Microsoft confirms Windows 11 version 24H2 in support documents

Windows 11 is expected to receive two substantial updates this year. The "Moment 5" update with a few improvements is coming in late February or March, with a bigger feature update scheduled for the second half of 2024.

It is too early for Microsoft to speak about a new Windows 11 version (the one coming later this year should be called 24H2). Still, you can already spot its references in Microsoft's official documentation. Users noticed that the Microsoft Learn website mentions Windows 11 version 24H2 on a page describing the EnumDeviceDrivers function that allows app developers to retrieve the load address for each device driver in the system.

Starting in Windows 11 Version 24H2, EnumDeviceDrivers will require SeDebugPrivilege to return valid ImageBase values.

Microsoft published the EnumDeviceDriver article on January 29, 2024, so it is unlikely that the version 24H2 mention is a typo. At the same time, this short sentence only proves what was already rather obvious without giving any interesting details, timelines, or specific features. Windows versions decipher as a year/half, so a big feature update for Windows 11 released in the second half of 2024 should get version 24H2, duh.

Rumors say Microsoft plans to market Windows 11 version 24H2 as an AI-centric update with plenty of new features that rely on artificial intelligence and dedicated hardware, such as neural processing units in the latest processors from AMD, Intel, and Qualcomm. At the same time, Microsoft wants to make sure users with older hardware can benefit from AI features. For example, one of the latest Windows 11 Canary builds allows using the Voice Clarity feature on systems without NPUs.

There are also unconfirmed reports that Microsoft increased the RAM baseline for so-called "AI PCs" to 16GB. However, that might be just a recommendation, not a requirement (Windows 11 needs a minimum of 4GB to install without modifying official ISOs).

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