Installing Windows 11 on an unsupported PC

With the release of Microsoft Windows 11, the hardware requirements for supported PCs took a jump from previous versions of Windows.

In particular, the requirement for Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 2.0 and a modern 64 bit CPU have caused a number of machines to not be eligible/supported to run Windows 11.

While not supported, there is a way to get Windows 11 installed on a machine that does not have TPM 2.0 or has a CPU that is not in the compatibility list. The machine will still need TPM 1.2, Secure Boot, 4GB of RAM, 64GB of storage and a processor with at least two cores to be able to upgrade.

A small registry change and you can perform an in-place upgrade of your system using the install media and running setup.exe.

If you machine does not have physical TPM hardware and cannot have a TPM module added to its motherboard, check if your BIOS can enable a virtual eTPM or if there is a BIOS update which allows for an eTPM.

The registry change required is the addition of the following key and value:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Setup\MoSetup\AllowUpgradesWithUnsupportedTPMOrCPU=1

Download the zip file below and rename the .txt file to .reg. Then double click on the file to apply the setting.

• Windows 11 Forced Install.zip

Once the registry setting has been added, run the setup.exe file from the Windows 11 install media. If you don’t have the media, please download it from the Download Windows 11 site selecting the Create Windows 11 Installation Media option.

For more information and detailed steps please this article from the Windows Central team:

• How to upgrade an unsupported computer to Windows 11

I used this method to install Windows 11 on my old GPD Pocket 2 device. My new GPD Pocket 3 (highly recommended) was compatible with Windows 11 and installed easily.

Disclaimer: Microsoft have indicated that they might restrict Windows Updates for Windows 11 installed on an unsupported machine, so follow these steps at your own risk and understanding the possible consequences.

Hope you find this information helpful.

David

This article was originally posted on http://www.winthropdc.com/blog.