Deals! 🛒
This post will guide you through detailed and straightforward steps to perform an in-place Windows 11 installation or upgrade — to versions 21H2, 22H2, or the latest 23H2 — on unsupported hardware running Windows 10.
If your computer is running Windows 10 64-bit, like most computers released before 2022, then it can run Windows 11 equally well, regardless of any extra “requirements.”
You’ll find below the tool to get the job done and the downloads for the latest 2023 Windows 11 23H2 ISO file, as well as other related versions of Windows and brief instructions on how to make your own ISOs.
Dong’s note: I first published this piece on October 21, 2021, and updated it on September 26, 2023, to address the Windows 11 23H2. As usual, make sure you read the post carefully. Due to past abuses, starting November 2022, downloads are only available to registered members.
Windows 11 upgrade on unsupported computer: The current state of play
Windows 11 is slated to replace Windows 10 completely in 2025 — we have no choice.
Since its official release in October 2022, Windows 11 has undergone several major feature revisions, with the latest being 23H2, indicating that it is a version released in the second half of 2023 — September 26, 2023, to be specific.
Before that, there were versions 22H2 (September 2022) and 21H2 (October 2021). There will likely be version 24H2 and more until we reach Windows 12.
You can upgrade a computer that meets the hardware requirements to all versions of Windows 11 like you usually do with Windows 10 feature upgrades — via Windows Update or manually. However, if your hardware is deemed unqualified, you’ll get a message saying just that for each incremental release, and the setup process will not continue.
One of the controversies about Windows 11 is its ridiculous hardware requirements. Specifically, among other things, your computer needs to support Secure Boot and feature Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 2.0.
Neither is essential to the day-to-day operation of the computer. The two are so non-essential that hardware vendors often disable them by default. Likely, they are simply excuses for Microsoft to coerce users into getting new hardware unnecessarily.
But you sure can run Windows 11 of any release on any Windows 10 computer. Over the past two years, I’ve personally upgraded dozens of computers, as old as those built for Windows 7, to Windows 11 with great success, saving folks thousands of dollars in unnecessary expense. Frankly, many old machines can run the new OS as smoothly as supported hardware, even better in some cases.
There are two reliable methods to upgrade an unqualified computer running Windows 10 to Windows 11.
Windows 11 can run on computers that still use the Master Boot Record instead of the GPT partition table for the boot drive. Chances are you can’t find any computer with this Legacy BIOS anymore.
The first method is via a no-name upgrade tool by a Czech GitHub developer, @coofcookie. It enables users to do a regular in-place upgrade from Windows 10 to Windows 11 on any computer while bypassing the initial hardware requirement check.
The software is an open-source application with no malicious codes. You can download the source code, check it, and compile it yourself.
It’s important to note that this tool only works with the original installer of the first Windows 11 release, version 21H2. However, you’ll find below my customized ISO images of version 22H2 and 23H2, the latest release, that work with it.
The second method is more organic and suitable for those who want to get the job done without any third-party software or to build a fresh image for multiple-computer deployment.
Let’s start with the in-place upgrade method.
In-place Windows 11 upgrade on unsupported hardware: The A-B-C steps
Here are the detailed A-B-C steps for an in-place upgrade from Windows 10 to Windows 11 or from an earlier release of Windows 11 to a newer one.
A. Prepare the computer
As a rule, back up your system beforehand.
Note that the trick mentioned here only removes Windows 11’s hardware requirements. It doesn’t do anything else and won’t fix any problem.
We’re talking about upgrading from Windows 10 to Windows 11. If your computer still runs Windows 7 or 8, upgrade to Windows 10 first — there’s no restriction on this front.
For the upgrade to work, your computer must be in a good, error-free state. Even on supported hardware, there can be many issues when upgrading Windows from one release to another. That’s just the nature of the Windows operating system.
If you encounter any issues during an upgrade, the little cabinet below provides some general tips on how to resolve/avoid them.
General tips on Windows upgrade
There are many reasons an upgrade fails, and the best way to find out is via the log files. There are two of them called “setupact.log” and “setuperr.log” generally located in one or both of these locations:
C:\$WINDOWS.~BT\Sources\Panther\C:\Windows\Panther\In rare cases, change C:\ to the drive Windows resides.
These log files will help determine what should be done to make your computer upgrade-ready. It’s always case by case.
Generally, here are a few common ways to make upgrading Windows a smooth ride:
- Run Windows Update and update the computers to the latest driver, software, and security patches.
- Remove legacy or unused software and hardware.
- Make sure the drive that holds Windows — C: in most cases — has enough unused storage space. 30GB or more is recommended.
- Disable/remove antivirus software. Close all running programs and restart the computer before initializing the upgrade progress.
