Is Windows Recall on Your PC? Probably Not, and Why

You have read that Windows takes a screenshot of everything you do. You would quite like to know whether that is happening on your machine right now.

There is a check that settles it in under a minute. For most people the answer is that the feature cannot run on their PC at all.

I ran that check here before writing anything, and this machine fails Microsoft's own hardware requirement outright. Here is how to test yours.

The requirement that rules most PCs out

Read this first and you may not need the rest.

⚡ Documented by Microsoft on its Recall page, the hardware is specific: "A Copilot+ PC that meets the Secured-core standard", with a "40 TOPs NPU", "16 GB RAM" and "256 GB storage capacity".

⭐ The NPU is the part that decides it. A neural processing unit is a separate chip. Machines sold before that class existed do not have one, and cannot gain one.

⛔ Read on this machine, across 210 connected devices. There is no neural processing unit of any kind. No AI device class. Nothing named as one.

⚠️ So Recall is not running here, and could not be switched on. That is the position of most laptops in use today. Confirm it before you spend an evening worrying.

How to check your own in one minute

Two routes, and the first needs no typing.

⭐ Open Device Manager. Look down the list of categories. A Copilot+ machine has a neural processor listed, and no such category means no Recall.

⚡ Or check what your PC was sold as. Copilot+ is a label as well as a specification. Machines that carry it say so on the box and on the maker's own page.

⚠️ Ours, and it saved a wrong answer here. A first search of device names for "NPU" matched a keyboard, because the word Input contains those three letters. Look at the device category, not at a text search.

⛔ The Windows feature list needs administrator rights. It refused here without them, so this page rests on the hardware rather than on that list.

What a Copilot+ machine actually looks like

Ours, because the label is doing a lot of work in shop listings.

⭐ It is a specification, not a badge. Your machine needs a neural processor rated at 40 TOPs, 16 GB of memory and 256 GB of storage, together.

⚡ A recent, expensive laptop of yours can still fail it. A powerful graphics chip is not a neural processor. Neither is a fast processor on its own.

⚠️ Read the maker's own specification page, not the shop listing. Retail descriptions repeat the word AI without meaning any of this.

⛔ And nothing can be added later. No upgrade, no driver, no download. A laptop that shipped without the chip will never have one.

What the check cannot tell you

The limits of this page, stated rather than implied.

⚡ A neural processor present does not mean Recall is running. It means your machine could, if somebody switched it on.

⭐ Microsoft states the default clearly, and it puts you in it: "By default, saving snapshots for Recall aren't enabled. You need to opt in to saving snapshots."

⚠️ So a Copilot+ PC still needs your setting checked, and an unanswered setup prompt leaves it off rather than on.

⛔ The Windows feature list would have answered this too, and it refused here without administrator rights. That is why this page rests on the hardware instead.

If the answer turns out to be yes

Short, because there is a fuller page on the site for exactly this.

⭐ What Recall saves, and how to switch it off, is its own subject. I covered it in full there, including the removal route.

⚡ Two things worth knowing before you open it. Snapshots stay encrypted on your own drive, and you control which apps and sites are saved at all.

⚠️ And a local store is still a store a reset has to deal with. Handing the machine on is a separate job with its own steps.

Status: checked on this machine, 28 August 2026, Windows 11 Home, against Microsoft's own Recall page. ⛔ No setting was changed and no Copilot+ hardware was available here to test.

How do I know if Windows Recall is on my PC?

Open Device Manager and look for a neural processor category. Recall needs a Copilot+ PC with a 40 TOPs NPU, and a machine without that chip cannot run it at all. On the PC checked here there was no neural processing unit among 210 devices, so the question was settled without opening any setting.

Can I add Recall to a laptop that does not support it?

No. The requirement is a neural processor rated at 40 TOPs, and that is a physical chip on the board. No driver, download or Windows update puts one into a machine that shipped without it, so the answer on an older laptop is permanent.

Does a Copilot+ PC mean Recall is already running?

No, only that it could. Microsoft states that saving snapshots is not enabled by default and that you have to opt in. Having the hardware and having the feature switched on are two separate things, and the setting is worth checking rather than assuming.

Why did my search for NPU find a keyboard?

Because the word Input contains the letters n, p and u, so a plain text search of device names matches several of them. That happened here on the first attempt. Read the device category list in Device Manager instead of searching device names.

The Short Version

• Recall needs a Copilot+ PC with a 40 TOPs NPU. Most machines have none.
• Check Device Manager for a neural processor category. No category, no Recall.
• This machine has no NPU at all among 210 connected devices.
• Microsoft says saving snapshots is off by default and needs you to opt in.
• Having the hardware and having it switched on are two different things.
• Nothing can add a neural processor to a laptop that shipped without one.
• A powerful graphics chip is not a neural processor. Nor is a fast processor.
• What Recall saves and how to remove it has a fuller page of its own.

Where to Next

Phones raise the same worry in a different shape, and one of the alerts people report is about being followed rather than watched. Left Behind alerts have their own settings.

Open Device Manager and read the category list before anything else. Thirty seconds, and it answers the whole question.

If there is no neural processor there, you can stop. Nothing in Settings will change that, and there is no dormant version of this waiting on your machine.

If you do have a Copilot+ PC, open the Recall page in Settings. Look at whether snapshots are being saved at all, rather than assuming either way.

Then add the apps that matter to your exclusion list by name. That list is yours and it does not rely on anything recognizing a password correctly.

And if you have checked yours and found the answer surprising in either direction, say which laptop it was in the comments. That would be a genuinely useful list for people to compare against.