Workarounds for Windows 11 on Incompatible Hardware

[GTP]

Latest report regarding the machine I have that sports an AMD A12-9700P APU: No dice on updating to Win11 v24H2.

I first tried using the Windows 11 Installation Assistant, just so I could say I had, and it pretty much barfs semi-silently and instantly.

I then tried using the v24H2 ISO burned to bootable media by Rufus with all of the things it can neuter (other than Microsoft account, since I'm using one) selected, and that dies early on in the process when the installer throws up a message saying that the processor is not supported.

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I knew that the screws would be sequentially tightening and just wondered when it would be beyond worth even experimenting anymore with this. I think I may have reached that point unless the folks at Rufus somehow neuter the check for supported processor, too. Since I wasn't told a new version of Rufus was available, I have to believe the one I'm using is still the latest. It always nags me on startup if a newer version is available.

If you want to get your hands dirty, I'm sure you can find a workaround to get Win 11 installed.
Make a 23H2 installer with Rufus and try the trick of deleting install .wim in Win 11 23H2 sources folder and replace it with the install.esd from sources folder in Win 11 24H2.
I've done this a few times now while tinkering and it works. I have 24H2 installed on several "testers."
Some of them even receive regular updates like supported hardware PC's.

Prowl around on github. There are a plethora of projects devoted to this very problem.
I found a few that worked a treat, but it's trial and error.
I'm a geek and love "tinkering" so the time I spend is my own - not to mention the satisfaction of beating Microsoft at their game of "We dont want you to do it so na na nana na"

BTW, I'm using Rufus 4.6.2 Beta. Works well.

Post edited to add missing information. Apologies.

 

[britechguy]

I'm a geek and love "tinkering" so the time I spend is my own - not to mention the satisfaction of beating Microsoft at their game of "We dont want you to do it so na na nana na"

While I get that, my time for heavy-duty tinkering is limited at this time. Up until now, and probably in the near future, Rufus took care of all the "tweaking of the install media" that was necessary to get Win11 to install on incompatible hardware.

I'll wait it out, as it's just not that important to me. That being said, I absolutely admire those with the time and determination to figure out "all the working parts" and how one needs to rearrange them to get this to work.

 

[NviGate Systems]

Reminds me when Mac users wrote apps to enable the latest Mac OS X editions to run on old Macs back in the PPC days.

 

[Rigo]

Reminds me when Mac users wrote apps to enable the latest Mac OS X editions to run on old Macs back in the PPC days.

IBM Aptiva days when one had to add entries to the config file when installing a non-IBM CDROM drive

 

[britechguy]

It looks like Rufus introduced a workaround for 24H2 on unsupported hardware with Version 4.6, released yesterday. From the changelog at https://rufus.ie/en/:

• Add a new setup.exe wrapper to bypass Windows 11 24H2 in-place upgrade restrictions

I'll have to give this a try later today.

 

[britechguy]

The setup.exe wrapper from Rufus definitely allowed me to do an in-place update from Windows 11 23H2 to 24H2 on incompatible hardware.

I figured just this sort of thing would be forthcoming, and it was.

 

[ThatPlace928]

Something new....... article just posted today. I know nothing about FlyBy11 but thought others might find it interesting.

This third-party app bypasses Microsoft's stringent Windows 11 24H2 system requirements and installs the massive update on unsupported hardware

You can run Microsoft's latest version of Windows 11 on unsupported hardware, however, there might be critical risks abound.

www.windowscentral.com

 

[britechguy]

I have always had no doubt that a cottage industry would spring up to allow Windows 11 to be installed on "incompatible" hardware. It will not shock me one bit if EOL for Windows 10 were to be pushed back, either.

 

[ThatPlace928]

It will not shock me one bit if EOL for Windows 10 were to be pushed back, either.

Same here. Windows 10 has become so popular. A lot of people resisted, when it first came out, including me, but I love it now.

 

[NviGate Systems]

I've been watching several online shops from various countries and the number of "unsupported" Windows 11 installs almost has a foothold on the industry of used PC's. Some even blatantly call it "authorized" or "authentic" or similar words.

Microsoft is going to have a hard time, or they just don't care.

 

[lan101]

Same here. Windows 10 has become so popular. A lot of people resisted, when it first came out, including me, but I love it now.

What I love with 10 is I can mostly take a drive out of a non working computer and throw it onto about any other machine and get it booted to do what's needed with it. With most previous windows it was pure luck if that would happen on similar hardware. There's just times where that's handy for snagging passwords or maybe even grabbing an image file etc.

With all the new security measures and encryption and all that BS being on by default in 11 those days are likely gonna be gone soon. Once EOL of 10 hits it'll be another era gone lol.

