Microsoft Windows 7 System Requirements
System requirements
Minimum hardware requirements for Windows 7
Component Operating system architecture
| Features | Starter | Home Basic | Home Premium | Professional | Enterprise | Ultimate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Licensing scheme | OEM licensing | Retail and OEM licensing in emerging markets | Retail and OEM licensing | Retail, OEM and volume licensing | Volume licensing | Retail and OEM licensing |
| Maximum physical memory (RAM) (32-Bit) | 2 GB | 4 GB | 4 GB | 4 GB | 4 GB | 4 GB |
| Maximum physical memory (RAM) (64-Bit) | N/A | 8 GB | 16 GB | 192 GB | 192 GB | 192 GB |
| Maximum physical CPUs supported | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Desktop Gadgets | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Built-in AVCHD support | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Multiple monitors | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Fast user switching | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Desktop Window Manager | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Windows Mobility Center | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Printing via the Internet | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Windows Parental Controls | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 64-bit edition available? | No | Yes, but not in retail SKUs | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Windows Aero | No | Partial | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Internet connection sharing | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Built-in DVD (MPEG-2 and Dolby Digital) decoder | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Multi-touch | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Windows Media Center | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Windows Media Player remote media experience | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Premium games included | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| HomeGroup support | Join only | Join only | Create or join | Create or join | Create or join | Create or join |
| Back up to network with Backup and Restore Center | No | No | No | Partial | Yes | Yes |
| Act as host for Remote Desktop Services | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Dynamic disks | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Encrypting File System | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Location-aware printing | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Presentation mode | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Group Policy | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Offline files and folder redirection | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Windows Server domain joining | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Windows XP Mode | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Software restriction policies | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Remote administration tools | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services (AD LDS) | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| AppLocker | No | No | No | Create policies, but cannot enforce | Create and enforce policies | Create and enforce policies |
| Aero glass remoting | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Windows Media Player multimedia redirection | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Audio recording over Remote Desktop Connection | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Multi-display Remote Desktop Connection | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Enterprise search scopes | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Federated search | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| BitLocker Drive Encryption | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| BranchCache Distributed Cache | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| DirectAccess | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Subsystem for Unix-based Applications | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Supports Multilingual User Interface packages | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) enhancements | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) licensed | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| VHD booting | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Switching between any of the 37 available languages[52][53] | No | No | No | No | Yes[53] | Yes[53] |
| Features | Starter | Home Basic | Home Premium | Professional | Enterprise | Ultimate |
The maximum amount of RAM that Windows 7 supports varies depending on the product edition and on the processor architecture, as shown in the following table.
Processor limits
Windows 7 Professional and up support up to 2 physical processors (CPU sockets), whereas Windows 7 Starter, Home Basic, and Home Premium editions support only 1. Physical processors with either multiple cores, or hyper-threading, or both, implement more than one logical processor per physical processor. The x86 editions of Windows 7 support up to 32 logical processors; x64 editions support up to 256 (4 x 64).
In January 2016, Microsoft announced that it would no longer support Windows platforms older than Windows 10 on any future Intel-compatible processor lines, citing difficulties in reliably allowing the operating system to operate on newer hardware. Microsoft stated that effective July 17, 2017, devices with Intel Skylake CPUs were only to receive the "most critical" updates for Windows 7 and 8.1, and only if they have been judged not to affect the reliability of Windows 7 on older hardware. For enterprise customers, Microsoft issued a list of Skylake-based devices "certified" for Windows 7 and 8.1 in addition to Windows 10, to assist them in migrating to newer hardware that can eventually be upgraded to 10 once they are ready to transition. Microsoft and their hardware partners provide special testing and support for these devices on 7 and 8.1 until the July 2017 date.
On March 18, 2016, in response to criticism from enterprise customers, Microsoft delayed the end of support and non-critical updates for Skylake systems to July 17, 2018, but stated that they would also continue to receive security updates through the end of extended support. In August 2016, citing a "strong partnership with our OEM partners and Intel", Microsoft retracted the decision and stated that it would continue to support Windows 7 and 8.1 on Skylake hardware through the end of their extended support lifecycle. However, the restrictions on newer CPU microarchitectures remain in force.
In March 2017, a Microsoft knowledge base article was discovered which implies that devices using Intel Kaby Lake, AMD Bristol Ridge, or AMD Ryzen, would be blocked from using Windows Update entirely. In addition, official Windows 7 device drivers are not available for the Kaby Lake and Ryzen platforms.
Security updates released since March 2018 contain bugs which affect processors that do not support SSE2 extensions, including all Pentium III processors. Microsoft initially stated that it would attempt to resolve the issue, and prevented installation of the affected patches on these systems. However, on June 15, 2018, Microsoft retroactively modified its support documents to remove the promise that this bug would be resolved, replacing it with a statement suggesting that users obtain a newer processor. This effectively ends future patch support for Windows 7 on these systems.
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