- Consider the “Clean install” option — you’ll lose all existing data and applications.
B. Download Windows 11 installer ISO and upgrade tool files
For this post, I created a folder called Win11 on the computer’s desktop. You can create any folder you want. Just make sure you know where it is. But let’s assume that you make the same folder. Now, we need to put the Windows ISO installer file and the upgrade tool’s files into it.
Important note on downloads
Downloadable files mentioned in this post might be freely available elsewhere on the Internet or can be created based on publicly available knowledge and materials.
To prevent abuses and exploits — which have happened and caused this website to crash — files hosted by this website have download restrictions and are available only to the site’s Ko-fi member-only section or this subscriber-exclusive download page.
If you are not a supporter but feel entitled to special treatment, please send us a message with your reasoning; we will consider sending you the files directly.
Getting the right Windows 11 ISO
For the Windows 11 installer file, you have these options:
These are large files that include all editions (Pro, Home, etc.) of Windows. They can take a long time to download and might become corrupted via an unstable connection. All files below are in English. But once the upgrade is finished, you can install a language pack to turn it into a localized version by following these steps: Start > Settings > Time & language > Language & region.
- Windows 11 21H2: Public original ISO file, once available directly from Microsoft. This file will upgrade your Windows 10 computer to Windows 11 21H2. Download links:
- Windows 11 22H2: Customized ISO file. This file has been modified and will upgrade your computer, running Windows 10 or Windows 11 21H2, to Windows 11 22H2. Download links:
- Windows 11 23H2: Customized ISO file. This file has been modified and will upgrade your computer, running Windows 10 or Windows 11 (21H2 or 22H2) to the latest Windows 11 23H2. Download links:
General direction on making customized Windows 11 ISOs
The updating tool mentioned here only works with the installer of Windows 11 version 21H2. Specifically, if you use it with the original ISO file of Windows 22H2 (or newer), you’ll get the same message that your computer is not qualified.
To overcome that, we need to turn a Windows 11 21H2 ISO file into one that will install a newer version of Windows 11 (22H2 or 23H2).
The trick is to replace the former’s main data file or files with those of the latter. The process doesn’t alter the content of any particular file and will not affect how Windows works once installed.
To create the special installer file, you need to have ISO files of both versions, extract the data needed from the newer one, place it in the same location in the 21H2 version, and rebuild the ISO image.
For the below screenshots as a demo, I saved the ISO file in the Win11 folder and used the “Win11_English_x64.iso” name — the .iso portion might not be visible. You can use whichever name you want, including the file’s default, as long as you know what it is.
Download the requirement-bypass upgrade tool
Different versions of the open-source upgrade tool are available on the Internet, including via GitHub. They might or might not work with the steps below — I have no control over them. Here are the download links for the version I’ve used for myself with consistent results:
The tool is a .zip folder. Open it, and you will find four files inside. Drag and drop them all in our Win11 folder.
The Win11 folder now has five files if you have followed the above steps closely, as shown in the screenshot below.
C. Perform the in-place upgrade via the upgrade tool
There are a few steps in this part.
1. Run the upgrade tool
Right-click on the Windows11Upgrade file and choose “Run as Administrator.”
The other three files of the tool need to remain in the same folder, but you won’t need to do anything about them.
Double-clicking on the file to execute it the usual way might not work out in some cases — the upgrade process might stall at some point.
2. Confirm the launch
A confirmation window will pop up. Answer it affirmatively.
Windows might even have more suggestions to ensure you want to make the changes — you might need to click on “More info” first. In any case, make sure you interact with all prompts affirmatively. The objective here is that you want to run the upgrade tool! And it’s safe to do so.
3. Pick the ISO file
Click on the Select Windows 11 ISO file option and navigate to the file you have downloaded the ISO file in step #1. Select it, then click on Open.
Starting September 20, 2022, the tool’s ISO download option no longer works since version 21H2 is no longer available for download from Microsoft.
4. Pick the upgrade option and install Windows 11
Pick the upgrade option of your liking or keep the default Upgrade option and click on Install system.
The “Clean install” option will remove all existing data and software, but it might fix some issues.
And that’s it. You can walk away or mind other business. The upgrade process will progress like a typical Windows feature upgrade, which will restart the computer a few times. After about 30 minutes or so, depending on how fast your computer is, you’ll find yourself a “new” computer running Windows 11 of the version you picked.
How to upgrade to the latest Windows 11 (23H2) without any tools
It’s possible to upgrade an unsupported computer to any version of Windows 11 without using any special tool as long as you have temporary supported hardware, namely a computer that meets all requirements of Windows 11.
