Workarounds for Windows 11 on Incompatible Hardware

[ThatPlace928]

I was curious about upgrading to Windows 11 on my laptops with older hardware and wondering if MS would put out an update that would detect and kill it. I came across a couple of articles this morning that provides a couple of workarounds, including one that works after the 24H2 update.

I sell laptops with Windows 10 and Windows 11 both. The only upgrades to 11 I've done are the ones that come up automatically for those with supported hardware. Since I still get customers who want Windows 10, I won't be trying to upgrade those.... at least not until Windows 11 is the only option.

Even though I doubt I will need this info for a long while, I thought others might be able to use it so they don't have to send PCs to the boneyard.

Microsoft cracks down on Windows 11 upgrades for 'incompatible' PCs, but there's a workaround

The endless cat-and-mouse game between Microsoft and the community of devoted Windows hackers just took another turn.

www.zdnet.com

Microsoft blocked your Windows 11 upgrade? This just-released tool can get the job done

A new version of the popular Rufus utility once again bypasses Microsoft's strict hardware compatibility requirements for Windows 11 upgrades. But the way it's implemented might make some people nervous.

www.zdnet.com

 

[Metanis]

Yeah, I'm waiting on a new build of Rufus where he automates the registry hacks to get Win11 to install over unsupported hardware or lack of TPM module.

My gut feeling is that Microsoft will continue to update Windows 11 even if you bootleg it onto old hardware. Because if they stop updating and a zero-day takes down millions of systems the news media will absolutely roast them. But I'm frequently wrong!

Obviously I'm going to try and get customers to do the "right" thing and update their systems. Or buy extended support for Windows 10. Or just give up PCs and use their tablets or phones!

Edited to add: Oh, I see the newer version of Rufus is out in beta now! Thanks!

 

[River Valley Computer]

We are currently looking into alternatives for all the computers we still have that won't run Windows 11 due to lacking TPM, etc. We just don't trust Microsoft allowing the older, non-compliant computers to continue to Run Windows 11 after October 2025. I have read where they are MAYBE offering a subscription service in order to continue to receive updates but we all know how that will go.

We are looking into maybe Chrome OS and a Linux derivative. Not having much luck but we just hate pitching all those computers out.

Our two stores serve many residential and many older users who just use basic items - emails, internet, Facebook, etc. Our business customers will need to upgrade.

Anyone have any thoughts?

 

[ThatPlace928]

We are currently looking into alternatives for all the computers we still have that won't run Windows 11 due to lacking TPM, etc. We just don't trust Microsoft allowing the older, non-compliant computers to continue to Run Windows 11 after October 2025. I have read where they are MAYBE offering a subscription service in order to continue to receive updates but we all know how that will go.

We are looking into maybe Chrome OS and a Linux derivative. Not having much luck but we just hate pitching all those computers out.

Our two stores serve many residential and many older users who just use basic items - emails, internet, Facebook, etc. Our business customers will need to upgrade.

Anyone have any thoughts?

Did you read both articles? There is a workaround, even for PCs without TPM. I believe it's the 2nd article.

 

[ThatPlace928]

Obviously I'm going to try and get customers to do the "right" thing and update their systems. Or buy extended support for Windows 10. Or just give up PCs and use their tablets or phones!

Edited to add: Oh, I see the newer version of Rufus is out in beta now! Thanks!

I do that, as well, but there are so many people who don't want a laptop with Windows 11 on it. For a few customers, I've actually installed Windows 10 on their hard drives because they didn't like Windows 11. I always make sure they know that 11 will still try to install. They just have to click "stay on Windows 10", when the upgrade prompt shows up.

@River Valley Computer .... The pricing for Windows 10 subscriptions are totally ridiculous. There's a link in one of the articles that tells you what the prices are.

 

[NviGate Systems]

We are currently looking into alternatives for all the computers we still have that won't run Windows 11 due to lacking TPM, etc. We just don't trust Microsoft allowing the older, non-compliant computers to continue to Run Windows 11 after October 2025. I have read where they are MAYBE offering a subscription service in order to continue to receive updates but we all know how that will go.

We are looking into maybe Chrome OS and a Linux derivative. Not having much luck but we just hate pitching all those computers out.

Our two stores serve many residential and many older users who just use basic items - emails, internet, Facebook, etc. Our business customers will need to upgrade.

Anyone have any thoughts?

