windows 10 operating system has become most popular due to its powerful features although it sucks in some aspects.

Most users choose to upgrade to the new system from Windows Vista/XP/7/8. However, many Windows update problems happen. One of the reasons is that your machine is not compatible with Windows 10. The software, apps, and drivers on your device don’t work for the system. In particular, a bad driver can wreak havoc your system.

So, you need to first perform a Windows 10 compatibility check before a system update. This mainly aims to avoid troubles of downloading the OS and running the setup tool only to figure out whether obvious compatibility problems exist. Besides, Windows 10 compatibility test can give you a choice to consider solutions before upgrading to Windows 10 when some compatibility issues are found.

In the following parts, let’s go to see how to do check Windows 10 compatibility.

Check Windows 10 System Requirements

Microsoft officially states some minimum requirements for Windows 10 on its website so that you can make sure if your computer can run the new operating system, as shown below.

• Processor: 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster processor or System on a Chip (SoC)
• RAM: 1 gigabyte (GB) for 32-bit, 2 GB for 64-bit
• Hard drive space: 16 GB for 32-bit OS / 32 GB for 64-bit OS
• Graphics card: DirectX 9 or later with WDDM 1.0 driver
• Display: 800×600

Although these are the minimum requirements, it’s best to always exceed these values to avoid any obstacle when using the upgraded system in the future.

You can check your computer’s specifications by following ways mentioned in our previous post — How to Check PC Full Specs Windows 10 in 5 Ways. If your PC meets the minimum requirements or exceeds in some way, you should be all right.

If the PC can’t meet system requirements, you cannot upgrade your machine to Windows 10 unless you take a hardware upgrade into account. That is, you may need to update CPU, increase the RAM, buy a new graphics card or get a large hard drive to build a suitable environment for your PC to run Windows 10 without any compatibility problems.

Most of these requirements mentioned above are simple, but for the graphics card, it requires the DirectX version. So, firstly you need to know which graphics card you are using so as to know if it satisfies DirectX.

Check Which Graphics Card You Are Using

Step 1: Open the Run box by hitting Win + R keys.

Step 2: Input dxdiag and click OK.

Step 3: Go to the Display tab and you can see much information about your graphics card.

Step 4: Go to the Internet and check if the specifications of your graphics card support DirectX9 or later.

Go Beyond System Requirements to Ensure Windows 10 Compatibility

In addition to system requirements, you should also check software compatibility and driver compatibility. This is very important. If you don’t do the checks, once you start the upgrade, the Windows 10 installation process will be stopped when some errors and compatibility issues are found.

To avoid trouble, check the software and driver compatibility now.

Check Software Compatibility

It has been a long time since the release of Windows 10. Most of the software suppliers have already rolled out the new versions of their popular software and they are compatible with Windows 10. Just update your software if you haven’t updated them.

For critical and frequently-used apps, you can go to the developer website to know if they have the current version of Windows 10.

Check Hardware Specifications and Driver Compatibility

When upgrading from Windows Vista/XP/7/8 to Windows 10, you should consider the hardware requirements. Driver issues can be troublesome, especially during your system update.

So, it is necessary to download updated drivers from the hardware manufacturers’ websites and install them after or before installing Windows 10 update to ensure the system can run flawlessly without any issue.

Run Windows 10 Compatibility Checker

When referring to Windows 10 compatibility check, you may be wondering about the answer to this question “is my computer compatible with Windows 10”. You can choose to use a tool to directly know if you can run Windows 10 on the computer. The following are some options for you.

Option 1: Use Windows 10 Compatibility Appraiser Manually

Microsoft Compatibility Appraiser can scan Windows 7/8/8.1 app files on your computer to assess the compatibility with Windows 10 if you perform an upgrade.

Step 1: Input cmd to the search box and right-click it to choose Run as administrator.

Step 2: Type the command — schtasks.exe /Run /TN «\Microsoft\Windows\Application Experience\Microsoft Compatibility Appraiser» and press Enter.

This app can take up to 15 minutes to perform a full scan. If you cannot run Windows 10 on the machine, the message “Windows 10 will not run on” will display on the screen and you can see the critical issues that stop Windows 10 from running.