In this case, it’s best to use a standard desktop computer. The only requirement is that the unsupported computer uses the same boot method and partition type as the supported one. This is likely already the case.
If you don’t do anything, most Windows computers released in the past decade use GPT partition type, UEFI boot mode (as opposed to the ancient Legacy BIOS mode), and AHCI storage interface. But if there are differences between the two computers on these fronts, adjust those of the unsupported computer accordingly to match the supported one.
You will need to obtain the standard ISO installer file of Windows 11, whichever version you prefer to use.
The latest version will be available soon from Microsoft. In the meantime, here are the Windows 11 23H2 ISO downloads — this file only works with qualified (supported) hardware:
After that, here are the general directions:
- If you want to upgrade an a computer running Windows 10 or an older version of Windows 11:
- Move the internal boot drive of the unsupported computer to the supported one. When you boot up, the machine will go through a short process of “getting devices ready,” and you’ll be able to log in. (Since this is temporary, there’s no need to reactivate Windows if you’re prompted to do so.)
- Upgrade the supported computer (running the internal drive of the unsupported one) to the Windows 11 version of your choosing. The process will go through with no issues since the hardware meets the requirements.
- Once the upgrade is finished, move the internal drive back to the unsupported computer. Mission accomplished.
- If you don’t need to keep existing data, you can do a fresh installation. In this case:
- Install the Windows 11 version of your choice on the supported computer.
- Make an image using drive cloning software — I’d recommend Macrium Reflect.
- Restore that image on an internal drive, then use that drive on the unsupported hardware (or any computer that you’d like to have a fresh copy of Windows 11 on) — make sure the hardware itself has a digital Windows 10 or 11 license tied to it, or you’ll have to activate it anew. Mission accomplished.
The result
After the upgrade, you’ll also find that Windows 11 is already activated (assuming you’re using a legit version of Windows 10), and all existing software remains the same. Windows 11 is very much an incremental version of Windows 10.
In case it’s not obvious, running Windows 11 on a computer that doesn’t have Secure Boot or Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 2.0 means any feature or function of the OS relating to those two will not be available.
Unless you have a specific need, there’s nothing to be concerned about, and in my opinion, the lack of these two features doesn’t affect the computer’s day-to-day operation. I’ve never used them, and virtually all Mac computers don’t even have TPM.
Windows 11 will work on the old hardware just like you use it on newer and qualified hardware, and you can update it to regular security and improvement patches. However, the tricks mentioned here are the only ways to advance to future feature releases.
The takeaway
Again, if your current computer runs Windows 10 (64-bit), it can run Windows 11. If you can install it the “official” way, great! If not, there’s this way.
Of course, you can get a new computer and install Windows 11 on it — chances are it already comes with Windows 11 — the way Microsoft (and its hardware partners) would love you to do, and I have nothing against it.
But if you have hardware that’s still good, it’s always better for the environment and our wallets not to consume more than necessary.
Hi Dong
I was able to install the Windows 11 version 22H2.
Everything is working fine and smooth.
Exept downloading and installing patches. Like update for the office or for dotnet and so on.
Do know this problem?
Any Idea how to run the patches?
Regards Peter
That’s just general issue with Windows. It happens even with supported hardware. You need to stop the Windows update service (type “services” in the search field then look for the service on the list — use this post for reference) then delete everything in the C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution folder — it’s totally safe to do so. Restart your computer and try again. It’ll work.
I downloaded 21H2 last week using the non-supported version. Everything works fine. I tried to download the 23H2 version tonight and update. The system ask for a product key. Am I missing something? It didn’t ask for this the first time when I downloaded and installed 21H2. Thanks
There’s no non-supported version of the 21H2, Brandon. Make sure you read the post *carefully* as stated.
Yes Dong, I installed the 21H2 version for non-suppprted hardware last week. Not sure what you are misunderstanding?? Can I upgrade from 21H2 to 23H2 without doing a clean install on non-supported hardware?
Okay, I installed the 21H2 using the non-supported hardware method. I hope you like that wording better. Either way I can’t upgrade to 23H2 now because it’s asking for a product key. Any suggestions? Thanks
Read the post carefully, Brandon. If you follow the instructions closely and use the correct tool and ISO, there won’t be any part where you’ll be asked for a product key.
My Lenovo W520 laptop fails Windows 11 compatibility for unsupported hardware as you mention in the article. In fact, this W520 came with Win7 that I upgraded to Win10 years ago. But aside from the inherent desire to upgrade anything and everything I’m thinking that Windows 11 is not that big a deal coming from perfectly working Windows 10 hardware. I’ll stay where I’m at until version 12 and then new hardware as well. Thanks for the solution, as always, you’re a step above.
