Tool checks Windows 11 compatibility with AutoHDR and DirectStorage
A developer, name, Erik Loman has released a tool that allows Windows users to check whether their PC is suitable for an upgrade to Windows 11. The tool offers more information than Microsoft’s check and provides information about AutoHDR and DirectStorage.
The Windows 11 Requirements Check Tool is free and shows users in a single screen whether their system is compatible with Windows 11. The software works with Windows 8.1 or later versions. For the compatibility check, the tool looks, among other things, at the Windows version present, the processor, the working memory and the amount of storage.
Microsoft itself has also released a similar free tool, a feature of the PC Health Check app. Loman said, “Microsoft’s app is only for Insiders for the time being and also offers little information in a small screen. With my tool I want to offer more information and explanation.”
He says that the software does not simply work on the basis of a fixed list of processors, for example, but that it focuses on support for Virtualization Based Security, among other things. Windows 11 uses this to shield part of the memory from the operating system using Hyper-V. The processor’s hardware virtualization functionality offers performance gains. Eighth generation Intel Core processors and AMD Zen 2 processors support VBS. Recently, Microsoft extended Windows 11 support to some older processors; Loman manually added it to his tool.
“In addition, my app also checks whether your PC is suitable for the gaming features AutoHDR and DirectStorage, which are also being introduced with Windows 11,” says Loman. Users can click on the outcome of that check for more information about the relevant functions.
When opened, Windows may issue a SmartScreen notification warning whether users really want to activate software from an unknown source. Loman: “I received a co-designing certificate a month and a half after the application so that security products do not flag it, but my website has yet to build a reputation to be accepted by SmartScreen as well. I have raised this with Microsoft.”
According to him, the underlying reason for building the tool is simply that it seemed fun to him. “I wanted to make a tool that can be used. I thought, I can make this easy and there is a demand for it. It’s free, I don’t have to earn anything from it and there are no plans for this.”
Loman worked for Sophos for years after SurfRight, the company he owned with his brother Mark Loman, was acquired by Sophos. He left there a year ago, in his own words because he could not respond to new developments with security software at Sophos as quickly as he could at SurfRight. SurfRight became known in particular because of the tool HitmanPro.
On the left the Windows 11 Requirements Check Tool from Erik Loman, on the right the PC Health Check app from Microsoft.