Windows 11, of course.

[Kupuna]

MS says my year-old NUC Core i7 8809G won't work with Windows 11. True? Thanks for clarifying.

[powerarmour]

Yes, true unfortunately, as technically the i7-8809G is a 7th gen Intel CPU:

https://twitter.com/windowsdev/status/1408179374596276228

However, we don't know yet if this is a strict hardware limitation, or just a support advisory for system builders and OEMs. For example Win10 20H2 doesn't list Intel 4th gen CPU's as being compatible, but there is no real enforcement there.

I'd just wait and see tbh.

[LeonWaksman]

The i7-8809G although has Status Discontinued however it is 8th gen processor.  

Just saying. 

Leon

[powerarmour · Accepted solution]

It's 'branded' 8th gen, technically it's a 7th gen Kaby Lake architecture (not true 8th gen Coffee Lake).

Though curiously I spotted the Celeron 3867U on that MS list, which is a Kaby Lake R, and if that's supported then it's all semantics anyway.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/design/minimum/supported/windows-11-supported-intel-processors

[BHarr8]

All restrictions are currently artificial and can be easily bypassed.

I have Windows 11 running in an rp5700 test box. That's a Core2 Duo system that came with XP installed.

If it runs 10 without issue, its compatible with 11, you might just need to bypass the checks.

In my case I dropped the Windows 11 .WIM file into a Windows 10 install image and it installed without issue.

[powerarmour]

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@BHarr8 wrote:

All restrictions are currently artificial and can be easily bypassed.

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I'm sure that'll be the case also, but obviously when it comes to support it just means MS won't help anyone if their unlisted CPU has any issues or lack of functionality going forward. 

[BHarr8]

If there is some sort if major issue with future Windows 11 builds and an unsupported device you can always go back to Windows 10, There are still several years of support on tap. To me, this is just about having more options available. I like to play around with new technology.