Yeap, Phillip, as mentioned, you can use Windows 10 until 2025. The two kinda the same.
First of all, thank you, Dong! Your methods worked.
To all of those who whine about not getting the downloads without being supporters, shame on all of you!
It’s clear that Dong puts a lot of effort into this and *all* other articles. He’s one of the very few, if not the only, tech writers these days who have consistently been honest about what he does. And clearly, he has to pay for the online storage to host the downloads. Apple, Microsoft, etc., charge you a monthly fee to have more than 5GB of cloud storage and a single ISO file of Windows 11 is already more than 5GB. He even explained how you can create your own ISO or download things elsewhere and why he needed to limit the downloads…
How can anyone sustain the effort if you expect all that for free? The Internet has become a horrible place because of selfish, lazy folks like you. And you all deserve it!
They prolly just didn’t read the whole thing. That happens. 🙂
Shame on you for demanding payment to download
Huh?
@Michael, the downloads are free to supporters. Aslo, shame on you for wanting something for nothing and then being a di@k about it.
” the downloads are free to supporters” that’s perfectly fine but for someone who is not Ko-fi supporter you have to become one, so meaning you have to pay in order to download this tool. This tool is open source on GitHub and clicking on the download link it looks like its being sold by Dong and hes not a developer who created this tool. Instead download link should lead you to the GitHub page of the developer, not Dongs Ko-fi account which you have to pay in order to download it… Kind of a grey zone if you ask me.
That is probably what Michael meant with his comment.
You got a point there, Damir.
But life is about convenience, quality, and consistency. Folks can get stuff from wherever they want but it might not be readily available or work the way I describe in the post. If you don’t want to support my work, which you don’t have to, you can figure things out yourself. And you can start by reading the post carefully.
Water is free and you know where it comes from. But you can’t complain that the restaurant only offers it to paying customers.
“Water is free and you know where it comes from. But you can’t complain that the restaurant only offers it to paying customers. ”
That is why I said kind of grey zone… Nevertheless I enjoy reading your articles and its nice that you left credit to the tool author.
The download restrictions are also to prevent abuses.
Up to late 2022, I naively made everything available for free, unrestricted, via the site’s hosting. One day, a smart party, or parties, among other things, created a script that kept downloading the files none stop, effectively crashing the site and causing a couple of thousand of dollars in damage and hosting bandwidth fees, etc. over night. Lesson learned.
Ko-fi and Google charge $50/year and $18/month for setting up the “shop” and file storage, respectively. Not free but manageable.
There’s a reason why most venues don’t offer their restrooms to the public. All it takes is one bum.
I fully agree with this poster! Shame on Dong. To link to opensource material and charge for it is outrageous. I have been a reader forever, but no longer. No respect for this site anymore!
As mentioned in the post, David, you have the option to download the tool from any other sources — there’s even a link to one. But I can’t provide free public downloads using the online storage I have to pay for. That can potential crash my website or incur unnecessary bandwidth costs, which has happened before. By the way, if you read the post in its entirety, there’s info on how you can get the downloads without being a supporter.
Dong you had mentioned you would update this article when/if the 22H2 update could be used without the drive swap workaround. Is there any new information yet?
I just updated the post, Jorabi.
Great article. Very informative and Doable.
I’m looking forward to reading more of your articles.
👍
Upgrade of my Dell E5570 w. Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-6820HQ CPU @ 2.70GHz worked perfect! Thank you!
Sure, Steve. 👍 And yes, it’ll work as well as in any “supported” hardware where TPM is manually turned off. 🙂
Posting a reply to Darren’s post up above:
“Tried to install Win 11 on my Win 10 laptop, but I keep getting the error code 0x800F0830 -0x20003 saying “that installation failed in the SAFE_OS phase with an error INSTALL_UPDATES operation.”
This happened to me several times. I finally tried to disable my internet connection and then run the OS upgrade to WIN 11. It worked. I had to disable the internet connection on both of my older PCs to get them to upgrade to WIN 11. After the upgrade finished, I was able to install Windows updates without issue. I hope this helps other people that may have the same issue as reported above.
Hi, i have only one question….
Windows 11 after installed on unsurported hardware will still receiving updates?
MS says NO, but i would like to know what happen into a real world.
Cheers
It works like normal with generally updates, but you won’t get feature upgrades like version 22H2 and future releases, etc.
Works perfectly so far as you follow the instructions.
I missed that part, thank you
👍
Hello Dong and thank you again for the great articles. Just a quick question; After updating to Windows 11 version 21H2 on an unsupported PC, can you update to version 22H2?
Read the post, Gianni. As in R-E-A-D. And make sure you read the comment rules, too.
