neowin[.]net/news/windows-11-version-24h2-is-now-available-for-download/
microsoft[.]com/en-us/software-download/windows11
zdnet[.]com/article/whats-new-in-windows-11-24h2-and-when-will-your-pc-get-it/
As Ed Bott points out:
For the overwhelming majority of people running Windows 11, the changes in this edition will feel relatively minor. (If you have a Windows Copilot+ PC, such as the Surface Pro 11, you will gain access to a handful of AI-related features...
Later in the year devices using AMD & Intel CPUs with NPUs [Neural Processing Units] will get access to Copilot+ features, once Microsoft's agreement with Qualcomm expires, and somewhere along the line everyone else *may* see some new AI-based features trickle out. Truth is, graphics cards are more powerful than the current crop of NPUs when it comes to AI, and so far there are no desktop CPUs with built in NPUs available. They help power efficiency in laptops & tablets, handling processes that would in the past be managed by more power hungry GPUs. But, focusing on Copilot+ laptops & tablets, & new AI tools available with them, however meaningless those tools may be, may make someone more $, so that's where we are.
The Win11 24H2 update requires a reinstallation of Windows, so it will take more time and disk space unless you do a fresh install [i.e., from scratch]. Whichever method you use is up to you. It's recently been confirmed that there are good copies of Win11 & bad -- I've seen it a couple times with my VMs, and recently with my Windows To Go drive -- where a copy of Win11 just performs poorly, so you may start with an upgrade and later decide to go with a fresh install. I do recommend upgrading an existing copy of Win10 or 11 on older hardware, which will migrate most if not all existing drivers -- otherwise you may not be able to get some drivers working properly. I downloaded the ISO from the above link and tried it with a Win10 VM that does not meet the Win11 hardware requirements. As of this afternoon, 10/1/24, the ISO still permits running setup as setup.exe /product server, bypassing hardware checks. That does not work on some Insider Canary builds, so it may stop working with future releases, which would mean swapping the install.wim file with an older Win11 ISO. Other hacks, like Rufus replacing the appraiserres.dll file with a zero byte fake, may or may not work for fresh installs -- I haven't tried -- but they no longer work for upgrading non-compliant hardware.
If your PC/laptop is Win11 hardware compliant 24H2 will eventually show up in Windows Update -- sooner if you turn on "Get the latest updates as soon as they're available" and click the "Check for updates button", but you're still subject to the whims of Microsoft's servers, meaning it will work when they feel like it.
