Let's install Windows 11 on incompatible hardware

garlin · May 2, 2025

Paul Batard (Rufus) explained this before, there's only 3 true (and working) Bypass keys for a clean install.
The rest are entirely bogus, or don't work in real life.

Added bypass for cpu model and storage space check by Devnol · Pull Request #1791 · pbatard/rufus

This allows older unsupported machines with less than 64GB of storage (Windows 11 takes around 15 stock) and a CPU before 6th gen intel/2nd gen Ryzen to be able to run Windows 11. I'm assuming ...

github.com

Michael Niehaus:

Bypassing Windows 11 hardware requirements, revisited

As I stated previously, bypassing the Windows 11 hardware requirements can be done, but that doesn’t mean it’s a good idea. And I stand by that. But based on a couple of Twitter threads…

oofhours.com

But everyone keeps repeating the same fake news without actual testing.

Wolfie138 · May 2, 2025

not having much luck here - had a look around and found Flyby11: looked easy enough, so i got it, downloaded the 24h2 englishinternational ISO. and fired it off. when i get to the "keep your apps ans settings" stuff, it's greyed out, which they say means i've got teh wrong ISO :-/ well it's not, cos i've doible-checked and English UK is in my Region/Language etc.
why is it the "simplest" methods never seem to be?!

hsehestedt · May 2, 2025

One more thing: I used to use all 5 entries. I should give credit to @garlin for pointing out the 2 entries that are not needed.

hsehestedt · May 2, 2025

Wolfie138 said:
not having much luck here - had a look around and found Flyby11: looked easy enough, so i got it, downloaded the 24h2 englishinternational ISO. and fired it off. when i get to the "keep your apps ans settings" stuff, it's greyed out, which they say means i've got teh wrong ISO :-/ well it's not, cos i've doible-checked and English UK is in my Region/Language etc.
why is it the "simplest" methods never seem to be?!

I admit to not having tried Flyby11 so I have no idea how reliable it is. Have you tried Rufus? I know that this is the solution used by many here on this forum.

garlin · May 2, 2025

hsehestedt said:
I admit to not having tried Flyby11 so I have no idea how reliable it is. Have you tried Rufus? I know that this is the solution used by many here on this forum.

Everything from builtbybel is excessive UI candy built on top of a tiny command that actually does the real work...

Reviewing the source code, it's simply "setup.exe /product server".

Code:

                var startInfo = new ProcessStartInfo
                {
                    FileName = "powershell.exe",
                    Arguments = $"-NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Command \"Start-Process '{setupPath}' -ArgumentList '/product server' -Verb runas\"",
                    Verb = "runas",
                    UseShellExecute = true,
                    CreateNoWindow = false
                };

gy405 · May 2, 2025

Dear friends, there is even an easier way to install Windows 11. First you need to use IoT Enterprise edition (I know, you must use some "magic" to change your current Pro-based edition to it). After that, you can use a monthly Win11 ISO (it can be Consumer or Business), and even if you are in Windows 10 (like I was), it will automatically let you update to Windows 11. I didn't use any registry tweak nor Rufus.

About installing Win11 from scratch (Boot Menu in UEFI), you must use UUP Dump and some scripts to create a Custom Win11 ISO with IoT Enterprise edition enabled. And the Setup will never check any requirements.

damien76 · May 3, 2025

I have used Rufus 4.7 and I got to upgrade to Win 11 Pro 24H2 Build 26100.3775. Though now I have DISM error. Currently asking for assistance HERE. It was fine and there was no errors with DISM and sfc /scannow at first though.

spapakons · May 3, 2025

Wolfie138 said:
not having much luck here - had a look around and found Flyby11: looked easy enough, so i got it, downloaded the 24h2 englishinternational ISO. and fired it off. when i get to the "keep your apps ans settings" stuff, it's greyed out, which they say means i've got teh wrong ISO :-/ well it's not, cos i've doible-checked and English UK is in my Region/Language etc.
why is it the "simplest" methods never seem to be?!

It is probably a slimmed ISO for cleaning installation only. It misses the files necessary for a proper upgrade, hence it is grayed. Download the full ISO from Microsoft to upgrade.

spapakons · May 3, 2025

Regarding the Registry hack, I an not sure these two do nothing, they were in the original post I read in 2021. Even if they do nothing, I would include them just in case. Better safe than sorry. I don't have time to experiment.

PS: Most likely they are not needed in 24H2 since you must meet the SSE4.2 requirement anyway. Also in an average computer storage space is hardly too limited.

Wolfie138 · May 3, 2025

spapakons said:
It is probably a slimmed ISO for cleaning installation only. It misses the files necessary for a proper upgrade, hence it is grayed. Download the full ISO from Microsoft to upgrade.

it was from the MS site.

hsehestedt · May 3, 2025

spapakons said:
Regarding the Registry hack, I an not sure these two do nothing, they were in the original post I read in 2021. Even if they do nothing, I would include them just in case. Better safe than sorry. I don't have time to experiment.