I think I learned something else about doing this although I admit the circumstances are weird. I used this method to install on “approved” hardware, an MSI Z490 MAG Tomahawk with an i7-10700K, with TPM and Secure boot all enabled, just because it was easy. I already had the Windows 11 folder with all the stuff, so I just went ahead and did it that way. Now, that PC won’t update to 22H2, error code 0x80888002. {..}
Worked for this PC and 22H2 is installed!!
What you mentioned is unrelated, Tom. Appreciate your enthusiasm but please don’t share stuff you just because it works for your particular hardware. Thanks.
OK, I used Rufus portable, latest download version, to create a bootable Windows 11 22H2 install USB stick. During the creation there were checkboxes, one of which was to disable Windows 11 goofy requirements, TPM, Secure Boot, etc. I checked it and created the USB stick. Booted the USB stick in an old ASUS Z97 board with a Core i7-4790K. It installed and activated just fine. Activation was automatic because I had 22H1 on it previously, but I deleted all partitions and installed clean, as a new install. Worked fine.
Just sayin’, it’s at least worth a try!
Crickets?
What you mentioned won’t work in MOST cases, Tom.
how to stop this service it is showing every windows 11 setup we cant tell if your pc is ready to continue installing windows 11. try restarting setup.
Try changing the Secure Boot setting in the BIOS.
Thank you for your great help.
It was useful and helped me upgrade to windows 11 successfully.
Sure, Josiah.
how to stop this service it is showing every windows 11 setup we cant tell if your pc is ready to continue installing windows 11. try restarting setup.
Microsoft has released the 22H2 official iso as of my check last evening. I will followup with a post on my thread about whether a W10Pro64 build can take that major upgrade using that iso an Dong’s method later today.
It won’t work, Harrison. That’s the point of this updated post — it’s not about providing a 22H2 ISO which has been available from Microsoft since 9/20. For now, you have to follow the trick I mentioned in the extra part.
Dong, you are right. I did the experiment and got the message “Sorry, we’re having trouble determining if your PC can run Windows 11. Please close Setup and try again.”
I’ll watch here for a possible fix, and still am very happy running W11 21H2. Thanks much.
👍
I can also confirm that you cannot use the the Czech GitHub developer @coofcookie’s file with the W11 22H2 ISO file to upgrade from W10>W11.
Windows checks the PC and reports whatever reason it is not supported for the upgrade from W10>W11. On the PC I tried the upgrade on, it reported that the PC did not support Secure boot, but using the file on the W11 21H1 ISO file, it works fine.
Thank for the input, Paul. I’ll look into this. You’re so far ahead of everyone! 🙂
You’re very welcome.{..}
No spam, Paul, please. As I mentioned, there’s currently no method that works “reliably” other than the one I mentioned.
i wish you give the download the little oftware make easier to actually download i can downloaded the software
It was an open download before until that was abused, bandwidth and storage space are not free, unfortunately. Generally, nothing is free…
How did you download the W11 21H1 ISO specifically?
The download link is in the updated post.
Hi:
The file worked fine with upgrading from W10 to W11, but unfortunately, it does not work when you use it to try and upgrade from W11 21H2 to W11 22H2 which was released today.
Windows checks to see if the PC is ready to install W11 and reports that it cannot determine if it is, so the setup does not proceed.
Hopefully, the Czech GitHub developer @coofcookie will release an update to fix that problem, so we can easily update to W11 W2H2 and future releases.
So if I’m reading this correctly, 22H2 won’t install from Windows Update on a computer that’s been “forced” to 21H2? We will have to trick it again sometime in the future when/if it gets figured out?
You read it correctly, Tom. So far that seems to be the case with major upgrades. And eventually it makes sense to get new hardware.
So here’s an interesting aside. I bought a new MB that IS compatible with Win 11. I was creating a bootable 22H2 USB stick with Rufus portable. When Rufus started there were a series of checkboxes which included “Remove requirement for 4GB+ RAM, Secure Boot, and TPM 2.0”. As I’m installing on a qualifying PC, I won’t be able to test this, but perhaps someone else CAN? I’d post a screenshot if I could.
Unless the version of Rufus is released *after* 22H2, or specifically for this Windows 11 release, it’s not going to work.
It would still be interesting if someone tried it, however sincerely we think it won’t work!!
Hi Dong,
Thanks so much for this write up. It really came in handy and provide the easiest solution to bypassing the requirements.
Thumbs up for you.
Sure, B. Glad it worked out for you. 🙂
FYI, I was stuck at initialing until i disabled malwarebytes
Thanks for the tip, John. But yes, you need to make sure the computer can upgrade to anything (including a different version of Windows 10) before you can upgrade it to Windows 11.
