Microsoft is cracking down on people upgrading to Windows 11 on unsupported hardware – XDA Developers
In just over eight month’s time, Windows 10 will fall out of support. Once this happens, Microsoft is giving people still using the operating system a choice: either continue using Windows 10 without any future support, upgrade to Windows 11, or buy a new PC if their hardware can’t support Windows 11’s TPM 2.0 requirement.For a few years now, people have been working on a fourth, unofficial option. This lets you upgrade to Windows 11 on hardware that’s not supported by dodging the system requirement check during installation. However, it seems that Microsoft is no longer playing nicely with people who want to skirt the restrictions.With tons of configuration options for appearance and organization, Start11 makes the Start menu and taskbar so much richerIn the first instance of Microsoft stopping people performing unsupported upgrades, Neowin spotted that the company had removed a block of text from its “Ways to install Windows 11” page. Previously, the page stated the following:Microsoft recommends against installing Windows 11 on a device that does not meet the Windows 11 minimum system requirements. If you choose to install Windows 11 on a device that does not meet these requirements, and you acknowledge and understand the risks, you can create the following registry key values and bypass the check for TPM 2.0 (at least TPM 1.2 is required) and the CPU family and model.Now, both this description and the registry keys are missing, which hints that Microsoft doesn’t want to advertise dodging TPM 2.0 anymore.Two days after Neowin reported the change, the website spotted a new post on Flyby11’s GitHub page. The update claims that Windows Defender now identifies the app as potential malware. Flyby11 is a popular third-party tool that allows people to dodge the TPM 2.0 requirement and install Windows 11 on any machine, so Defender suddenly taking a dislike for the app does raise a few eyebrows.As stated on Flyby11’s GitHub page:The app is now flagged as PUA:Win32/Patcher by Microsoft Defender. You can safely ignore this if you wish to proceed with the upgrade. I will contact Microsoft to verify whether this is an official classification or a false positiveIt’s unsure if other antivirus apps have the same reaction, but hopefully, the developer can get things worked out with Microsoft. In the meantime, check out our guide on how to install Windows 11 on unsupported hardware for all the known methods.We want to hear from you! Share your opinions in the thread below and remember to keep it respectful.Your comment has not been savedInteresting Headline. Cracking Down . As if they could arrest us. 😄 It won’t change anything This is why I use Linux. I know it doesn’t cover everyone’s needs. But if you can use it you will love it.Try it.True Linux cannot cover everyone’s needs, but most of what it cannot cover are expensive apps that have been deliberately written to tie them tightly to Windows. Adobe I am looking at you… Also few (if any) non-commercial users need the fancy multi-user-access to MsOffice features that do not exist in LibreOffice or other office alternatives. For many others it is the kernel level anti-cheat stuff required by some games. For (probably) 90% of the ‘domestic’ users on the planet a Linux such as Mint, or maybe Zorin, will do everything they need, and probably more quickly.Linux is alright but it’s really not good for a typical user/gamer. I can’t stand using Linux on my Steam Deck and I would never choose it over Windows, which has far better features.JohnT Adobe products are also available on MacOS, so I’m not sure they have any motivation to lock people to Windows specifically. As for 90% of general users being served just fine with Linux, I have to disagree. Literally no one I set up on Linux was able to tolerate it for more than a few weeks, and that includes my wife who was a mainframe programmer, so plenty technically savvy when it comes to specialized terminal based tech. Linux is great until there’s a problem, which there always will be, and then it’s an absolute nightmare for anyone without specific Linux experience. I tried to get everyone I know on it for years, but ended up being their near-daily tech support contact. Just not worth the effort. Windows sucks in countless ways, but it just works for 99% of tasks, 99% of the time. Heck, even I’ve dropped using Linux for general household stuff because I could never get it to just stay working. Every few days or weeks, file sharing would stop working, printer