How to test beta versions of Windowsįirst, sign up for the Microsoft Windows Insider program here. Early software can contains bugs and break things.
Anyone is able to become a Windows Insider, aka a tester, but you should only install early versions of Windows on a system that you don't rely on every day. An early Windows 11 version was made available to members of the Windows Insider program. More specifically, Windows 11 requires Intel 8th Gen Coffee Lake or Zen 2 CPUs and up, TPM 2.0, 4GB of RAM, and 64GB of storage. We've talked about the Windows 11 system requirements elsewhere - but, this time, Microsoft said you can only install it on processors made from roughly 2016 to 2017 onward.
That would put the final release timeline in motion. Microsoft has not even launched the beta build for Windows 11, but they are expected to arrive later this month. So, the next Windows update, which will be Windows 11, will be available from October 2021. It’s probably easier to consider this process a one-way street to Windows 11. This indeed refers to the next Windows update, as Microsoft program manager has confirmed that the company will continue to follow the 'YYMM' format for upcoming builds. Remember, once the Windows 11 beta is installed, you’ll likely need to reset your PC to go back to Windows 10. Windows builds are marked in 'YYMM' format, with the 'YY' referring to the year of the update and the 'MM' denoting month, or in this case half, of release. Microsoft is now allowing Windows 11 testers to try out Android apps.
In the release notes of DCH GPU driver version 30.0.100.9684, Intel refers to Windows 11 as "October 2021 Update – version 21H2".