• Wed, Jan 14 2009

Windows 7 Minimum Requirements

Below are the Windows 7 minimum requirements:

  • 1GHz processor (32- or 64-bit)
  • 1GB of main memory
  • 16GB of available disk space
  • Support for DX9 graphics with 128MB of memory (for the Aero interface)
  • A DVD-R/W drive

Most of the PCs right now should have the specifications above and by the time Windows 7 launches and they still keep the requirements, the new operating system should do well.

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  • Hendrik Moller

    So this should run fine on a 904 eee pc?

  • http://www.lycos.com hovsep2007

    I was only hoping that Windows 7 is better than Windows Vista and has more compatibility for Games

  • Forex

    too much.

  • http://NOWEBSITE.com Cole S

    I can’t believe how crazy some people are to try to upgrade from Windows 2000 all the way to Windows 7!

  • waseq

    i’m a nerd..so i KNOWWW……..WINDOWS 7 IS THE BEST!!!!!!!!!!!!Hahahahahahah

  • http://Undisclosed Deszeraeth Kanzaki

    I test Windows 7. Here is the truth.
    The memory needs are much smaller than Vista, it is more efficient than even Windows XP for processor and memory usage. As far as what Forex said, i dont know how that is “too much” because even computers manufactured more than 5 years ago can run this fine, not to mention it is more compatible than windows Vista was.

    If you are going to leave an opinion on what is better than what, please own and use both with extensive knowledge.

    Deszeraeth Kanzaki
    ComputerTech (Owner)
    Vector Online Gaming (Community Manager)

  • jay

    i experimented to install it on a petium3 cpu and i can’t believe how fast the startup was and it works properly like xp, can’t wait to install it on my dual core

  • Xero

    Windows 7 is hands down the best OS I have seen Microsoft bring to the table. Even on a crappy machine it ran at or above any standards XP or (dare I say,) Vista have set.

  • vlado

    great OS….its lite and reliable……anibody try to crack 7 maybe …….!!!! how its works….;)

  • http://deleted vlado

    ujjaaaa !!! ;)

  • George

    What about systems where the C: is just 4GB but additional drives take the total to beyond 16GB? You are not very specific as to where the 16GB comes from.

  • Xero

    Quoting Deszeraeth Kanzaki: “If you are going to leave an opinion on what is better than what, please own and use both with extensive knowledge.”

    Well said.

    Xero
    Computer Network Systems Tech (220-602 Cert)
    Computer Repair and Maintenance
    Ethical Hacking Cert (Almost done with Class)

  • hulknino

    windows 7 is cool,easy,reliable and lite

  • evilmonkey

    @ george: the 16 gb comes from your hard drive. If you have a 4 gb hard drive its time you upgrade to at least a 500 gb hard drive.

  • EWAn

    Hey a little pick me up… I am using a genuine Windows Vista Ultimate. I know that Windows 7 will run fine. I have 2 processors, means I have 2 computers. But I don’t think Windows 7 can run on PIII… Maybe you are fooling not just the others, but yourself too.

  • http://urM0M n00bsauce

    @ George

    I don’t know how experienced you are, but in order to install any Window OS, the space must be contiguous. In laman’s terms:

    If C:\ is 16GB or less, you cannot install Windows 7 on it.

    If C:\ is 16GB or greater, you can install Windows 7 on it, but of course, the more space you have, the faster it’ll run.

  • http://didyouknow.blogsome.com Did You Know?

    i have all these minimum requirements. i can’t wait for the windows 7 to be available in market…

  • http://mehall.co.cc Michael

    @George:

    Windows generally needs around 6-12Gb just for the core files itself. The 16GB minimum is, realistically speaking, required to be on one drive, unless you have a RAID stripe or similar set up.

  • http://www.um-wfs.com Tiger

    Windows 7 seems very fast. I was like omg when I tried it for the first time, of course it had some bugs with the Realtek AC’97 drivers and I couldn’t live without my sound so I went back to Vista. But now the new drivers got released and I reinstalled the latest beta and I’m planning to use this for my main O.S since it works just great and super fast compared to crappy Vista! Also seems the x64 version got more feedback than the x86 version :o. I will just have to wait for the Romanian language pack to come out for it and it will be perfect :D. I’m starting to like Microsoft!