I'm running Flex OS on a NEC m3 based Intel CPU with 4GB ram, 128GB M2 SSD. (Tablet)

It boots fast but I have a feeling the graphics/snappiness isn't the same as Windows 10. Chrome sorta lags at times. It's not major but enough that I do notice it. One nice thing about Flex OS is that Chrome is able to install extensions, so that is a major plus. However Flex is severely limited in apps. It's only Web Apps or Chrome extensions. You can enable dev options and run some Linux apps but I haven't tried. It does work decent enough though, even let's you browse files on external storage.

I did run Pop OS on the same system, it was a bit snappier but slightly longer boot time. It is a tablet system so that's sorta expected.

I want to try Bliss OS next, it's an android distro for PC. It has the advantage of being able to install more apps, but it might be picky with certain hardware configs.

If I had to pick an OS for customers, it would be Chrome Flex OS, mainly because it's limited, so that reduces the amount of damage they can do but can still use email, YouTube etc. perfect for casual users. It's also very simple to use, and if they have an Android phone they likely already have a Gmail account.

 

[Larry Sabo]

I do that, as well, but there are so many people who don't want a laptop with Windows 11 on it. For a few customers, I've actually installed Windows 10 on their hard drives because they didn't like Windows 11.

Why not use StartAllBack to emulate Win 10 menus? That way they have better security but don't have to adapt to Win 11.

 

[NviGate Systems]

The only issue would be that I thought I remembered that feature updates won't be delivered automatically to users running unsupported installs. Unless there are registry changes that disable that.

Even then it's a cat and mouse game that I would not want customers to go through.

 

[ThatPlace928]

Why not use StartAllBack to emulate Win 10 menus? That way they have better security but don't have to adapt to Win 11.

Never heard of it but I'll check it out. Thanks for the link.

 

[ThatPlace928]

The only issue would be that I thought I remembered that feature updates won't be delivered automatically to users running unsupported installs. Unless there are registry changes that disable that.

Even then it's a cat and mouse game that I would not want customers to go through.

The answer to the registry question is answered in one of the articles. 2nd article, I believe, referencing the newly updated version of Rufus.

 

[River Valley Computer]

Never heard of it but I'll check it out. Thanks for the link.

There is another Windows 7/10 emulation called Open Shell. We have been using it for years for Windows 10 and 11 users. It's available on Ninite.com. They are a great repository of free and useful programs.

I believe StartAllBack is a purchase package with a 30 free trial period.

AS far a registry mods I can just see MS closing that loop hole sooner or later. They are on a mission!!! $$$$

 

[Markverhyden]

AS far a registry mods I can just see MS closing that loop hole sooner or later. They are on a mission!!! $$$$

Exactly. While I've fiddled around with W11 in unsupported platforms, including VM's, I'd certainly never install it for a customer and I'd never put it on a critical/daily driver machine. Murphy's Law reigns supreme here. Kind of like how an unmanaged W10 machine will do an update right when you need it to work.

 

[sapphirescales]

The problem with installing Windows 11 on unsupported systems is you won't get any build updates. For example, if you installed 23H2, it will never update past that and support for 23H2 ends in 2025. You can manually create a Windows 11 flash drive with Rufus to bypass the requirements and manually update to 24H2 but you have to do that every year. I have a couple of clients who I've explained this to and they're willing to come back every year and pay me $99 to upgrade them to the latest build. I keep these clients on a list and I call them once a year as soon as a new build comes out and I verify that it's actually stable so they can come in and have me upgrade them. It's not ideal but I have some clients who just refuse to upgrade. I'm one of them.

I have a 7th gen i5 HP EliteBook that I paid $2,500 for. I'm not replacing it just because Microsoft made ridiculous requirements for Windows 11 so they can force encryption and try to strongarm you into using a Microsoft account. It's not very fast anymore but it's a laptop. I'm not running my business off of it. It has 16GB of RAM and a 2TB SSD so it will be usable for probably another 5 years. I scored an open box 12th gen i3 laptop with a touchscreen from Microcenter for $160 that's better in almost every way but one of the things I like about my EliteBook is the privacy screen button. That feature is incredibly rare because 99% of businesses weren't willing to pay extra for it. I think it was like an extra $450 because I also had to get the screen with the 1,000 nits brightness so you could still see it through the privacy screen.

