Let's install Windows 11 on incompatible hardware

ThrashZone its a​

HP 110-414 Desktop PC​

8GB memory
1 TB hard drive

Have you tried this method? I had luck with it using it several times on old desktops. And it's easy too.

Remember the Windows Experience Index (WEI) from Windows Vista and 7? This was a performance score which is supposed to guide you buying games and other demanding applications. It was present at the original Windows 8 but since 8.1 it is hidden and no longer shown in System Properties. You can calculate it and see it using Winaero's WEI tool. I ran this tool with the default power settings (Balanced) in my main computer (see 2nd PC specs) and the score was 4.8 due to low graphics performance of my Asus Geforce GT 620 1GB card. Then I enabled the Ultimate Performance plan (force CPU turbo boost constantly on, avoid any delays, never sleep) and switched to it. I ran the tool again and this time the score was improved to 5.1 So if you have a desktop or a laptop with a damaged battery that you don't care drawing more energy, enable and use the Ultimate Power plan. You will see an improvement in your performance, unless your CPU has no turbo mode and already works at max.

spapakons said:

It was present at the original Windows 8 but since 8.1 it is hidden and no longer shown in System Properties. You can calculate it and see it using Winaero's WEI tool.

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It is also possible to calculate it without any 3rd-party tool.

Yes, if I remember correctly, you can also get the score from command prompt (aka Windows terminal), but I prefer a visual tool such as Winaero's. This score is not very useful for buying games, but it is a comparison between computers or between Windows versions on the same hardware.

Compatibility report: Windows Media Center for Windows 8/10 installed and working successfully in Windows 11! So if you need to use the good old Windows Media Center (control Windows with a remote control, play and share all your media files) from Windows Vista and Windows 7, there is a modified installation that installs WMC in Windows 10 and 11. I don't remember where I had downloaded from, sorry. Just Google it.

still nice performance on vmware

Compatibility Report: Direct upgrade from Windows 8.1 to Windows 11!

Hello!

A friend asked me to upgrade his two laptops to Windows 11. The newer laptop ran Windows 10 64-bit, so I naturally made sure all drivers are updated and no conflicting application runs (such as third party antivirus). I started Windows Setup and at the first screen, before proceeding I deleted the file C:\Windows~BT\sources\appreserres.dll from setup cache to bypass compatibility check. Setup upgraded Windows 10 to 11 withing minutes, as the laptop is fast (Intel Core-i7, 8GB RAM, SSD).

I then switched on the second laptop (Core 2 Duo, 4GB RAM) and I realized it runs Windows 8.1! I removed any conflicting application, made sure all drivers are updated and decided to try to upgrade Windows 8.1 directly to Windows 11, without upgrading to 10 first. I started Windows Setup again, deleted the file C:\Windows~BT\sources\appreserres.dll from setup cache to bypass compatibility check and clicked on next. I expected to see an error that I cannot upgrade to 11 directly and offered a clean installation, in which case I would upgrade to 10 first. Surprisingly enough I was offered to upgrade directly from Windows 8.1 to 11 keeping all my friend's data and applications, so I proceeded! So far it has completed 18% because it is very slow, but I will report back when complete!

So you cannot upgrade directly from Windows 7 to 11, but you can upgrade from 8.1 to 11! If I ever get the chance I will try to see if you also can upgrade directly from Windows 8 (not 8.1) to 11, but I bet you must first upgrade to 8.1 or 10. Needless to say that all Windows Vista/7/8/10 64-bit drivers also work in Windows 11 so no worries here.

spapakons said:

So you cannot upgrade directly from Windows 7 to 11, but you can upgrade from 8.1 to 11!

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Thank you, that is good to know. I guess that's allowed because W8.1 is still in support, while W7 isn't.

I will try to see if you also can upgrade directly from Windows 8 (not 8.1) to 11, but I bet you must first upgrade to 8.1 or 10.

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That would be my bet too, W8.0 is also out of support now.

Direct upgrade from Windows 8.1 Pro 64-bit to Windows 11 Pro completed successfully, so far I haven't seen any issues. All drivers of Windows 8 or newer also work in 11.

I remember a hack, that you modify a specific .INI file (sources\cversion.ini) with the minimum acceptable Windows build in order to upgrade from a preview or RC version to RTM or newer (normally not allowed in Windows 7 8 and 10). What if we could use this hack to change the minimum acceptable Windows build so you can upgrade directly from Windows 8.0 or even 7 to Windows 11? It's worth checking... I'll install Windows 7 on a virtual machine and try it...

