Deals! 🛒
This post will walk you through detailed steps to perform an in-place Windows 11 installation or upgrade on unsupported hardware running Windows 10. And a bit more.
You heard it right. 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. I take that Microsoft now uses them to coerce users into unnecessarily getting new hardware.
But the bottom line is this: If your computer is running Windows 10 64-bit -- that's the case of most existing computers -- then it can run Windows 11 just fine, regardless of any extra "requirements."
This post will walk you through a few sure and straightforward steps to upgrade any Windows 10 computer to Windows 11.
Dong's note: I first published this piece on October 21, 2021, and updated it on September 21, 2022, to address Windows 11 22H2 upgrade on unsupported hardware. As usual, make sure you read the post carefully.
Table of Contents
Why should I upgrade to Windows 11?
First of all, the latest (and official) version of Windows 11 now has native support for the 6GHz band of the Intel AX210 Wi-Fi 6E chip. That means you won't need to use a special software driver.
On top of that, in my experience, Windows 11 runs slightly better and has a more refined user interface.
Finally, the new OS will last you beyond 2025, when Microsoft plans to phase out Windows 10 completely. You might want new hardware before then, but it's always good to know your way around the new OS now.
With that, let's get our hands dirty. (As a rule, back up your system beforehand.)
Windows 11 upgrade on unsupported computer: The tool
You can upgrade a computer that meets the hardware requirements to Windows 11 like you usually do with Windows 10 feature upgrades.
However, if your hardware is not qualified, you'll run into a message saying just that, and the setup process will not continue.
And that's where the no-name upgrade tool, by a Czech GitHub developer @coofcookie, comes into play. 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.
I've tried this tool many times -- including upgrading a 2013 Macbook Pro running BootCamp to Windows 11 --, and it worked flawlessly, proving to be the best method for the task.
There are other methods, but they are more involved with hit-or-miss results.
For this post, I used a decade-old Dell Precision T1500, first built for Windows 7, which came out 12 years ago.
The computer has mostly the original hardware. It runs on a 1st Gen Core i7 CPU -- to put things in perspective, Intel's latest chip is now at 11th Gen -- with some minor upgrades: I use a SATA SSD instead of its stock hard drive and have put Windows 10 on it.
The machine is so old its motherboard doesn't even support the GPT partition table for the boot drive. So yes, Windows 11 can run on a computer that still uses the Legacy BIOS and Master Boot Record. And the point is, chances are, your computer is much newer than this one.
Windows 11 upgrade on unsupported hardware: The steps
Here are the detailed steps for an in-place upgrade from Windows 10 to Windows 11.
Update (September 21, 2022)
The steps below work with Windows 11 version 21H2 and earlier. It will not work with the latest release, version 22H2.
Just like earlier releases, version 22 also runs on "unsupported" hardware. But for now, there's no easy in-place upgrade yet. This latest version has a new mechanism during the setup process to check for TPM 2.0 and other requirements.
Microsoft supports Windows 11 21H2 until October 8, 2024. There's plenty of time before you need to worry about version 22H2 (and later).
But if you're determined to use 22H2 on your old computer ASAP, instead of waiting for minor updates to work out the kinks, check out the Extra section below.
1. Prepare the location and download Windows 11 ISO file
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.
After that, download Windows 11 -- you need to pick the ISO option -- directly from Microsoft. (You will have to follow a few obvious steps to select the version and the language, etc.)
Starting September 20, 2022, with Windows 11 22H2's release, Microsoft no longer provides a link to download older releases of Windows 11.
Here's the link to download Windows 11 21H2's public ISO file, which was once available directly from Microsoft. You need this file to use the tool below.
For this post, I saved the ISO file in the Win11 folder and used its default name, Win11_English_x64.iso -- the .iso portion might not be visible.
2. Download the upgrade tool
Here's the link to download the tool I've used for myself and this post.
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.
3. Perform the in-place upgrade via the upgrade tool
There are a few steps in this part.
a. Run the upgrade tool
Right-click on the Windows11Upgrade file and choose "Run as Administrator."
The other three files need to be in the same folder, but you won't need to do anything about them.
By the way, 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.
b. 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.
c. 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 can no longer download Windows 11 ISO files since version 21H2 is no longer available for download from Microsoft.
d. 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.
Please note
The trick mentioned here only removes the hardware requirements from the process of installing Windows 11 on your computer. It doesn't do anything else.
For the upgrade to work, your Windows 10 computer must be in a good, error-free state. In other words, upgrading to Windows 11 is not a method to fix any existing issues.
If you run into problems during the process, keep in mind that the tool has nothing to do with that. Your computer is likely in bad shape, and you need to fix that first. Or you can also try a clean install (and lose all existing data) instead of an upgrade.
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 version 21H2.
Extra: How to perform a Windows 11 22H2 upgrade on unsupported hardware today
As mentioned earlier, there's not yet an easy way to do an in-place upgrade to the latest release of Windows 11, version 22H2 -- there might never be one.
But I can confirm that it's possible to do so.
Update (October 29, 2022): After using Windows 11 2H2 for over a month, I decided to return to the previous 21H2 version. The latest version is more bloated, and its network performance appeared much slower than the last release. It may be a good idea to wait for the kinks to be worked out first via minor updates.
Below is a screenshot of an old Dell Inspiron 3847 with a Core i5 4th Gen -- Windows 11 requires Core i5 8th Gen or newer -- running the latest Windows 11 version 22H2.
You have to get your hands dirty if you want to put the latest Windows 11 22H2 on unsupported hardware right now.
Most importantly, you need some temporary supported hardware, namely a computer that meets all requirements of Windows 11. It's best to use a standard desktop computer.
After that, make sure 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.
After that, here are the general directions:
- If you want to upgrade an existing Windows 11 (21H2 and earlier) or Windows 10 computer:
- 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 latest version of Windows 11. 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 Windows 11 22H2 fresh on the supported computer.
- Make an image using drive cloning software -- I'd recommend Macrium Reflect.
- Restore that image on an internal drive, then install 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.
Hopefully, there will be a reliable and easy way to do an in-place upgrade with Windows 11 22H2 -- I'll update this post then. But for now, the method above will work, and it will likely still work with newer versions of Windows 11 until you eventually need a new computer.
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.
Again, 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 business machine, 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.
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.
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.
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. 🙂