qubes-doc/user/hardware/system-requirements.md
Andrew David Wong cf8fe618fa
Deprecate "Hardware testing" page
Convert it into a redirect to the community-recommended hardware list on
the Qubes Forum. File rename will be in subsequent commit to maintain
history. See:
https://forum.qubes-os.org/t/short-list-of-laptops-desktops-that-work-well-with-qubes-os/5197/159?u=adw
2021-09-03 22:03:10 -07:00

90 lines
5.0 KiB
Markdown

---
lang: en
layout: doc
permalink: /doc/system-requirements/
redirect_from:
- /system-requirements/
- /en/doc/system-requirements/
- /doc/SystemRequirements/
- /wiki/SystemRequirements/
ref: 142
title: System requirements
---
<div class="alert alert-warning" role="alert">
<i class="fa fa-exclamation-triangle"></i>
<b>Notice:</b> The system requirements on this page are <em>necessary, but
not sufficient,</em> for Qubes compatibility at a minimal or recommended
level. In other words, just because a computer satisfies these requirements
doesn't mean that Qubes will successfully install and run on it. We strongly
recommend consulting the <a href="#choosing-hardware">resources below</a>
when selecting hardware for Qubes.
</div>
## Minimum
- **CPU:** 64-bit Intel or AMD processor (also known as `x86_64`, `x64`, and `AMD64`)
- [Intel VT-x](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X86_virtualization#Intel_virtualization_.28VT-x.29) with [EPT](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Level_Address_Translation#Extended_Page_Tables) or [AMD-V](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X86_virtualization#AMD_virtualization_.28AMD-V.29) with [RVI](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Level_Address_Translation#Rapid_Virtualization_Indexing)
- [Intel VT-d](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X86_virtualization#Intel-VT-d) or [AMD-Vi (also known as AMD IOMMU)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X86_virtualization#I.2FO_MMU_virtualization_.28AMD-Vi_and_Intel_VT-d.29)
- **Memory:** 6 GB RAM
- **Storage:** 32 GB free space
## Recommended
- **CPU:** 64-bit Intel or AMD processor (also known as `x86_64`, `x64`, and `AMD64`)
- [Intel VT-x](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X86_virtualization#Intel_virtualization_.28VT-x.29) with [EPT](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Level_Address_Translation#Extended_Page_Tables) or [AMD-V](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X86_virtualization#AMD_virtualization_.28AMD-V.29) with [RVI](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Level_Address_Translation#Rapid_Virtualization_Indexing)
- [Intel VT-d](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X86_virtualization#Intel-VT-d) or [AMD-Vi (also known as AMD IOMMU)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X86_virtualization#I.2FO_MMU_virtualization_.28AMD-Vi_and_Intel_VT-d.29)
- **Memory:** 16 GB RAM
- **Storage:** 128 GB free space
- High-speed solid-state drive strongly recommended
- **Graphics:** Intel integrated graphics processor (IGP) strongly recommended
- Nvidia GPUs may require significant
[troubleshooting](/doc/install-nvidia-driver/)
- AMD GPUs have not been formally tested, but Radeons (especially RX580 and
earlier) generally work well
- **Peripherals:** A non-USB keyboard or multiple USB controllers
- **TPM:** Trusted Platform Module (TPM) with proper BIOS support (required for
[Anti Evil Maid](/doc/anti-evil-maid/))
- **Other:** Satisfaction of all [hardware certification requirements for Qubes
4.x](/news/2016/07/21/new-hw-certification-for-q4/)
## Choosing Hardware
We recommend consulting these resources when selecting hardware for Qubes OS:
- [Certified hardware](/doc/certified-hardware/) --- Qubes developer certified,
officially recommended
- [Community-recommended hardware](https://forum.qubes-os.org/t/5560)
--- list curated and maintained by the community, unofficially recommended
- [Hardware compatibility list (HCL)](/hcl/) --- community test results,
neither recommended nor disrecommended
## Important Notes
- **Installing Qubes in a virtual machine is not recommended, as it uses its
own bare-metal hypervisor (Xen).**
- Qubes **can** be installed on many systems that do not meet the recommended
requirements. Such systems will still offer significant security improvements
over traditional operating systems, since things like GUI isolation and
kernel protection do not require special hardware.
- Qubes **can** be installed on a USB flash drive or external disk, and testing
has shown that this works very well. A fast USB 3.0 flash drive is
recommended for this. (As a reminder, its capacity must be at least 32 GiB.)
Simply plug the flash drive into the computer before booting into the Qubes
installer from a separate installation medium, choose the flash drive as the
target installation disk, and proceed with the installation normally. After
Qubes has been installed on the flash drive, it can then be plugged into
other computers in order to boot into Qubes. In addition to the convenience
of having a portable copy of Qubes, this allows users to test for hardware
compatibility on multiple machines (e.g., at a brick-and-mortar computer
store) before deciding on which computer to purchase. (See [generating and
submitting HCL
reports](/doc/how-to-use-the-hcl/#generating-and-submitting-new-reports) for
advice on hardware compatibility testing.) Remember to change the devices
assigned to your NetVM and USB VM if you move between different machines.
- You can check whether an Intel processor has VT-x and VT-d on
[ark.intel.com](https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark.html#@Processors).