Windows K2: I Enabled & Tested Low Latency Profile – Here Are The Results

Added: 2026-05-12

[00:00:01]Hello everyone. So, there has been a lot of talk lately about Windows K2 with some calling it a new version of Windows, but what's actually happening under the hood is much more interesting.

[00:00:11]Microsoft is currently testing a new low latency profile feature hidden inside of the latest insider builds like on bill 26300.8376.

[00:00:21]But one thing to point out is that this is not a new operating system. It is part of an internal road map known as Windows K2 aimed to make Windows 11 feel snappy and faster. In this video, I'm going to talk about exactly what it does, how I did enable it on my computer to give you a side-by-side comparison with a device that doesn't have the feature enabled, and I am going to touch on what Microsoft is saying because this implementation has also sparked some mixed reactions among users.

[00:00:54]So what is low latency profile?

[00:00:56]Essentially this feature changes how the CPU handles quick tasks. Normally the processor ramps up or down to save power. With a low latency profile enabled, the system forces the CPU to its maximum or near maximum frequency for a moment when you click something like the start menu or a heavy app.

[00:01:17]Microsoft goal is to cut down that tiny bit of lag we all feel. Early internal testing suggests apps launches could feel up to 40% faster. It is a technique already used in some Linux distros and Mac OS and it is finally making its way to Windows 11. So for this video I downloaded the buy tool from this GitHub page.

[00:01:48]then extract the files.

[00:01:58]And in my case, I just copy the folder with the files into the rural C.

[00:02:05]And you can see that I have it already right here.

[00:02:09]So then I just open command prompt as administrator.

[00:02:13]And from the directory where I extracted the by tool, I use this command with these codes to enable two different flags including the low latency profile and the low latency profile for application launch.

[00:02:30]And here I want to say thanks to Phantom of Earth who discovered this. Now here's the catch. Since the CPU is jumping frequency more often, you're going to see a hit on two areas, including heat and battery life. If you're on a desktop PC with decent cooling, you probably won't notice anything. But if you have a laptop, you might hear your fan kicking in more often, and your battery percentage will likely drop faster. This is exactly why Microsoft hasn't turned it on for everyone yet. They're still balancing that performance to power ratio. This is a system level change, so it won't kick in until we reboot the system.

[00:03:10]And now let's perform some tests. Just remember that the computer on the right has the low latency profile feature enabled and the computer on the left does not have the load latency profile enabled. Okay, first let's open the start menu.

[00:03:42]Okay. Now, let's right click the start button to open the power user menu.

[00:04:17]I think I do see the power user menu launching a little bit quicker. Now, let's launch file explorer.

[00:04:44]As you can see, File Explorer launches a lot faster on the one that has the CPU boost feature enabled. Now, let's open the settings app.

[00:05:09]Let's do that one more time.

[00:05:22]Now I do see the difference on launching the settings app on the device that has the low link zero file enabled. And now let's open the new version of Outlook on Windows.

[00:06:17]I don't know. This one for me is a little bit close. So, did you see the difference? Let me know in the comments.

[00:06:22]Now, it's important to note that the responsiveness improvements are not just because Microsoft is adding the low latency profile system feature. It is also because all the changes happening inside of the operating system. For example, if we go to the file explorer, we're now going to find a new option, which is this one right here, that preloads some of the components of file explorer by default to make the application launch even faster. Also, the company has been making a lot of improvements and the settings up to improve navigation and page loading.

[00:06:54]Now, Microsoft has been pushing back against criticism over the new low latency profile feature because a lot of user had been suggesting that this is a lazy approach to make the operating system feel faster. And they also suggested that the company should invest more time into fixing the Windows code instead. For example, some users mentioned that they want to see more improvements on Windows search, file explorer, and the start menu filling sluggage. Microsoft EP Scott Hanselman defended this approach on X, arguing that modern operating system, including Apple's Mac OS and Linux distributions already use the same technique. In the post, Scott simply said, "Apple does this and you'll love it." And some wrote in a response to a critic questioning why the operating system needs to temporarily push processor clock higher just to improve the responsiveness. In the same thread, EScott also added that all the operating system do this including Mac OS and Linux and it is not cheating. This is how modern operating system makes apps feel fast. They temporarily boost the CPU speed to prioritize interactive tasks to reduce latency. At the end, this has been a standard practice for years on desktops, phones, and gaming devices. What's changed is that Microsoft is openly naming and discussing the optimizations instead of quietly shipping it in the background. But what do you think? Let me know in the comments. Also, like the video, share it, subscribe to the channel if you haven't done that yet.

[00:08:21]And I just hope this video was informative for you. And I would like to thank you for viewing.