 

[ThatPlace928]

I've been watching several online shops from various countries and the number of "unsupported" Windows 11 installs almost has a foothold on the industry of used PC's. Some even blatantly call it "authorized" or "authentic" or similar words.

Microsoft is going to have a hard time, or they just don't care.

I agree. Windows 10 works great. Too bad Windows 11 wasn't an optional upgrade, instead of a forced one. Too many of my customers are unhappy that it won't be supported anymore but they don't plan to switch until they absolutely have no choice.

 

[ThatPlace928]

With all the new security measures and encryption and all that BS being on by default in 11 those days are likely gonna be gone soon. Once EOL of 10 hits it'll be another era gone lol.

People who buy laptops through Sam's Club, Costco, Best Buy, or other online store are going to be furious if their drives are automatically encrypted and something goes wrong where they need the key and don't have a clue what it is, much less where to find it.

 

[GTP]

Something new....... article just posted today. I know nothing about FlyBy11 but thought others might find it interesting.

This third-party app bypasses Microsoft's stringent Windows 11 24H2 system requirements and installs the massive update on unsupported hardware

You can run Microsoft's latest version of Windows 11 on unsupported hardware, however, there might be critical risks abound.

www.windowscentral.com

Tried it on several older laptops and it fails every time with ambiguous errors.
Tried all the options individually and together but still doesn't work.
I'll test on a newer laptop soon and report back.

 

[britechguy]

Tried it on several older laptops and it fails every time with ambiguous errors.

Have you tried a 24H2 install media made with Rufus? I'm just curious, because that went without a hitch for me.

 

[NviGate Systems]

People who buy laptops through Sam's Club, Costco, Best Buy, or other online store are going to be furious if their drives are automatically encrypted and something goes wrong where they need the key and don't have a clue what it is, much less where to find it.

Let's be brutally honest though, those types of customers never did have a chance. They often are cheap, fed blatantly wrong information, swindled to the point where they trust no one or simply accept their fate. Yes they hate it, but they are unable to do anything like a person stuck in another country and unable to speak the language.

They are a by-product of the way products are developed for profit. They also have limited knowledge whether it's by choice or other circumstances.

I'm fortunate I have the skills to use Linux, hence I've settled on a good system that works for me and avoiding most of the garbage.

However that doesn't work for everyone. You'd be surprised how even though people have their data stripped from them or malfunctioning devices they just toss em and grab a new device, number accounts etc and leave probably millions of dormant, locked accounts worldwide. It's an epidemic of the "lost". Lost accounts that no one has the keys or memory of.

You see devices like that being sold by the pound, cheap. For parts.

So in reality nothing is changing for the better. Any supposed security gains are erased by idiots in the industry from using test keys in products, to researchers intent on cracking every known vulnerability until every machine is a walking zombie. (I liken it to opening a coconut. The first researchers found Spectre, so they got a straw in the coconut and could drink the milk. The next research group used a wedge to split it up further. How much more can the poor coconut take until it splits apart?)

I'm not against security, but let's be smart about it.

 

[GTP]

Have you tried a 24H2 install media made with Rufus? I'm just curious, because that went without a hitch for me.

Rufus always works.
I haven't tried it on the PC's I got errors with FlyBy as yet but I will do it shortly.

 

[Sky-Knight]

@NviGate Systems Soon enough all the older than 8th gen gear you want will be out there for pennies. The K8S clusters that can be built...

It's not terribly power efficient but it is fun.

 

[timeshifter]

And the best part? Microsoft will sever communications with Windows 10 when it drops, those endpoints will no longer be able to access M365 services of any kind. There are rumors that Google will be doing the same, if that happens... LOL good luck not being able to use Google or Microsoft email services with your old turd.

So there's gonna be no eff'n around this time?

Just the other day I was talking to a client about his WiFi and I mentioned that his PC probably needs to be upgraded, he's still running Windows 7. He was not interested and loved his Windows 7 for whatever reason. I didn't get into with him and I'm not sure what he's actually using the computer for but he indicated that everything works fine.

So I'd love it if this time around Microsoft and Google and others just do a hard drop on that kinda thing.

 

[Sky-Knight]

So there's gonna be no eff'n around this time?

Just the other day I was talking to a client about his WiFi and I mentioned that his PC probably needs to be upgraded, he's still running Windows 7. He was not interested and loved his Windows 7 for whatever reason. I didn't get into with him and I'm not sure what he's actually using the computer for but he indicated that everything works fine.

So I'd love it if this time around Microsoft and Google and others just do a hard drop on that kinda thing.

Windows 7 doesn't "work fine" half of the Internet no longer functions on the youngest browser available for the platform. If the user thinks "everything is fine" while it's constantly erroring out, crashing, and otherwise misbehaving no amount of further effort from big tech is going to move them. That's full on anti-vaxer level ignorance right there.