The new Windows 11 System Restore feature has been cracked to work on unsupported hardware

Last week, Microsoft unveiled new Copilot Plus computers, designed to bring a new wave of artificial intelligence features to Windows that are exclusive to new laptops. Now, less than two weeks later, Windows enthusiasts have managed to crack Microsoft’s flagship AI-powered Recall feature to work on unsupported hardware.

Recall uses local AI models on new Copilot Plus computers to run in the background and take snapshots of everything you’ve done or seen on your computer. You’ll then get a timeline you can browse and the ability to search for photos, documents, conversations, and anything else on your computer. Microsoft recognized that Recall requires the latest neural processing units (NPUs) on new computers, but it can actually run on older Arm-powered hardware.

Windows observer Albacore has created a tool called Amperage that allows for recall on devices with an older Qualcomm Snapdragon chip, Microsoft SQ processors, or an Ampere chipset. You must have the latest Windows 11 24H2 update installed on one of these Windows on Arm devices, then the tool will unlock and allow you to recall.

This currently only works on older Windows systems on ARM hardware, but given that Copilot Plus PCs will soon be shipping from AMD and Intel, it’s likely that the feature will be unlocked much more widely in the coming weeks or months. Microsoft has now released AI components for the Windows on Arm platform, which limits its ability to run on Intel and AMD-based hardware.

Technically, you can unlock Recall on x86 devices, but the app won’t do much until Microsoft releases the x64 AI components required to run it. Rumors suggest that both AMD and Intel are close to announcing Copilot Plus computers, so Microsoft’s AI components for these machines could appear soon. Today I was able to run Recall on a Windows 11 x64 VM to test the initial first-run experience.

We may soon see more of Microsoft’s Copilot Plus PC features ported to existing hardware. Recall that unlocking the system to run on much older Arm hardware undoubtedly raises questions about why Microsoft limits this and many other AI-powered Windows features to new devices equipped with an NPU capable of performing over 40 trillion operations per second ( TOPS).

Microsoft will likely argue that the 40 TOPS requirement sets a benchmark for future AI experiences beyond Recall, Image Cocreator and other AI features Microsoft demonstrated last week. It also ensures that these features run on a separate NPU rather than taking over the CPU and GPU, reducing the laptop’s battery life. The reality, however, is that Copilot Plus computers are also intended for Microsoft and its OEM partners to sell new hardware at a time when IDC estimates that PC sales will increase this year thanks to the advent of artificial intelligence-enabled computers.