Let's install Windows 11 on incompatible hardware

This is a great thread that keeps evolving.

Installing Windows 11 24H2 on Apple M3...

Hello!

As you may know, BootCamp is not available on new Macs with Apple Silicon. The alternative is to install Windows on Parallels or VMWare Fusion. My friend had an old version of Parallels, 18, which is incompatible with Windows 11 24H2. So we chose to install Windows 11 and it started downloading directly from Microsoft. After the initial installation it restarted and we got a BSOD "Inaccessible Boot Device". To fix that we had to download the latest Parallels version 19. Once we updated to the latest version installation was OK. However, as I understand this is the ARM64 version of Windows 11 and I am not sure if he can play any of his games or other applications. We will see... Anyone that can shed some light on what applications and games play or not play on ARM64?

Upgrading an old 6th generation laptop from Windows 11 22H2 directly to 24H2

I visited my parents for the weekend, so I had the oppurtunity to upgrade my father's unsupported HP 15-ac117nv notebook (P/N: T1F76EA#AB7), with Intel Core-i5 6200U 2.4GHz (6th generation), 8GB RAM, Intel HD 520 & AMD Raden R5 M330 dual graphics, Patriot Burst Elite 480GB SSD. I disabled all non-Microsoft Services and all startup applications and restarted to take effect. I then enabled Flight mode to be disconnected from the internet during the whole process, I mounted the Windows 11 24H2 ISO and I used the setup /product server command to bypass compatibility check. The upgrade was sucessful, but after the final restart I got the infamous black screen. After wating for some time, it finally occured to me that I hadn't updated the old version of Explorer Patcher to the new version and File Explorer kept crashing! No panic, I am an expert user, all I had to do is download the latest version of Explorer Patcher and install it. I pressed CTRL+ALT+DEL to get the list of options and loaded Task Manager. I then clicked on New task and executed msedge to load Microsoft Edge. However, I forgot one little detail... I had no internet since I was in Flight Mode! No sweat! I downloaded the latest version of Explorer Patcher using my father's desktop PC, copied it to a USB flash drive and then could run it from there at the laptop. Ta-da! Now I could access the desktop, reconnect to the internet, update the AMD graphics drivers to the latest version, just in case, and run Windows Update to install the rest updates. As with every major upgrades all my customizations were gone, so I had to customize the system icons again etc, but I think you now that already all of you that also customize stuff on your Windows system. I then enabled all of those I had disabled and everything is OK. No issues except the known bug of the disappearing search icon because I run both Explorer Patcher and Open Shell.

PS: I tried to upgrade the Intel graphics drivers, but I got the annoying message that this is a custom driver and I must download the new version from HP. I visited HP's support site and I could not find any downloads for this specific model! I couldn't even select the Windows version just in case I could find drivers for earlier Windows versions. I tried the Greek, the UK and the USA support site, all stated no drivers are available for this model! Anyone that can provide me a link to the drivers is welcome. I would like to avoid third-party solutions such as Snappy Driver Installer, don't tell me one of those, please.

on the first weekend of December 2024, I did get a chance to try out Win11 24H2 on my custom built PC with an AMD Socket AM3+ Gigabyte board (AMD FX 6300 cpu, 8GB of DDR3 RAM) and with an old Western Digital 160Gb [WD1600BB] IDE/PATA HDD (not an SSD; try installing & running 24H2 on an HDD instead of an SSD if that HP 15-ac117nv laptop pc can accommodate a legacy style Sata notebook hard disk drive, spapakons - hah!)

I created a 24h2 usb install media using Rufus 4.6 Portable, and use that to upgrade my custom built PC from Win11 RTM/21H2 (build 22000) to Win11 24H2 (build 26100). upgrade went through without any problems, even though the upgrade took almost 2 hours (again, the PC is using an HDD, not SSD so I expected it to be kinda slow). and since the Gigabyte board uses AMD AM3+ cpus, the integrated graphics driver is of course, AMD/ATI (actually uses ATI Radeon 3000 graphics).


as for your intel graphics driver problem, spapakons - did you read this?

you can't directly "update" your intel display drivers if an OEM or manufacturer based "customized" driver is installed. you have to completely remove/uninstall it (using Wagnardsoft's Display Driver Uninstaller tool - that's what this app is there for), reboot and then "clean" install a new version (likely perhaps a "generic" non-custom graphics driver) from scratch. and then use something like Wumgr or wushowhide.diagcab to hide/block any offered intel display driver updates from Microsoft.

I had such problems with old intel graphics drivers on a Dell based 2007 laptop where I can't update the display driver because it was a custom Dell based Intel display driver. I had to uninstall it completely and then "clean" install an updated one.

I don't think it will make any difference if I completely remove the custom driver using DDU. However, I posted this issue to HP forums and I got the reply that although there are no drivers or other downloads available for this specific "home" HP model, I can download and use the respective drivers and even some older versions of the BIOS of the respective "Pro" model, the HP 250 G4. It is my father's laptop, so I cannot test that immediately, I will have to wait until my next visit on Sunday. However, I would avoid installing any other driver since they are working OK, I will try to update only the custom Intel graphics driver. In the unlikely case that this doesn't work, I will try your suggestion to completely remove the graphics driver with DDU and try to install the official Intel driver. Thanks.

Today is 12/15/2024.

Microsoft posted an update on 12/12/2024

zbook said:

Today is 12/15/2024.

Microsoft posted an update on 12/12/2024

Click to expand...

Do you see any difference for the hardware specs on the latest update?

There is no change in the hardware requirements.