Update: Tried it on a spare disk. I installed Windows 7 64-bit and then modified sources\cversion.ini so both values are 7601 (Windows 7 SP1 build number). I started Setup, deleted the C:\Windows~BT\sources\appraiserres.dll file to bypass compatibility check and eventually I was either allow to keep my data only or nothing (clean installation). The reason stated was that my current Windows version was different from the one I'm trying to install (the same message when trying to upgrade Home to Pro or different languages). So it is official, you cannot upgrade directly from 7 to 11, you have to install 8.1 or 10 first, preferably 10 to maximise compatibility.

PS: The ultimate upgrade, if you want to keep all screensavers, games and apps from older Windows, you go from Windows XP x64 to Vista 64-bit, to 7 64-bit, to 10 64-bit and eventually to 11 64-bit (just kidding, haven't done it. I once installed Windows 95, Plus for 95, Windows 98 and then Plus for 98 to keep all games and screensavers).

Bree said:

It is also possible to calculate it without any 3rd-party tool.

Get Windows Experience Index (WEI) Score in Windows 10

How to Get Windows Experience Index (WEI) Score in Windows 10

www.tenforums.com

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yes by typing "winsat formal" in the cmd prompt which I usually do, even from the Vista/Win7/Win8x days

dbartenstein said:

I was able to install yesterday on an old Dell E6410. MBR drive, unsupported CPU, No TPM, No SecureBoot. Used an ISO from about a month ago and them ran Update to the latest build after the install. Easy-peasy using the Regedit fix when you get the incompatible message.

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though MS silently released revised Win11 ISOs in late Nov. 2021 containing build 22000.318 (which is more stable) instead of 22000.194 (which this one felt kinda buggy). things seem to be more stable from .318 onwards. the Win11 ISO download page and the MCT in late November, downloaded the .318 build - installed that one on an old HP computer with an AMD Phenom II X4 cpu w/ 8gb of RAM (and a 250Gb SATA HDD [not SSD]) and running well

Who knows what incompatible hardware is? I have just had Microsoft telling me that an AMD Athlon 3000G isn't currently supported, on the pc that I loaded W10 on today. I sometimes think they might be ideots.

As I have said on another thread, the requirements for UEFI, Secure Boot and TPM 2.0 are done deliberately to force us upgrade our computers or buy new. Thanks God we can bypass compatibility check and install Windows 11 on any computer compatible with Windows 8/10 64-bit even the first generation Pentium 4 64-bit (model 6xx socket 775). I remember a similar situation with Windows Vista that early adopters rushed to buy new graphics cards with WDDM drivers while later was revealed they could use their old card with Windows XP drivers (XPDM). History repeats itself.

spapakons said:

As I have said on another thread, the requirements for UEFI, Secure Boot and TPM 2.0 are done deliberately to force us upgrade our computers or buy new.

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Well maybe as that's been a well beaten path as a sop from MS to hardware manufacturers since day one. I've had it running on an i7 7 series CPU since day one with no problems although there's nothing new in 11 that I want/need. My main rig which is 11 compatible is running 10 until MS release something with 11 that is a benefit (to me).

There's always the possibility that at some stage in the future MS may stop the updates to the non-compatible machines. No one knows but irrespective I'm sure those that want to continue running 11 will find a way round it.

That's why I cloned my Windows 10 SSD, so I can anytime backup my latest data and then return to Windows 10.

What about installing Windows 11 for Arm64 on a tablet?

Hello, I am not sure if Raspberry Pi is officially supported by Microsoft, but I found this guide: How to Install Windows 11/ 10 on Raspberry Pi

This is specific to Raspberry hardware. Is there any guide to install Windows 11 Arm64 to any Arm64 tablet with at least 2GB RAM? Has anyone done it?

Mackie, thank you ! I tried your link & it worked perfectly ! I have installed W 11 on 4 computers ! Works great & was easy to follow !!
Chuck

Hi, yesterday I updated my PC to win11. It's a Lenovo All-in-one with AMD ryzen 5 2400GE with Radeon Vega Graphics 3.20 GHz with 8 Go RAM
and it works perfectly

mackie,
tried that but didn't work on my DellXPS-8500. Install completed but stated system returned to win10 with error message. Next day on boot... nothing, screen blank, pressing F2 or F12 couldn't get into BIOS screen. 0xc1900101-0x20017 search comes up with driver error/issue. no lose it's second PC used in my shop.