  • aravind

    anybody use pendrive as ram in windows 7

  • Azmat

    i have these accessories, is it compatible with this??
    863 MHZ processor
    256MB ram
    10 GB available disk
    DVD rom available

  • Stephen

    George, it’s pretty self explanatory. Whenever a program calls for a minimum hard drive space which in this case it’s 16GB that means on one drive or drive partition. You can’t install windows across several drives unless you’re using a raid configuration. It MUST see one partition with the minimum space required available to it.

  • http://aclakbaen.blogspot.com Joule Regenbogen

    wow…!
    16GB?!!

    it’s tooo much
    but it look better than vista

  • hassan

    i still not tried windows 7 but from what i see i will
    try it and i hope it works well i tried vista ultimate it was good but i don’t have that powerful computer to judge it is good or not but i hope that windows 7 is better and faster

  • http://www.tiange.com.au Malcolm McCaffery

    Re: George- There must be a partition of at list 16 GB (i.e the C: drive)

    On older systems there was a tendency to split into separate drives due to partition limits of FAT16/FAT32. i.e. FAT32 during Windows XP installation was limited to not more than 32 GB. (but can be larger if formated post windows installation)

    In any case with NTFS there are not many good reasons to have separate drives for OS and Data, unless they are separate physical drives.

    And in the case where this was done to protect the data Windows XP/Vista/7 can be reinstalled over the C: drive without erasing data (if you do not format the disk)

  • frank

    i have only 256 mb ram
    others are..
    dual core 2.66 ghz
    80 gb hdd
    will windows 7 work fine?

  • Android

    I think there must be some flaw in windows 7 beta version. Should I wait till the windows 7 ultimate is launched?

  • Louis

    can i use windows 7 in
    p4 2.8ghz
    80gb hdd
    1gb ram
    64mb VIA/S3G Unichrome

  • aJR UnLtd

    I will try it soon!
    I get the free Windows 7 with Legal License from Microsoft MSDN AA…
    No Need to Crack it again!!
    Hahaha…

  • Gabe Renfro

    i am running windows 7 Ultimate beta on my Hp Mini 1030NR, 1.6 GHz Atom, 1Gb RAM, 16 Gb SSD, & it works perfectlly. i ran it on my desktop for a while & it was great. no major flaws. hell, no minor flaws haha. its fantastic.

  • Anonymonster

    2.0 GHz dual-core Celeron: About 50 bucks.
    One gigabyte of desktop RAM: Around $9 to $12.
    An 80 GB internal desktop hard drive: Thirty bucks.

    Spawn-killing gamers who complain about an operating system they will never try *while you’re using it*: Priceless.

  • Xaero

    I have been using windows 7 beta build 7000 for a few months now with little to no complaints… i have it running on my Q6600, 4GB ram, 500GB HD and also runs almost as well on my AMD3500+ 2.2ghz with 1GB of ram. I would strongly reconmend using this… I am going to attempt to install it on a micro computer with 512mb of ram P4 2.8ghz which only has onboard video. will see if it is good there also

  • Azarien

    Frank, no.
    Louis, yes.
    512 MB is the realistic minimal amount of memory for Win7. It runs fine with that, and better than Vista does.
    Microsoft recommends 1 GB.
    You can manage it to run with 256 (I did with 160, but with just 128 it bluescreens on boot), but really, don’t try this at home. Stick with XP.
    What’s stopping you? Get that 1 GB, its definitely cheaper than Win7 Retail is going to be ;-)

  • bubuntu

    …so.. i have the first toshiba portege (lovely: less than 1kg, intel M800Mhz, 512 mb ram, hd 1,8′ 30Gb).

    I will be very happy if someone tell me: “Yes! LoL, install W7 on your portege, it will works fine!”

    But i think it is not possible…. ah!

  • rcorrino

    @ Malcolm McCaffery

    There is always a good reason to keep your data on a separate partition, regardless of the filesystem used for the disk. The following are just to name a few…….

    VIRUSES. In the event of in infection with a virus, malware etc. it is always best to wipe the drive. This is easier if you data is spread out over several partitons. Just nuke the C: drive and reinstall the OS.

