Google Chrome to Assess Windows 10 PCs for Windows 11 Upgrade Eligibility

The Google Chrome browser will begin assessing users’ PCs for eligibility to upgrade from Windows 10 to Windows 11. This statistical information will influence Google’s decision regarding the future support of the browser on the aging operating system.

The company is collecting data to ascertain the number of unsupported PCs running Windows 10 and determine how long to provide browser updates for these machines. This assessment will occur each time Chrome is launched on a computer, gathering information about hardware specifications (such as CPU model, RAM, storage capacity, TPM 2.0, etc.). Chrome will then record this information as a true/false value in its anonymous usage statistics.

Google has introduced a flag called «IsWin11UpgradeEligible,» which can be found in base/win/hardware_check. When Chrome is launched on Windows 10, it triggers a one-time check to confirm that there is at least 4 GB of RAM and 64 GB of free disk space, queries the registry to ensure that UEFI Secure Boot is enabled, and utilizes the TPM base services API (tbs.dll) to verify the presence of TPM 2.0.

It is noted that Chrome may continue to be supported on Windows 10 even after the operating system itself stops receiving updates. Technically, support for Windows 10 will end on October 14, 2025, but Microsoft is providing users with an additional year through the implementation of paid security updates.

Meanwhile, data from the analytics platform StatCounter indicates that nearly four years after the release of Windows 11, it has almost caught up to Windows 10 in terms of user numbers. Currently, the market shares of Windows 10 and Windows 11 are nearly equal, standing at 48.76% and 47.98%, respectively.