Want Wi-Fi 7 on Windows 10? Forget it, Microsoft has confirmed it’s for Copilot+ PCs only

Windows 11 24H2 only to begin with, which is just Copilot+ PCs – for now, at least

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Microsofthas confirmed that thesuperfast wireless speeds that have arrived courtesy of Wi-Fi 7– for devices androuters with support– will only be coming to the very latest version of Windows 11.

That’d beWindows 11 24H2, of course, and as you might know, this version is only currently available for Copilot+ PCs, but the big update for 2024 will roll out to allWindows 11users later this year (maybe in September).

For now, though, the new Wi-Fi support is for Copilot+ PCs only, asWindows Latestspotted a Microsoft support document that confirmed this.

In the document on the latest wireless technology in Windows, Microsoftstates: “Wi-Fi 7 is available starting with Windows 11, version 24H2.”

Now, that doesn’t mean that Wi-Fi 7 will always be limited to that specific incarnation of Windows 11 – 24H2 (or later) – just that Microsoft is kicking off availability with this version. It might be the case that it’s added to earlier versions of Windows 11 (well, 23H2) before too long.

However, it looks likeWindows 10 usersare out of luck though, as there’s no mention of the OS – as was the case with Wi-Fi 6E, the advancement on Wi-Fi 6 that previously came through.

Analysis: Wi-Fi 6E misstep unlikely to happen again

So, it seems like Wi-Fi 7 won’t debut forWindows 10, but that isn’t really a massive surprise. Firstly,Windows 10 runs out of supportin not that much more than a year now, so it’s going to be limited in terms of new features being introduced anyway (though there will be some new additions into the mix, we know that much – enough to promptMicrosoft to resurrect the Beta testing channel for the OS).

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And secondly, Windows 10 didn’t get Wi-Fi 6E as noted above, so it seems unlikely that it’d receive Wi-Fi 7 support. We can’t completely rule it out, of course – as it’s not explicitly stated that Windows 10 won’t – but that seems to be the heavy hint Microsoft is dropping by only mentioning Windows 11 versions.

Now, there is a slight twist here, in that Windows 10didreceive Wi-Fi 6E in what seemed to be a mistake with a singleInteldriver that erroneously added support (somehow) – but that driver is reportedly buggy and not to be used (if you can find it at all). So, you could hope this might happen with Wi-Fi 7, but we’re betting it won’t – and Intel has learned from this mistake.

In short, don’t expectspeedy Wi-Fi 7for Windows 10, and of course remember that even on Windows 11, you need arouterand PC that supports the new wireless standard to benefit from Wi-Fi 7.

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Darren is a freelancer writing news and features for TechRadar (and occasionally T3) across a broad range of computing topics including CPUs, GPUs, various other hardware, VPNs, antivirus and more. He has written about tech for the best part of three decades, and writes books in his spare time (his debut novel - ‘I Know What You Did Last Supper’ - was published by Hachette UK in 2013).

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