    AUDIO, VIDEO and IMAGE Processing. Having a scratch drive or partition separate from your data and OS partitions is beneficial. Not only will the swap file be faster it will also prevent possible corruption of those files if the scratch disk ever gets full.

    MULTIPLE OS. If you ever want to dual or triple boot, having more than one partition is handy.

  • Mangletooth

    I have win 7 beta 7077 running on a old POS dell optiplex with a 1 gig proc/256 mem and 20 gig hdd …runs like crap, I mean how polished would you like your turd? but on my main desktop its way better then vista ultimate ever was … way less of a resource hog, did microsoft release vista just so we would all upgrade our hardware to the hilt to then release a killer low resource version? If so I thank them because its the first time since 98 ive been happy with an os upgrade ….. big ups to M$ !

  • Andy

    Hey

    Just installed win 7 on a crappy thing i`ve just put together, 1 gig CPU, 780MB ram, GF4 440 64MB and it`s actually working fine.

    I put down the flashy bit`s of course, nd just for a very simple day use it`s working alright. I`ve put it together so that i could put all my old HDD`s in my network, amd it`s working fine. Surprised over how fast firefox nd so on it working. Win 7 is promising so far:) working great so far on my “real” computer minor bugs here and there, but u can`t really expect much else. by far the best win so far…

  • http://uwichess.com chaddyb

    yup i crashed it playing demigod. i dont know whats up with that since the last beta was supossed to be ultra stable. hopefully RC1 can help a game out in that respects.

  • http://none Metalman

    Installed 64 bit Windows 7 much faster and stable compared to Vista good job Microsoft all drivers for all my printers and much faster on program loads and closings nolag on start up .

  • http://www.gentian.webs.com Gentian KOSOVA

    My computer requiriments are :
    CPU-1.7 Gig core 2 quad x 4800
    RAM-4 gb DDR 3
    HDD-800 gb
    Graphic card-ATI Radeon MOBILITY x5100 2gb

    it is grat huh!!!
    in my computer works all of the operation systems
    I think sooo

  • The dude

    got to say I havent tested Windows 7 yet but the features looks real nice think I`m going to try it tonight on my 1.8 GHZ dual core I know that doesn`t sound much but that coputer is real nice and if you can show me that windows 7 can run on a Pentium III prove it before I would believe it I`m an IT tech at a College so I`ve seen alot of stuff which everyone of you guys ould claim is impossible

  • The Dude

    I`ve installed Windows 7 on a virtual mashine the specs is as follows.

    1.8 Ghz processor
    512 Mb Ram
    64 Mb Video adapter
    20 GB Hdd

    It`s running smoothly the only prolem I have is that I cant run a screensaver due to the lack of the video card memory games can be layed but is real slow o who says you have to have 1 GB Ram and a 128 Mb display adapter the 16 GB Hdd I can understand but the rest of the specs someone probably made up

  • stinky

    My com. matches all the requirements except for the main memory part..
    i only have 512mb …
    will that be a big problem??
    is it going to run very slow or not at all??
    I once installed vista.. it ran allright i guess but i switched back to xp though.. its alot faster

  • Elax

    256 MB RAM
    1,7 GHz
    32 GB memory

    any chances?

  • raunaq

    i have a Pentium 4 dual cpu 3.0ghz version with 2 gb ram 80 gb hard disk
    with dual layered dvd writer 2 nos and a MSI motherboard why can’t it run win 7
    i have an old monitor samsung samtron 55v since my system crashed when i tried 2 install win 7

  • ONABULE TAIWO MIXWELL

    what is the next operating system

  • http://none Str8signs

    I run Windows 7 RC with original license key nd` shyt..microsoft gave it 4 free…ergo updates are available and lot more…
    I have 1 main rig and 2 laptops…
    the weakest one is the aspire 3690 1,6ghz M,512ddr2,40gigs,32mb onboard intel.
    bottom line:it runns damn faster than vista and 100 times more stable than XP
    the middle one is a stunning weirdo:Toshiba Satellite 2,6ghz,256DDR400,40gigs,Geforce Go 128mb/128bit…256ddr cough cough..
    bottom line:seven acts pretty like XP,downfall that with 256!?!?! its a lot slower but still stable…applications runnable??maybe solitaire..or smthin…
    3rig..is Core2Duo extreme clocked around 3,5ghz,4gigs of Corsair at 1066,2x250gb raptors..and 9800GTX+(watercooled) and clocked…nopoint here though…

