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Version of Microsoft Windows | |
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OS family | Windows NT |
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Version | 6.3 |
Codename | Blue |
Architecture | x86, x64, ARM32 |
Latest build | 6.3.9600.17415 |
Release date | 2013-10-17 |
Support end | 2023-01-10 |
Server counterpart | |
Windows Server 2012 R2 | |
Replaces | |
Windows 8 | |
Replaced by | |
Windows 10 (original release) | |
Windows 8.1 is an operating system by Microsoft. It is a free upgrade for all Windows 8 users. It replaces Windows 8 and was succeeded by Windows 10 on 29 July 2015. Although the operating system was marketed by Microsoft as an update for Windows 8, Microsoft's traditional support policy treats Windows 8.1 as a service pack.[1]
Mainstream support ended on 9 January 2018, while extended support ended on 10 January 2023. Windows 8 users were given the option to upgrade to Windows 8.1 in order to receive support within 2 years since its release.[2] Despite being out of support, the operating system is still used on 1.15% of computers worldwide as of February 2023.[3]
It is the last release of Windows to have support for Windows Media Center as Microsoft discontinued support for the application with the release of Windows 10. It is also the last release of Windows to have the ability to create MS-DOS 8.00 startup disks, and thus to include MS-DOS in any form and to ship with a DVD release at retail, since physical retail copies of Windows 10 and later ship with a USB flash drive (although some OEMs still shipped some versions of Windows 10 on DVD).
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ImmersiveShell\Launcher
registry key, then create a new DWORD value named Launcher_ShowPowerButtonOnStartScreen
and set it to 1, then restart Explorer.Microsoft recommends Windows 8.1 to be installed on a system with a processor with a speed of at least 1 GHz, at least 1 GB (2 GB for x64 versions) of RAM, 16 GB (20 GB for x64 versions) of hard drive space, and a DirectX 9-based WDDM display adapter or better display adapter.[4] Windows 8.1 drops support for x64 processors without the CMPXCHG16b, PrefetchW and LAHF/SAHF instructions, as attempting to boot on these processors will cause an UNSUPPORTED_PROCESSOR
bugcheck.
Windows 8.1 can be installed on processors as early as the Pentium 4. The x64 version of Windows 8.1 can be installed on processors as early as the Athlon 64 with Socket AM2. Windows 8.1 can also be run with as low as 512 MB of RAM.
Windows 8.1 is officially compatible with Intel processors up to Skylake (6th generation). On Kaby Lake (7th generation) up to Ice Lake (10th generation), 8.1 is not supported due to lack of Windows Update and Intel Graphics, however, hacks have been made to get both working.[5] For Tiger Lake (11th generation) and Alder Lake (12th generation), no known hacks have appeared for Intel Graphics, but the chipset drivers for Ice Lake (10th generation), Tiger Lake (11th generation), and Alder Lake (12th generation) have been confirmed to install without any issues.
Build list legend