Let me answer that for you: I install Windows sometimes up to 20 times a day although 5 to 10 times is more typical as I perform testing. While many of these are on compatible systems, I probably do unsupported hardware at least 5 times a week and I NEVER NEVER NEVER use those two entries.

Bottom line is that ever since I learned that from Garlin, I have a 100% success rate using entries without the 2 in question.

EDIT: Submitted post before I was done. I just wanted to finish by saying that you are absolutely right. You can include those and that will cause no harm. I'm just saying that I can tell you with 100 per cent certainty that you will never, ever, ever need those entries.

spapakons · May 3, 2025

I have created a batch file that patches the Registry automatically. I rarely open Registry Editor directly, so I don't mind for the extra keys.

hsehestedt · May 3, 2025

spapakons said:
I have created a batch file that patches the Registry automatically. I rarely open Registry Editor directly, so I don't mind for the extra keys.

Makes sense.

I have to admit that I was dubious at first as well. I removed those extra entries from all of my unattended answer files but I first made sure to make a backup of my existing files just in case those didn't work. Eventually I realized that it was just going to work fine every single time so I deleted the backup files.

spapakons · May 22, 2025

Apple is much worse than Microsoft...

I know that the SSE4.2 requirement for Windows 11 24H2 left out all Core 2 Duo PCs and laptops, but Apple is much worse. I recently wanted to experiment with Mac OS, so I tried to install Mac OS 14 Sonoma in VMware Workstation, only to realize that it requires AVX2 instructions (4th generation Intel Core and higher CPUs) and cannot run in my humble 3rd generation Core-i7 (AVX only). In fact the latest possible version is Mac OS 12 Monterey, so I installed that instead. However, this is the current minimum version which most applications require! In fact it doesn't even accept Microsoft Office 2024 (requires Mac OS 13 or higher). That means that Macs or "Hackintoshes" with earlier than 4th generation CPU are all excluded from Mac OS 13 or higher and already face compatibility issues with applications, while Windows 11 24H2 can be installed in all 64-bit systems from 1st generation Core and newer and can run almost any application for Windows XP and newer. So don't complain, Apple is much worse than Microsoft!

Davidoo · May 24, 2025

Bree said:
My unsupported System Two has been running Windows 11 since October 2021 and is now on 24H2. It has received all the cumulative updates, same as any supported device would, but was never offered any of the feature updates to the next version. Each one had to be manually installed, most as an in-place upgrade with an ISO and a workaround. The exception to the rule was the 22H2>23H2 update, which was simply a matter of manually installing the small enablement package (no workaround needed). Apparently 25H2 is expected to be another enablement package upgrade.

I'm not familiar with what you mean by "enablement package." I have an unsupported laptop that does have SSE4.2, so I have easily moved to 23H2 and 24H2 by using the /product server command with a USB mounted ISO. Is an enablement package easier than that? Thanks!

RFS · May 24, 2025

Davidoo said:
I'm not familiar with what you mean by "enablement package." I have an unsupported laptop that does have SSE4.2, so I have easily moved to 23H2 and 24H2 by using the /product server command with a USB mounted ISO. Is an enablement package easier than that? Thanks!

With 22H2, all the new stuff was gradually installed via monthly updates but disabled. 23H2 was then just an enablement package, the installation of which simply enabled the new functions without actually having to install any new software. Hence it was very quick to do. It is believed that 25H2 will also be a simple enablement package, compared to 24H2 that was in effect a complete re-install.

Davidoo · May 24, 2025

RFS said:
With 22H2, all the new stuff was gradually installed via monthly updates but disabled. 23H2 was then just an enablement package, the installation of which simply enabled the new functions without actually having to install any new software. Hence it was very quick to do. It is believed that 25H2 will also be a simple enablement package, compared to 24H2 that was in effect a complete re-install.

Thanks, that makes sense, but how do you actually get it to show 25H2 in those circumstances? I had 23H2 and all the updates for months, but just recently I got my system specs to show 24H2 only when I updated with the ISO. Are you saying it would have eventually showed 24H2 without running the ISO?

garlin · May 24, 2025

When an Enablement Package is installed, it will update the release name and version number. Uninstalling the EP disables all the new features, and reverts the version info. It’s like an “unlock” code.

RFS · May 24, 2025

The 24H2 updates were not pre-installed on 23H2 in disabled mode, so you will not have got to 24H2 level until you installed the ISO. Some of 25H2 may already be installed on our 24H2 systems in disabled state, but we won't see them until they are eanbled by the 25H2 feature.

Wynona · May 24, 2025

I am so glad I lucked out and all my computers are Windows 11 enabled. Yay!

Although I did my share of jumping through hoops for my students! Whew!

Let's install Windows 11 on incompatible hardware

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