Windows 11 Changes Trigger Application Compatibility Testing

• Windows 11 will improve security through new hardware requirements, which may also affect performance and the need to test applications for compatibility.
• Other changes, such as those to the UI, will likely have limited effect on users, productivity, and application testing.
• New tools including Test Base and App Assure may assist with application compatibility testing.

Windows 11, the latest major version of the Windows client OS, which became generally available on Oct. 5, 2021, improves security through newly enforced minimum hardware requirements. This new hardware, combined with some changes to the OS, may also improve performance. Other changes, such as those to the UI, are mostly cosmetic and will likely have limited effect on users and productivity. Although Microsoft states Windows 11 is a natural extension of Windows 10, these changes to the OS may require application compatibility testing.

Security Improvements and Testing

Security improvements in Windows 11 are mostly due to the enforcement of more stringent minimum hardware requirements for unified extensible firmware interface (UEFI) boot firmware, a trusted platform module (TPM), and processor support for virtualization. Although many of these features could be optionally enabled and enforced in Windows 10, for example, by Group Policy, they will be required and enabled by default in clean installs of Windows 11. (See the illustration “Dangers of Installing Windows 11 on Unsupported Hardware“.)