    So the shit iz…. if u got 256ram…Xp 4 the keeps…with 512 u manage quite good but no demanding games…it doesnt matter what gpu u own cuz most laptops have 32/64 and they run very very fine..no difference observed between xp/7 besides aero stuff…
    but for applications at least 768/1gig laptop or desktop…otherwise all u get is a runnable windows n dot.

    cheerz`

  • fuad_fadz

    Windows 7 surpass 200% Windows Vista ( Bloody Damn OS)

  • http://pinoytutorial.com pinoytutorial

    If you are thinking your PC can’t handle Windows 7. then here’s my sources about
    the official requirement of Windows 7 to run on your PC

    my sources: http://pinoytutorial.com/techtorial/windows-7-official-suite-why-should-you-get-it/

    I fairly believe the specs are “low” comparing to Vista’s high-end requirements.

    Again, we would like to congratulate windows 7 for this amazing release. Kudos to the team!

  • HASEEB

    i have 2.8 ghz processor celerone and 512mb of ram will it work on my computer plz any body help me

  • Toti

    I first take a look of the windows 7 beta allmost 2 mouths ago. It was perfect. then I try the windows 7 build 7600 x64 ultimate. A way better. and so, now I buy windows 7 x64 ultimate the final retail version from a pc store in my town, and I’d say that microsoft has take back the costumers that lost with vista.
    It’s the best os ever. I had the chanse to take a look on “mac os x leopard”
    I don’t like it at all. I’m used to a microsoft os and i’ll never changet it for some apple sh..t

  • http://google albano

    i installed windows 7 on my pc with 895 gb of ram, 3.07 ghz cpu and 512 of memory.when i try to play music on windows mwdia player,the music stuc, i think is because of the ram,it shoukd be at least 1 gb

  • naveed

    i have 2.6 dual core .. 2 GB of RAM DDR3 … nd 250 GB of HDD … nd 1 Gb builten graphic memory,…… but i have 1 problm . when i installed win 7 after instalation graphic memory shown juxt 780 MB WhY????

  • Steve K

    Those system requirements are relatively low compared to Windows Vista. They’re comparable to WinXP to be honest. I keep hearing how efficient the re-built windows kernel is and want to give it a good testing (or a decent thrashing depending on how stable it is). I hear from our IT group here at work that it’s as stable, if not more stable, than XP and more visually appealing than Vista.

    Backward-Compatability has always been an issue with windows from the very beginning. I’m ready to take a whack at it to see if all of my xp programs will run as smooth, if not smoother, on Win7. I wonder if it’ll run my old GeForce 7300SE graphics card?…

    I plan to install Win7 on my monster pc: ASUS P5NE-SLI, Intel Core2 Quad 6600, 2x 1gb Crucial 667 (pc5300) ram, hitachi 10,000rpm 500gb sata drive, 20x dvd+-/DVD-RAM burner, currently running WinXPSP3 & Ubuntu8.10 in Multi-Boot (GRUB).

  • Farhan Bashir Dogar

    firstly no one cared how many processors u have, secondly we’re not talking about Vista, we’re talking about windows 7 which is more lighter, faster and beautiful than vista and yes it easily runs on Pentium III, all u need is 512 MB Ram and 20 GB of Partition and it’ll load and run just fine

  • ppwok

    minor point – swap file won’t be any faster if it is on a different partition the same physical hard drive as the OS and Data…

  • sAM – The soft engg.

    no. its not works. sorry…………… min 1 GB ram is requerd.

  • sAM – The soft engg.

    yup ur right.

  • ani

    nooooooooooooooo

  • Jason

    I got it working on an old laptop with a 1.1Ghz centrino and 512 ram. I had to install the xp driver for wifi and there were some issues with the graphical driver. I didn’t use it much to fully test it though.