sharing was constantly failing. I set everything up on Windows on a little Intel NUC, and it’s been fault-free for the better part of a decade. It’s a towering shame that Linux developers don’t focus on making the OS more useable over whipping up one barely distinguishable distro after another. I’ve come to the conclusion that the devs DON’T WANT Linux to be easy to deploy and maintain so they can maintain their perceived computing superiority. I’ve never seen anyone in the Linux community receptive to entirely valid criticism from a general user perspective. The response is always some form of “well if you don’t like it, learn to program, download the source code and change it yourself”. Telling someone to basically F off isn’t something you do if you want people to use your product. So I’ve reluctantly taken their hint and F’d off back to Windows. For me Kubuntu is the closest to either Windows or MacOS. Love it XDAMember I have no idea how recent your experience is, nor which distribution you used. Well over a decade ago I tried Linux and it was awful, rubbish reliability, broken updates, etc. Then 8 years ago circumstance led me to Linux Mint. In that time I have NEVER had a failure, never had an update break, never had any unreliability at all. I have also never had a support call from any of the dozen or so people I have migrated to Mint. I do get the occasional query from my very non-technical wife, always to check whether a particular EMAIL is scam or not. That’s nothing to do with Linux, those occasional calls have been going on far longer than our use of Linux. Mint just ‘found’ my printer, my network, everything just worked out of the box.May I respectfully request, set your Linux experience as history, and give Mint a try. I think you will be pleasantly surprised.One thing I have noticed is win 11 doesn’t allow automatic major updates anymore on unsupported hardware, I put it on a7th gen i5 well over a year ago and everything has been fine until recently. It now states “you are missing important updates” and ” this version of windows 11 is no longer supported” windows update has found and installed windows defender updates but it won’t find and install 24h2. You have to install it manually. Then it’s updating will work. I did a fresh install everything is stable except HDR.Oh come on man, Microsoft REALLY wants us to buy a new PC.You didn’t list the option to extend updates for $30.Hold on just a couple of month ago you were telling us the exact oppisite, I know as I upgraded my 13 year old elite desk to the lastest version then….Just updated my “unsupported PC” to 24H2 yesterday on developer insider build… Seems like Microsoft can’t put 2 and 2 together. Come up with a solution for those of us on unsupported hardware or we will just find a way until we need a new PC.It’s just a bit of CYA on their part. They don’t care if you upgrade, but then it’s your fault for missing security features, not theirs.UbuntuKubuntu is my favorite MintMicrosoft is loosing the computers in my house because they refuse to support my absolutely perfectly good hardware. I’m retired and can’t (and won’t) pay to replace my computers. Linux Mint is leading race right now but have Ubuntu running on some systems. Hardware works perfectly and I don’t have to fight this AI trend that I have no need for. Microsoft has done it to itself.I have never used this Flyby11 script, I’ve used Rufus for many years and was surprised one day making a Win 11 USB and up popped up all those choices to choose or not, and it always worked well. I’m normally on my Linux Mint 22.1 SSD, but at the moment I’m on the Win 11 24H2 SSD.I recently bought a “new” computer, a renewed one and made sure it had TPM 2.0 and an 8th gen Intel, plus came with Win 10 Pro because they’re cheaper that way, and immediately it wanted to upgrade to Win 11 24H2.So… a renewed machine that has TPM 2.0 and an 8th gen Intel CPU that comes with Win 10 Pro is the inexpensive way to get a “new” machine running Win 11 Pro 24H2.The Dell Optiplex 5060 I bought had 16GB of RAM (which I popped in the 64GB I had, same RAM) and an Intel i7-8700 and a 512GB SSD for $250, it came looking brand new, the only problem was whomever had set it up for the Win 10 Pro had it set for RAID in the UEFI/BIOS instead of AHCI like it should have been. Great running machine, I have Two 2TB SSDs and a 4TB Ironwolf spinning rust in it, which I’m about to pull that and put in an HGST 8TB. I put my Asus GTX 1650 4GB video card in, and an M.2 Intel BE200 WiFi 7 card in, and speeds to my router is 4.8Gbps and I’m able to saturate