Build list legend
Non-existent page
Version of Microsoft Windows | |
OS family | Windows 11 (NT 10.0) |
---|---|
Version | 24H2 |
Semester | Germanium |
Architecture | AMD64, ARM64 |
Latest build | 10.0.26120.2122 (Dev Channel) 10.0.26100.2152 (Release Preview Channel) |
Release date | 2024-10-01 |
Support end | 2026-10-13 (Home, Pro, SE) 2027-10-12 (Education, Enterprise) 2029-10-09 (Enterprise LTSC) 2034-10-10 (IoT Enterprise LTSC) |
Server counterpart | |
Windows Server 2025 | |
Replaces | |
Windows 11 2023 Update | |
Windows 11 2024 Update[1] (also known as version 24H2) is a major feature update for Windows 11, succeeding the 2023 Update. It was first announced on 8 February 2024 with the release of build 26052 to the Dev and Canary channels along with its server counterpart.[2] The version was made generally available on 1 October 2024, although it already came preinstalled with certain new devices as early as June 2024.[a]
It is an incremental improvement over the previous release, introducing underlying quality-of-life changes towards printing support, energy saving and extended support for various archive formats such as 7z and tarballs, as well as usability improvements across the user interface such as a new machine learning-based history tool dubbed "Recall", a simplified networking experience, accessibility changes and various security improvements, most notably the deprecation of the legacy NTLM security protocol and mailslots.
History of the user's past actions can now be (optionally) recorded using Recall, an unsupervised machine learning model exclusive to ARM64-based Copilot+ PCs that extends upon the initial functionality offered by the GPT-4-based Microsoft Copilot chatbot. Results produced by the model are stored inside of a SQLite database.
The feature has garnered strong pushback by security researchers, privacy advocates and governments worldwide for its lackluster security (despite disproven claims by Microsoft alleging otherwise), the lack of appropriate consent options provided to the user (in addition to it being automatically enabled by default in early RTM update builds), as well as creating a potential vector for abuse scenarios such as domestic violence or stalking.
A wider range of archive formats such as 7z, RAR and tarballs are now supported by File Explorer, made possible through the use of the open-source libarchive
library.
Various accessibility improvements have been added to the operating system. Most notably, the operating system can now read the user's written text out loud and act as a speaker, via the user's customized synthetic voice (only available if the device has an associated Microsoft account) or through several built-in natural voice synthesizers. In addition, custom voice commands are now supported by the Voice Access feature, and hearing aids that implement the Bluetooth Low Energy specification are now directly supported by Windows. The ability to draw a crosshair centered on the mouse pointer has been added to the operating system.
Machine learning models can now be used to further improve the overall quality of voice input during online communications through the introduction of Voice Clarity, a feature originally first introduced exclusively as part of the Microsoft Surface line of computers.
A QR code that lets the user connect to a specific wireless network can now be generated through the Settings application, in turn simplifying the connectivity flow. Available wireless networks can now also be manually refreshed by the user.
The operating system now requires a processor that supports the SSE4.2
instruction (for AMD64) or FEAT_LSE
(for ARM64) to operate, and support for ARMv7 code execution on ARMv8 processors (regardless of whether or not the instruction set is supported by the processor) has been removed.
As of this version, the system requirements for installing the IoT Enterprise and IoT Enterprise (LTSC) editions no longer enforce the TPM 2.0, Secure Boot, and UEFI firmware requirements introduced in the original Windows 11 release.
Improvements to printing have also been introduced with the addition of a new protected printing mode, implemented by a generic Mopria-certified Internet Printing Protocol driver.[3] This change complements the phase-out of OEM-provided printer drivers, which are more susceptible to a broader range of security flaws.[4] Privileges in the existing printer spooling service have also been reduced to only provide the necessary privileges needed in order to send documents to a networked printer, and XPS document conversion is now performed at a user level rather than under full system privileges in an effort to reduce memory corruption attacks.
NTLM authentication requests can now be throttled over a set duration of time if a user sends a bad request. Server Message Block requests are now signed in all Windows releases by default in an effort to prevent man-in-the-middle attacks, and new group policies for minimum and maximum SMB versions have also been added.
As part of a gradual phase-out process, the NTLM security protocol has been replaced by Kerberos to prevent further future pass the hash and SMBRelay attacks against existing user accounts. Non-local mailslots (a primitive IPC mechanism) have also been deprecated, and are disabled by default.
The modernized Windows Setup user interface first introduced as part of Windows 8 has been updated to support installations made via the Windows Preinstallation Environment, starting with build 26040. Initial efforts to support installations via the modernized interface from a ramdisk-based environment were first attempted during early Windows 10 development builds from as early as build 9780, but were later abandoned.
The older setup user interface introduced as part of Windows Vista may be accessed through a separate option presented at the start of setup.
This version of Windows largely improves upon the existing User Account Control mechanism by introducing Sudo for Windows, an open-source command-line tool directly inspired by the Unix sudo
command, which allows users to run other programs as the root
superuser.[5] Despite the name, Sudo for Windows is not based on its Unix counterpart, and is instead written from scratch in the Rust programming language. It does not aim to be compatible with the original implementation either due to the differences between the Windows and Unix permission systems, notably the absence of a superuser account. It can be enabled via the sudo config --enable
command, or within a developer-specific toggle included as part of the Settings application.
Sudo for Windows supports multiple modes of operation with varying levels of isolation from unelevated processes. The new window mode merely triggers a User Account Control prompt for the given command and exits. The input disabled and inline modes work by running a second, elevated instance of Sudo itself which runs the given command and redirects its standard streams (excluding the standard input stream if running in input disabled mode) via remote procedure calls to the original, unelevated instance.
Support for the IEEE 802.11be (Wi-Fi 7) standard has been implemented.
Native support for data compression in storage replicas and within the ReFS file system has been introduced, and thin disk provisioning support has been added to the Storage Spaces feature.
Branch Prediction Optimizations for AMD Zen 4 and Zen 5 processors have been added.
Build list legend
Development of Copper fluently transitioned into the next milestone, Zinc around build 25240[6] and did not enter a stabilization phase usually associated with the creation of release branches.
The Dev Channel was rebooted in March 2023, with the original Dev Channel being replaced with the new Canary Channel.
Development of Gallium fluently transitioned into the next milestone, Germanium around build 25941 and did not enter a stabilization phase usually associated with the creation of release branches.
ge_prerelease
branch, see Germanium.ge_release_svc_betaflt
branch)[edit | edit source]