Hi Dong, I made this comment to let you know that I am grateful for your help. I have a HP All-In-One computer pavilion 27-a127c. I thought I needed to upgrade my CPU or buy a new one. This one works great! Thank you for sharing your knowledge on this.
Sure, Ricardo! 🙂
the tool is still working.
I did various tests, on desktop and laptop, upgrade and clean-install.
install went smooth (my old PC took 2-3 hrs). you are right. as long as Win10 was working. Win11 will be running fine.
difference between upgrade and clean-install sees minor issues.
upgrade. carrying over all Win10 personal features. ID name and pin code, , , and no requestions asked. seems I prefer. but its OS over-sized (with Windows.old).
Clean-install. looks cleaner. but requests MS account (annoying). no skip. also. no pin code setup. have to use MS acct (could be a bug by Win11 ISO). To re-confirm this, I re-did upgrade install (what a pain from here, win11–>win10–>win11), re-confirmed no pin code issue.
indeed it’s noticed that, Win10/11 recent clean-install, both have pin code setup issues (have to use MS acct than a simple pin code). sounds a new issue. Win10 if go image backup, no this issue as expected. Win10 upgrade to win11, no pin code issue too.
Thank you for your post,
You’re welcome. And yes, you can skip the creation of MS account. More in this post.
Thanks,
trying now, disconnect WIFI to create a local one.
btw, have you noticed Windows 11 clean-install. PIN code setup, after you click, a dummy box than pin code input box pop-up. hence no way to setup pin code.
I have tried desktop, laptop. Win10, Win11. If clean-install, it’s a problem.
If upgrade, no this issue.
That’s some unrelated issue with Windows itself. It will happen if you do that on qualified hardware.
This works. I was able to install Win 11 on a Lenovo Thinkcentre M57p. Once downloading the files I disabled most of the hardware drivers and it loaded. The machine is on 4 gig Ram. It would not install on a Lenovo Thinkpad G-50-80. It got to 31% then stalled. As suggested above I reloaded Windows 10 over the Windows 10 operating system, then I followed the suggestions- it worked a treat. I managed to get it on an HP EliteBook 840 G-1 and it runs a treat.
Many thanks for the suggestions, deeply grateful
Sure, C Mackay. Glad it worked out. 🙂
Hi Dong,
This method can apply to the Chinese version of Windows 10 upgarde?
Thanks
It should, Marco. Just get the ISO of the language you like in step #1.
Hi Dong,
Tried to install Win 11 on my Win 10 laptop, but I keep getting the error code 0x800F0830 -0x20003 saying “that installation failed in the SAFE_OS phase with an error INSTALL_UPDATES operation.
I followed all the steps, and I chose the upgrade route, so not sure if this is what is causing the error, and maybe I will have to do a clean install for this to work. I have a HP probook g4 laptop with i5 7th Gen processor.
Any help would be much appreciated
Thanks
That means your version of Windows 10 is messed up, Darren — and I don’t do tech support. I’d recommend cleaning it up first. Try a manual update to the latest version of Windows 10 — even if you’re already running it — if that goes through then, your upgrade to Windows 11 will, too. Or you can choose to do a clean install.
Hi Dong
Thanks for the quick reply. I will try that and post the result soon.
Regards
Hi there,
I installed Win 11 on my Spectre – find my post above – by using the upgrade tool.
Now I needed to do a full fresh installation of Win 11 because I’m going to seek it.
I did out by using the official MS installation media created on an USB drive.
The installation worked without any troubles.
Just wanted to share that it works.
Thanks for sharting, Andre. Good to know. But chances are your Spectre already supports Windows 11 by itself (no tool is necessary for the upgrade.) In my experience, that has been the case with some computers running 7th gen CPU. MS might have extended the “official” support in the OS while not updating the documentation.
Thank you Dong!
I am trying to run this on HP Envy with i7-7500. Somehow I forgot to run it as admin, & it hung at 31% forever. I Cancelled, and it never finished canceling. I rebooted and the same cancellation screen came up, never finishing. I tried to kill it but did not know what is the name of the process. Eventually, I killed something called “Modern…update” or similar and it did it.
Now I am running the update again and I am holding my breath.
It’ll work. Depending on the current computer, the process might take longer than usual.
How about 18 hours and still at 31% on hp envy with i7-7500?
Something is wrong with the computer for sure. You’d have the same issue if you upgrade re-install Windows 10 on it. Chances are you have some bad software or drivers installed right now. Try restarting the computer, removing some drivers (audio, video, network), uninstalling third-party antivirus software, and try again.
By the way, the installation log will tell you which software stalled the process.