the bandwidth completely at speedtest, I pay for Gigabit service and speedtest at a little over 1.2Gbps. Yes I have an excellent WiFi 7 router, and the wired portion is all 2.5Gbps, because all the ports on the router are 2.5Gbps, so is my switch, so is my server, so are the two computers close that are wired in. The router is a TP-Link BE9300 Archer BE550, and it’s excellent and safe, keeps the firmware updated automatically, and is both the best and most expensive router I’ve ever had, but well worth the money.Microsoft can wave it’s flags all it wants, doesn’t stop reality though.I skirted around it when it first came out and have had no problems at all so shove it Micheal that is not gonna do anything 😠Linux may be a solution for some, but not most of the windows community. Yes, libre office is nice but not nearly the equivalent to office 365. I used to teach computer classes to 6-8 graders. I used libre office for a semester. It was a nightmare of incompatibilities. I had so many parent complaints that the principal asked me to go back to office. I used libre office as part of a lesson on USB sticks and running apps without installing them and making them portable. It is fine if you have never used office but if you are an officer user, it is not even comparable. Yes, you can game on Linux, but nothing with Linux is easy and not all games or gaming services support it. I run an Ubuntu server for my Plex server but other than that and the apps I use with Plex, I would not recommend Linux to anyone’s who is not technically literate. I actually like windows 10 and I like windows 11. I wish MSFT Wasn’t such a terrible company at testing and deploying updates. Rufus USB tool is your friend to install Windows on any PC compatible or notEven my Haswell based Lenovo M93 has TPM 2.0 (UEFI and Secure Boot too). Pre core i CPUs do not have SSE4.2 and won’t boot 24H2. Debian is my go to for those old boat anchors. But Linux is not the silver bullet some claim.Even if all cracks and ways fail there will be a virtual machine that will take the place 😅Well I have a computer that supports TPM however the chip is missing. I found that a copy made with Rufus would allow me to update to 24H.No problems, download a copy and installed it. Even have a copy on a USB to boot with and found its updated. Will run win11 until MS forces me to stop. I am a pensioner and can’t afford to bin a computer and buy a new one.You can use 0patch (paid and free versions) on previous Windows versions to get security updates without upgrading to Windows 11. I use it with Server 2012 and Windows 7, and it seems just fine. My daughter has a laptop for school with win11. It’s a laptop from 2024. I don’t like Microsoft having so much power to dictate users what hardware is usable and what not. Surely when this laptop reaches it’s 4th year Microsoft will claim it’s not supported anymore. As long the PC isn’t running unusable slow on any os there shouldn’t be a reason to upgrade the hardware. It’s unnecessary ewaste. But for other PCs in my house I installed Linux. My personal pc i recently moved from win10 to Mint and 2 other PCs Mint and Ubuntu as well. The second laptop we have is also on Mint. What should happen is in the software space is more support for Linux and some basic education platforms to make people more familiar with Linux. One or 2 distros for basic learning should be enough. It’s for the community and companies to decide what.Putting effort into this instead of something useful or helpful. No wonder each update is a downgrade.Microsoft acts like a bunch of mafiosi. Their software has always been of low quality. Windows 11 is of particularly poor quality like windows 8. Come mo Ms fix it so we can use 11I did this upgrade on an old laptop with no TPM years ago and have never run into any issue.I would reccomend people do the upgrade now, while it’s still possible. At some point MS could break all the methods.This is why I use Linux. I know it doesn’t cover everyone’s needs. But if you can use it you will love it.Try it.Or may be use linux 😆 at least no charges, and there is always a distro that can run my machine without begging for more H/W You don’t need Flyby or Rufus, simply install windows 11 Official ISO on windows 10 using the – product server flag. Worked like charm on a 6th gen Intel HP notebook Keep complainingBetter late than never.Its arguments don’t hold water.Will it ever really be the year of the Linux desktop?Microsoft will have to go its own wayMicrosoft needs a way to convince Windows 10 users to upgrade, and the 24H2 update may be it.