Sometimes you cannot run this command line with an error. In this case, you can try another tool.

Option 2: Use Windows Update Assistant

You can run Windows Update Assistant on your machine and check if it meets the system requirements of Windows 10. After launching this tool, you need to accept the license terms, and then this tool will check device compatibility. After a few seconds, a result will be shown to you.

Windows 10 Update Assistant tool has been updated to install the Windows 10 May 2019 Update (version 1903), and here are details.

Option 3: Run Media Creation Tool

In addition, you can download Media Creation Tool offered by Microsoft. If the app detects that your PC is too old to run Windows 10, it will give you a notification and stop right here. If no notification is sent to you, this means the system is compatible and you can perform a Windows 10 update.

After finishing Windows 10 compatibility check, you know clearly if you can run Windows 10 on your machine. What to do next if the machine meets all the requirements? Upgrade the old version of the Windows operating system to Windows 10 now.

Upgrade Your PC to Windows 10

Windows Update Assistant and Media Creation Tool can work on some of your machines and help you perform the in-place upgrade without damaging your files. However, sometimes you fail to use these two tools to finish the update along with some errors although your machine meets system requirements and hardware requirements.

Besides, some older operating systems like Vista cannot support Update Assistant and Media Creation Tool. To successfully update your device to Windows 10, performing a clean install is recommendable no matter you are using Windows XP/Vista/7/8. This can avoid many troubles.

Do you want to upgrade Vista to Windows 10 since you think it is outdated? How to do Windows Vista upgrade? This post will walk you through a full guide.

Back up Files

To back up your files within simple clicks, you can use a piece of professional data backup software. Here, MiniTool ShadowMaker is worth trying. This backup program is compatible with many operating systems, for example, Windows 7/8/10, etc. It can be used to back up your data easily via two modes – imaging backup and file sync.

Now, download MiniTool ShadowMaker Trial Edition and install it to the computer that needs to upgrade to Windows 10.

See how to back up files via imaging (as an example):

Step 1: Launch MiniTool ShadowMaker.

Step 2: Go to Backup, click Source > Folders and Files and choose items that you want to back up.

Step 3: Decide where you want to save the backed up files to.

Step 4: Start the file backup by hitting Back up now.

Clean Install Windows 10 on Your Old Machine

See how to upgrade your old operating system to Windows 10:

Step 1: Download an ISO file of Windows 10 from the Internet and create a bootable USB drive or CD/DVD disc.

Step 2: Connect the bootable device to your computer and boot it to BIOS so that you can change the boot order to boot the computer from your USB drive or disc.

Step 3: Select the language, time and currency format and keyboard.

Step 4: Click Install now button when seeing the following interface.

Step 5: Input the license key of Windows 10 you have bought.

Step 6: Choose a Windows 10 edition.

Step 7: After accepting license terms, choose to install Windows only.

Step 8: Delete Drive 0 Partition 0 and install Windows 10 on it.

Step 9: Follow the on-screen guide to finish the Windows installation. After that, customize the new system based on your needs and you can enjoy powerful features.

Bottom Line

Is your computer compatible with Windows 10? You can perform a Windows 10 compatibility check by following the operations mentioned in this post. Once you find your PC satisfies system requirements and hardware requirements after checking for Windows 10 compatibility, you can take action to upgrade to the new operating system.

In addition, if you have any questions or suggestions, you can leave your idea to the comment part below. Also, you can contact us via [email protected] .

Windows 10 Compatibility Check FAQ

Microsoft shows you the Windows 10 minimum system requirements:

1. Processor: 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster processor or SoC.
2. RAM: 1 gigabyte (GB) for 32-bit or 2 GB for 64-bit.
3. Hard disk space: 16 GB for 32-bit OS 20 GB for 64-bit OS.
4. Graphics card: DirectX 9 or later with WDDM 1.0 driver.
5. Display: 800×600.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Position: Columnist

Vera is an editor of the MiniTool Team since 2016 who has more than 5 years’ writing experiences in the field of technical articles. Her articles mainly focus on disk & partition management, PC data recovery, video conversion, as well as PC backup & restore, helping users to solve some errors and issues when using their computers. In her spare times, she likes shopping, playing games and reading some articles.