Microsoft does and doesn't want you to know it won't stop you manually installing Windows 11 on older PCs
- Reference: 1630095912
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2021/08/27/windows_11_iso_install/
- Source link:
The Redmond giant is [1]under fire for the stringent hardware [2]requirements of its upcoming operating system, due to be formally released by the end of the year.
To be officially supported by Windows 11, machines will need TPM 2.0 support; an eighth-generation or newer Intel Core processor, a Zen 2 or newer AMD processor, or a suitable Qualcomm system-on-chip; UEFI Secure Boot; at least 4GB of RAM; and a minimum of 64GB of storage. That means you need a fairly recent computer.
[3]
In an [4]announcement on Friday, Microsoft slightly expanded that processor compatibility list to include Intel's Core X series and Xeon W series, and for some specific devices, Intel's Core i7 7820HQ, which is found in Microsoft's Surface Studio 2. In other words, no, Redmond essentially isn't easing up on the installation restrictions.
[5]
[6]
But what it doesn't want to say out loud is that these hardware requirements will only be enforced if you upgrade from Windows 10 to Windows 11 through Windows Update. If you remain within the Windows Insider program, or install the OS manually from an ISO file using Microsoft's Media Creation Tool, the hardware checks will not be performed, and your older PC will not be blocked from running the operating system.
[7]Start or Please Stop? Power users mourn features lost in Windows 11 'simplification'
[8]Razer ponders how to fix installer that grants admin powers if you plug in a mouse
[9]Microsoft approved a Windows driver booby-trapped with rootkit malware
[10]Google isn't saying Microsoft security sucks but Chrome for Windows has its own antivirus
This ability to sidestep the Windows 11 requirements is not in today's announcement, though [11]selected [12]journos were tipped off about the loophole.
If you run Windows 11 on non-supported hardware, you're on your own without any support or sympathy from Redmond: Microsoft claims "devices that do meet the minimum system requirements had a 99.8% crash free experience," and those that did not "had 52% more kernel mode crashes."
To us, it appears Microsoft does want some people to know that they can try to use Windows 11 on their PCs, regardless of the hardware requirements, and at the same time, it does not want to openly condone the use of its OS on unsupported machines as it's too much faff for the super-corp. Similarly, you can use the ISO install route to put and activate Windows 10 on your PC using a Windows 7 or newer product key, another little detail Microsoft doesn't promote.
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Redmond also said it's polished up its PC Health Check app, used to determine whether or not your system meets Windows 11's demands, so that it doesn't suck quite as much. The software, which confused people with its warnings, was pulled, and will be re-released to the public in the next few weeks. Windows Insiders can already fetch and install it.
"We missed an opportunity to provide clarity and accuracy through the PC Health Check app," the Windows team said today. "This updated version expands the eligibility check functionality with more complete and improved messaging on eligibility and links to relevant support articles that include potential remediation steps."
The IT giant claimed it set the requirements of Windows 11 to improve driver reliability; improve security by, among other things, encouraging password-less authentication and using virtualization to protect the kernel, access credentials, and suchlike; and improve stability by narrowing the range of supported equipment.
[14]
No one at Microsoft was willing to comment further. ®
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[1] https://www.theregister.com/2021/06/28/microsoft_windows_11_insider_preview_released/
[2] https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/windows-11-specifications
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YSlgmzmrCAp64oWaTBb3LAAAAAQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[4] https://blogs.windows.com/windows-insider/2021/08/27/update-on-windows-11-minimum-system-requirements-and-the-pc-health-check-app/
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YSlgmzmrCAp64oWaTBb3LAAAAAQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YSlgmzmrCAp64oWaTBb3LAAAAAQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2021/08/26/windows_11_user_feedback/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2021/08/23/security_in_brief/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2021/06/28/microsoft_malware_signing/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2017/10/16/chrome_for_windows_malware/
[11] https://www.thurrott.com/windows/windows-11/254865/microsoft-keeps-windows-11-hardware-requirements-but-will-placate-enthusiasts
[12] https://www.theverge.com/22644194/microsoft-windows-11-minimum-system-requirements-processors-changes
[13] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YSlgmzmrCAp64oWaTBb3LAAAAAQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[14] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YSlgmzmrCAp64oWaTBb3LAAAAAQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[15] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Works for me
I upgraded my anemic Dell XPS, and Windows 11 runs as snappily as 10 did. Compared with upgrading, say, Linux Mint across major versions, it was a very straightforward experience.
Re: Works for me
When you say upgraded do you mean an traditional upgrade from Windows 10 or a clean install using an ISO ?
There are 20 XPS in a cupboard at work and I would like to see W11 running natively on older hardware.
Cheers
At least Microsoft's hardware requirements are not as arduous or as expensive as Apple's.
Good news!
Because if I ever have an upgrade from Windows 10 to Windows 11, I'd damn sure be doing a clean install anyway and not trusting Windows Update.
Crashes?
52% higher crashes sounds bad.
But then you realise that this takes it from 99.8% to no worse than 99.6%. Hardly an issue really, and most of it boils down to "older computers have more reliability issues", rather than any specific defect in the silicon.
Typical MS putting a stupid spin on it to try and justify a daft restriction...
Re: Crashes?
The stock market graphs pull the same shenanigans. A week ago my wife and I were checking out a stock price and, when the page showed the graph, my wife said "Oh my goodness, it's tanking !".
I then pointed out to her that the graph minimum was 550, the graph maximum was 565, and the stock had gone from 562 to 554. That is a 1.4% drop.
But, on the graph, the fall was impressive.
Back in the day, nVidia did the same on its benchmarks to suggest it was seriously overperforming AMD cards. You'd look at the graph and think "wow, that nVidia card is at least 25% more powerful". But if you checked the y-axis values, you'd realize that there was, at best, a 3% difference.
And I'm pretty sure nVidia was hardly the one who invented that.
Restrictions
I have no intention of upgrading in the forseeable future but the first hurdle were I to relent is the requirement for a M$ account. I don't have one and never will.
Explain to me why I should upgrade
I'm a bit dense, I'll admit, but so far I've not seen a compelling reason to change to Windows 11. It seems to do less with more.
I might be an old curmudgeon who's happy with my Celeron or whatever but actually I was thinking of getting new machines but I'm completely put off by modern versions of Windows. I changed from 7 to 10 and have regretted it ever since -- its not that I'm against progress but there has to be something in there that works better than it did before and I've yet to find it. (Actually, on the upgraded system all sorts of things stopped working -- it became a sort of lottery to figure out on which Tuesday things that stopped working would start or vice versa. I fixed the problem in the short term by installing Linux.)(and I don't mean WSL, either)
I'm not surprised
They've done the same thing with every version since Vista to push new hardware and panic adoption. Publish absolute requirements, and for Windows 10 an immutable deadline... but also just ignore that if you go ahead and try anyway, as long as it meets whatever bare minimums it was compiled for (like SSE2 capable or whatever).
I've met so many people who think you can't still upgrade Win7 to Win10, despite the fact that they never actually took the ability away, they just told people it would end on that date to drive panic adoption.