Hi there,
first off – many thanks for sharing this information 🙂
Just upgraded my spectre x360, which has the common Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-7500U CPU @ 2.70GHz 2.90 GHz.
As you might know, it is the 7th gen i7, which Microsoft doesn’t support – what a nonsense 😉
Anyway, I have a quick question – what, if the laptop needs a fresh installation because the system gets broken, is it now possible to run a Win 11 installation from the scratch since the upgrade from Win 10 to Win 11 had been done by applying the installation tool or do I need to install Win 10 from the scratch and apply the Win 11 installation tool again?
Thanks and best regards from Germany, André
You need to put win10 on it first, Andre. It just takes a bit more time. If you need help, check out this post. https://dongknows.com/simple-tricks-for-a-better-windows-10-experience/
I could swear I upgraded an old Windows 10 install to Windows 11 using this method then later needed to do a clean install and I just installed Windows 11 fresh. I guess I could be remembering wrong. Even so, worth a try!!
You can choose to install Windows 11 fresh — Clean Install — using this method, just pick the correct option in step #d.
Thanks for your response. I expected to first install Win 10 again.
Sure, Andre. Good luck! 🙂
After some days of running the Win11 on my i7–7500U powered hp Spectre 360 from 2018, I don’t regret that I “tweaked” around to get Win11 on my laptop.
This machine is still a very good performer and I really dislike the approach of Microsoft, just thinking about sustainability, what we all get prayed by the politicians and media nowadays (which makes absolutely sense for sure) but not having the “big players” forced to enable us, as being the end user, to follow this path 😉
Well, as I said, I’m still happy with the installation and I cannot report any malfunctions etc. so far 🙂
Best Regards from Germany, André
It’ll work fine, Andre. The machine I used for the demo was 10 years older than yours and it’s been working fine, too. The requirements are simply a way to coerce users to buying new hardware, which, like you said, is terrible for the environment. That was why I wrote the post. Thanks for sharing your experience!
I have tried the other hacks by modifying the registry on a Lenovo W530 and they didn’t work. I am experimenting on a Virtual Machine and so far is upgrading to 11 just fine. If I like Win 11 enough, I may also eventually then upgrade my host machine. Thx for the tool!
Sure, Mike. Those registry hacks tend to be hit or miss.
Thank you Dong so much for the straightforward and easy instructions. I updated my Laptop with i7-7500u and another older desktop to win11 w/o any issue.
Sure, JW. Glad it worked out! 🙂
Will it get updates?
It’ll work just like normal, Sean.
You had mentioned using this on an old MacBook Pro (2013). I’d like to try on a MacBook air of the same vintage. First question: How do you open the executable on an apple product? (are there other steps?) 2nd question: What version of windows 11 did you use? 64 bit? thanks so much. Love the article.
You need first to install Windows 10 on the computer, Mark:
1. Run Boot Camp (search for it)
2. Follow the instructions. The process will make a BootCamp partition out of your existing internal drive by shrinking the current one and downloading the tool, and creating an installer from a Windows 10 ISO file that you can download from Microsoft. You will need a decent size (8GB or larger) USB thumb drive for the job.
3. Once Windows 10 is in, you can follow the steps here to upgrade it to Windows 11.
I’m curious if upgrading via this path- the locally saved .iso file- will enable one with a Win 10 Local Account the ability to perform the upgrade and retain that Local Account when the upgrade is complete? I ask as I’ve read numerous accounts where the upgrade isn’t allowed by Microsoft without a MS account but this may be only for those needing to be connected to the Internet during this process? Thanks.
Yes, Howie. It’s the same as Windows 10 feature upgrades. And i hate MS account, too, don’t use it. More here. https://dongknows.com/useful-windows-11-tricks-and-keyboard-shortcuts/
Slightly off topic. Setting up a new acer laptop for a friend that is upgradable to 11. It comes with win 10
Laptop still on its way
What do you recommend –
boot from usb and install without ever logging into win 10 or upgrade using windows update
I’d skip the USB thingy when possible, Mahomed — that route can be problematic though it can work. Just do an in-place upgrade from Windows 10 — download the ISO and start from there, not via Windows update — and you can choose to remove everything. That’d be the same as installing the OS as new.
Thanks. I will do that.
Was worried about some of the bloatware that comes pre installed, but removing things will sort that out
Much easier to upgrade from MS keeping drivers etc as is. I bought
a new Acer Swift 5 with Win10 which did the upgrade painlessly. I also bought a T-Bao TBOOK MN35 AMD Ryzen 5 3550H Mini PC 16GB DDR4 512GB SSD Desktop Computer with Win10 and stuck it on the rear of a Samsung 32″ Curved Screen 4k Monitor. It also upgraded to Win11 easily and it flies.
