While we still have at least a couple of Windows 11 Moment updates left in store (Moment 3 and Moment 4), Microsoft is already making some steady progress toward next-gen Windows 12, which isn't the official name yet as it is apparently referred to as "Next Valley". Senior exec Panos Panay explained that the next-gen Windows 11 and Windows 12 will be a blend of cloud-powered and AI-driven experiences, and Microsoft is slowly making some progress toward it. In aspects of security too, the company is killing off legacy components like MSDT, as well as VBScript, which has been exploited in the past.

Microsoft is believed to have moved back to its three-year release cycle which means Next Valley or Windows 12, whatever you want to refer to it as, is likely to roll out to the general public sometime in the second half (2H) of 2024.

Aside from the release date itself, another area that will certainly generate loads of interest is the system requirements for Windows 12. The ones for Windows 11 are often considered pretty stringent as Microsoft deemed CPUs, only a few years old, as incompatible. Recent rumors suggested that Intel's 14th Gen Meteor Lake-S desktop processors would debut with support for Windows 12 out of the box. However, based on the evidence we have so far, it is unlikely to happen as the expected release dates for Meteor Lake and Next Valley don't seem to match. Moreover, there is almost no trace of Meteor Lake-S at the moment, which suggests the processor requirements are probably not finalized yet.

In terms of some of the other requirements like Trusted Platform Module (TPM), German outlet Deskmodder claims that the version requirement for the security crypto-processor will be the same as in Windows 11, ie, TPM 2.0. Interestingly, Microsoft just debuted SHA-3 support on its recent Insider Build.

The report also suggests that the Pluton co-processor, which made its debut with Ryzen 6000 mobile CPUs, may not be a common thing. Meanwhile, the minimum RAM requirement could increase to 8GB.

It says (Google translated to English):


To sum it up, these are what the system requirements for Next Valley (Windows 12) might be:

  • Supported processor (may still be undecided)
  • TPM 2.0 (Pluton may be optional)
  • 8GB RAM

Although there is nothing to go about in terms of the minimum required disk space, which is 64GB on Windows 11, Microsoft might give the option for ReFS installation. In fact, the company seems to be making decent progress as it recently updated the ReFS version. A rumor had once suggested that Microsoft could update the system requirements for Windows 11 and make SSDs mandatory for boot. While that didn't happen, the Redmond giant may start doing so with Windows 12 (and that would actually be a good thing seeing how SSD prices continue to fall).