System requirements

• Processor. 1 gigahertz (GHz)* or faster with support for PAE, NX, and SSE2
• RAM. 1 gigabyte (GB) (32-bit) or 2 GB (64-bit)
• Hard disk space. 16 GB (32-bit) or 20 GB (64-bit)
• Graphics card. Microsoft DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM driver

If you're running Windows 8 you can get a free update to Windows 8.1. Just tap or click the Windows Store tile on your Start screen. Once you've moved up to Windows 8.1 you should get the update automatically. If you don't, follow these steps to get it manually using Windows Update. 

Additional requirements to use certain features:

• To use touch, you need a tablet or a monitor that supports multitouch 
• To access the Windows Store and to download, run, and snap apps, you need an active Internet connection and a screen resolution of at least 1024 x 768
• Microsoft account required for some features
• Internet access (ISP fees might apply)
• Secure boot requires firmware that supports UEFI v2.3.1 Errata B and has the Microsoft Windows Certification Authority in the UEFI signature database
• Some games and programs might require a graphics card compatible with DirectX 10 or higher for optimal performance
• Watching DVDs requires separate playback software (more info)
• BitLocker To Go requires a USB flash drive (Windows 8.1 Pro only)
• BitLocker requires either Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 1.2 or a USB flash drive (Windows 8.1 Pro only)
• Client Hyper-V requires a 64-bit system with second level address translation (SLAT) capabilities and additional 2 GB of RAM (Windows 8.1 Pro only)
• A TV tuner is required to play and record live TV in Windows Media Center (Windows 8.1 Pro Pack and Windows 8.1 Media Center Pack only)
• Miracast requires a display adapter which supports Windows Display Driver Model (WDDM) 1.3, and a Wi‑Fi adapter that supports Wi‑Fi Direct
• Wi‑Fi Direct Printing requires a Wi‑Fi adapter that supports Wi‑Fi Direct and a device that supports Wi‑Fi Direct Printing
• Free internet TV content varies by geography, some content might require additional fees (Windows 8.1 Pro Pack and Windows 8.1 Media Center Pack only)
• To install a 64-bit OS on a 64-bit PC, your processor needs to support CMPXCHG16b, PrefetchW, and LAHF/SAHF
• InstantGo works only with computers designed for Connected Standby

We also recommend that you visit your PC manufacturer's website for info about updated drivers and hardware compatibility.

* Prior versions of Windows, including Windows 7 and Windows 8.1, have limited support when running on new processors and chipsets from manufacturers like Intel, AMD, NVidia, and Qualcomm. For more information, please see the Support Lifecycle FAQ. A device may not be able to run prior versions of Windows if the device hardware is incompatible, lacking current drivers, or otherwise outside of the Original Equipment Manufacturer’s (“OEM”) support period.

• Processor. 1 gigahertz (GHz)* or faster with support for PAE, NX, and SSE2 (more info)
• RAM. 1 gigabyte (GB) (32-bit) or 2 GB (64-bit)
• Hard disk space. 16 GB (32-bit) or 20 GB (64-bit)
• Graphics card. Microsoft DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM driver

Additional requirements to use certain features:

• To use touch, you need a tablet or a monitor that supports multitouch
• To access the Windows Store and to download and run apps, you need an active Internet connection and a screen resolution of at least 1024 x 768
• To snap apps, you need a screen resolution of at least 1366 x 768 Internet access (ISP fees might apply)
• Secure boot requires firmware that supports UEFI v2.3.1 Errata B and has the Microsoft Windows Certification Authority in the UEFI signature database
• Some games and programs might require a graphics card compatible with DirectX 10 or higher for optimal performance
• Microsoft account required for some features
• Watching DVDs requires separate playback software (more info)
• BitLocker To Go requires a USB flash drive (Windows 8 Pro only)
• BitLocker requires either Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 1.2 or a USB flash drive (Windows 8 Pro only)
• Client Hyper-V requires a 64-bit system with second level address translation (SLAT) capabilities and additional 2 GB of RAM (Windows 8 Pro only)
• A TV tuner is required to play and record live TV in Windows Media Center (Windows 8 Pro Pack and Windows 8 Media Center Pack only)
• Free Internet TV content varies by geography, some content might require additional fees (Windows 8 Pro Pack and Windows 8 Media Center Pack only)

* Prior versions of Windows, including Windows 7 and Windows 8, have limited support when running on new processors and chipsets from manufacturers like Intel, AMD, NVidia, and Qualcomm. For more information, please see the Support Lifecycle FAQ. A device may not be able to run prior versions of Windows if the device hardware is incompatible, lacking current drivers, or otherwise outside of the Original Equipment Manufacturer’s (“OEM”) support period.