 

[Metanis]

There is also ExplorerPatcher at https://github.com/valinet/ExplorerPatcher/releases which allows you to tweak Win11 back to Win10.

However, I took it off my own machine after it seemed to cause boot issues after nearly every patch Tuesday.

 

[GTP]

Just for giggles I downloaded Rufus 4.62 Beta and created a Win 11 24H2 installer with all options ticked, (except "create a user with name) then grabbed and old laptop and tried to install Windows 11 24H2 on it.

I got an error that "This PC is Unsupported" and says that it needs SSE2 compatible processor.

TPM and Secure boot were bypassed though. No nags for them.

I was able to install 23H2 on the same laptop. No nags about SSE2. After install it downloaded and installed several updates via Windows Update.
Seems to run great. I'll find a use for it and/or keep it for testing purposes. I will continue to try to install 24H2 on it.
There are currently quite a few github projects with all kinds of scripts for bypassing the BS. I'll try a few of them.

 

[HCHTech]

We are currently looking into alternatives for all the computers we still have that won't run Windows 11 due to lacking TPM, etc. We just don't trust Microsoft allowing the older, non-compliant computers to continue to Run Windows 11 after October 2025.

We are 100% using this to push replacement computers. We're down to about 40% of our business in residential, and it is just bad business to enable kludges and workarounds. We aren't offering alternatives. This is not your fault, it's Microsoft's. Computers are not expensive. I expect to sell a few hundred between now and 10/25. A few months ago we wrote a script for our RMM to identify incompatible units and we have already started the notification campaign. For commercial clients we have given them a list of the computers they own that can't be upgraded, and stressed the deadline. For residential clients, we're doing individual emails. This is no different than when Win7 went EOL. Plan for it, get your quoting process streamlined as much as possible and take the win.

 

[Larry Sabo]

I got an error that "This PC is Unsupported" and says that it needs SSE2 compatible processor.

I'm curious whether option 1 in this article liked by @ThatPlace928 would work? It worked for me whereas the appraiserres.dll resizing to zero bytes didn't on my system (Lenovo ThinkCentre M93P).

 

[Markverhyden]

Just for giggles I downloaded Rufus 4.62 Beta and created a Win 11 24H2 installer with all options ticked, (except "create a user with name) then grabbed and old laptop and tried to install Windows 11 24H2 on it.

I got an error that "This PC is Unsupported" and says that it needs SSE2 compatible processor.

TPM and Secure boot were bypassed though. No nags for them.

I was able to install 23H2 on the same laptop. No nags about SSE2. After install it downloaded and installed several updates via Windows Update.
Seems to run great. I'll find a use for it and/or keep it for testing purposes. I will continue to try to install 24H2 on it.
There are currently quite a few github projects with all kinds of scripts for bypassing the BS. I'll try a few of them.

From the thread linked below. Looks like 24H2 uses PopCnt, which requires SSE4.2, everywhere. Where it was not being used earlier. So even if you somehow managed to shoe horn the OS onto a drive it'll crash since that instruction set is used in the kernel amongst other places.

Windows 11 24H2 has un-bypassable hardware requirements...

Damn, i just checked my overclocked Q6600/8gb DDR2 system, it has no SSE4.2 and is running 11 Pro-23H2 superfine. But i am sure "they" will find a way sooner or later for this old CPUs to install 24H2 I doubt it, it's not as easy as you may hope. Your Core 2 CPU is missing the PopCnt...

www.elevenforum.com

 

[Sky-Knight]

From the thread linked below. Looks like 24H2 uses PopCnt, which requires SSE4.2, everywhere. Where it was not being used earlier. So even if you somehow managed to shoe horn the OS onto a drive it'll crash since that instruction set is used in the kernel amongst other places.

Windows 11 24H2 has un-bypassable hardware requirements...

Damn, i just checked my overclocked Q6600/8gb DDR2 system, it has no SSE4.2 and is running 11 Pro-23H2 superfine. But i am sure "they" will find a way sooner or later for this old CPUs to install 24H2 I doubt it, it's not as easy as you may hope. Your Core 2 CPU is missing the PopCnt...

www.elevenforum.com

 

[britechguy]

Looks like 24H2 uses PopCnt, which requires SSE4.2

Also noted on the Wikipedia page for SSE4: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SSE4

There appears, however, to be plenty of "ancient" hardware that supports SSE4.2