Glenn
I’m going to run Dong’s upgrade tool on the old ASUS tonight so I’ll see how that goes. Nothing else has worked to date.
Can this tool be executed using command line silently?
As it is, no, Kham.
Dang, if only I had found this sooner, not 🙂
One of my machines has a Ryzen 5 1600, which is not “allowed” by Microsoft to run Windows 11.
Instead of keeping that terrible Windows 10 (Oh, Windows Vista, my love, where art thou?…), I installed Linux Mint 20.2 (w/ Cinnamon and Openbox) on it, and it works fine, of course.
I have several other PC’s that aren’t “allowed” to run W11. They will keep Windows 10 until they break down, or they will get Linux.
I am not really interested in Windows 11: I am sick and tired of Microsoft Windows, which is the most unreliable thing I have EVER worked with in my entire life (at work, I have already lost files “because of” Windows 10…, and I am not the only one).
Thanks, Done for the terrific walk-through. I’ve read many places that windows update would NOT work for unsupported hardware that upgraded to Windows 11. I figured at some point MS would have to walk that back because they are putting their ecosystem more at risk by not allowing security updated. Glad to hear you and others are able to continue to get updates with unsupported Win11 machines. Thank I”m going to give it a try after reading this. Cheers!
After successfully using this on three computers, I now have one that sits at Initializing, Please Wait forever after clicking the exe. No HD activity, nothing. Ironically this is my newest computer and one that IS ready for Windows 11 the normal way. I tried redownloading everything, rebooting several times, same thing. Any suggestions?
Call the vendor, Tom. That prolly had nothing to do with the tool. Also, it’s unnecessary to use it on computers that are qualified.
Seeing as I’m the vendor (homebuilt PC), the buck stops here!! That said, the “conventional” method of upgrading to Windows 11 worked on this PC where the method here did NOT. I had one other “qualified” PC and this method here worked on THAT one!!
For new computers, Tom, it’s faster that you make a common “master” Windows 11 image and deploy it. Just make sure you use the same boot mode consistently.
Dong, mega thanks for this post. I too have a desktop PC that qualifies for Win 11 except for its one cycle earlier CPU. I followed the directions you laid out and am now happily running Win 11 (including updates) on said PC. MS is still being MS, but since you saved me a bunch of dinero, can I spring for a cup of your favorite coffee? 🙂
Yes you can, Tom. Thanks. And I’m glad you figured it out!
Highly recommended site for constructive informative tips on IT related issues. Well done Dong Ngo.
Thanks, C! Please spread the word! 🙂
The requirements are very arbitrary. I meet all the requirements except for my cpu which is running ryzen first gen.
I was beta testing and had no issues. In fact pc started much quicker on 11
Yeap, Mahomed. It seems MS didn’t know how to make up its mind between getting Win11 popular, which it wants, and getting folks to buy new hardware which its partners want. 🙂
Works like a charm. I’ve done a few upgrades by cloning onto an NVme drive in a “supported” computer then cloning it back after the upgrade. That also works,but this is seamless. Updates seem to be coming whether the computer is “supported” or not. In any case, I make a backup image before upgrading just in case something goes awry,so returning to Win10 is always available.
Thanks for the post.
Sure, Dusan. And yes, the clone method works, too. I used that before during the earlier releases. 🙂
Hi Dong, good write-up as usual 🙂 FYI, my son has a Dell Y40 laptop, circa 2015. It is still running Win 7 Pro 64-bit. Have you used this ‘Windows 11 Upgrade’ tool with Win 7? Thanks.
I haven’t tried it with Windows 7, Jon, but chances are it will work. You can always upgrade it to Windows 10 first, though. It just takes a bit more time. Have fun! 🙂
I believe that should Windows 11 be installed this way on unsupported hardware, you will not receive windows updates. Also your you may lose your warranty.
I don’t know about the warranty — the hardware might already be too old for that, all new hardware should support Windows 11 natively — but the Windows Updates work fine. I’ve updated like a dozen already. 🙂
I guess the thing that scares me the most with this is FUTURE Windows Updates. IF Microsoft decides they don’t like this, then what? I have 7 computers, only two of which qualify “officially” for Windows 11, so I have plenty to try this on, picking the least “necessary” one first!!!
BTW, the Ask Woody newsletter mentioned a registry hack to be able to do this. Wonder if this just does THAT!
You can do the registry hack, or you can even clone a “qualified” computer onto a non-qualifed one. But this method is by far the best.
I don’t think Microsoft will block the use of a legit copy of Windows 11, ever, Tom. I wouldn’t worry about it. 🙂