Hi,
Trying to upgrade my Lenovo G50-70 to win11 - to see if I can.
Thought I'd use the flyby11 script using the windows server install method.

However the install gets to 31% and stops.
I've tried repeatedly and it's always the same.

On googling the issue there is talk that uninstalling the Conexant audio devices from device manager sorts it. But not for me.

The scanresult.xml file in the panther directory has 2 lines that bothered me:
<DriverPackage Inf="oem185.inf" BlockMigration="True" HasSignedBinaries="False"/>
<DriverPackage Inf="oem184.inf" BlockMigration="True" HasSignedBinaries="False"/>
One is XPS document writer, the other is Print to PDF.
I removed both from device manager but no difference.

setuperrlog contains:
2024-12-21 18:12:13, Error [0x0808ff] MIG COutOfProcPluginFactory::CreateInstance: m_currentHostSurrogate->LoadDllServer(C:\$WINDOWS.~BT\Sources\ReplacementManifests\Microsoft-Windows-RasServer-MigPlugin\RasMigPlugin.dll, {D26AA4A5-92AD-48DB-8D59-95EF0DCE6939}, 1) failed, hr=[0x8007007f].
2024-12-21 18:12:13, Error [0x080387] MIG Failure while calling IDiscovery->Discover for Plugin={ServerPath="Microsoft-Windows-RasServer-MigPlugin\RasMigPlugin.dll", CLSID={D26AA4A5-92AD-48DB-8D59-95EF0DCE6939}, ThreadingModel=Apartment, ExceptionHandling=Default}. Error: 0x8007007F

Don't know if it is important or how to resolve.

Winsetupmon.log seems to indicate and endless list of I think duplicates of DELTRACK and MVTRACK

2024-12-21 18:57:07, DELTRACK PATH: C:\Users\Kevin\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Recent\zero saints wide 3.MXF.lnk, PROCESS: \Device\HarddiskVolume5\Windows\explorer.exe
2024-12-21 18:57:10, DELTRACK PATH: C:\Users\Kevin\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Recent\WinSetupMon.log.lnk, PROCESS: \Device\HarddiskVolume5\Windows\explorer.exe
2024-12-21 18:57:10, DELTRACK PATH: C:\Users\Kevin\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Recent\Panther.lnk, PROCESS: \Device\HarddiskVolume5\Windows\explorer.exe

(those are the last but I've left it for 30 mins and it seems to be just repeating.

I have the logs if it helps but they are large!

Now I know this is unsupported and maybe I should just give up....but I wondered if anyone might help.
At the moment I am upgrading - as I do want to keep the accounts and apps and data. If I did a clean install am I likely to hit the same problem?

Any steer most helpful

Thanks

Kevblack78 said:

Any steer most helpful

Click to expand...

Don't you want to try it - ORM-Insider Used it. It helped me.

All you need is to download the latest Windows 11 ISO and DISCONNECT from the internet during the upgrade. This is to make sure Windows Update won't mess with your working drivers and it won't install any updates that might cause BSOD before successfully upgrading to the latest Windows 11 version. To be on the safe side, I also disable all startup applications, non-Microsoft services and of course any third-party antivirus and antimalware during the upgrade. No need to repeat the steps in detail again, read my earlier posts.

spapakons, you could try the Win10 legacy drivers from AMD. Direct download link:

I always search and download the appropriate drivers for the given AMD model. Are you sure the Legacy drivers are compatible with the specific model? Even if they are, maybe a there is a newer driver for some models. Same with nVidia and Intel. I don't just download any driver and hope to work. I search by the model (or CPU for onboard graphics) and download the latest compatible driver.

spapakons said:

All you need is to download the latest Windows 11 ISO and DISCONNECT from the internet during the upgrade. This is to make sure Windows Update won't mess with your working drivers and it won't install any updates that might cause BSOD before successfully upgrading to the latest Windows 11 version. To be on the safe side, I also disable all startup applications, non-Microsoft services and of course any third-party antivirus and antimalware during the upgrade. No need to repeat the steps in detail again, read my earlier posts.

Click to expand...

Hi
Thanks for this. Can you help me understand how that fixes my "stall". And if there's a driver problem and the install completes when offline will there not be problems later? I've tried to track down your earlier post you refer to but have failed...
Cheers

It was too many posts back, here is the direct link: Let's install Windows 11 on incompatible hardware

Is it 24H2 much harder to trick than 23H2? What is the most recommended approach to install Windows 11 24H2 for non tech savvy?

alicebencc said:

Is it 24H2 much harder to trick than 23H2? What is the most recommended approach to install Windows 11 24H2 for non tech savvy?

Click to expand...

It's much Harder now but as long as your cpu instructions 4.2 your good as with using Rufus and check the stuff once you select the ISO then start (a pop up will appear)

Upgrade is trickier than clean installation. If you have a backup of your data and you don't mind deleting the disk and doing a clean installation (aka format and install), then create a patched USB with Rufus and boot your computer with it to install. It cannot get any easier.

I find Flyby to work for upgrade process

Rufus update from 23H2 to 24H2 struggle.
0xc1900101 - 0x40017

After doing everything hinted at over a 3 day span all ending up in above screen, I finally found the utility that pointed me to the the leftover driver files causing trouble.
System done in-place updates since Win7, but using DriverStoreExplorer (Rapr.exe) did not du the trick. Ended up deleting everything it listed. Did not help.
So, I read about a Microsoft utility that lists unsupported drivers, which also prevents Core Isolation to be enabled.
Running this in a Admin shell will list drivers that needs to be manually deleted:


After getting a clean scan as above, the 23H2 to 24H2 update went smoothly.
Hint. The content of the Rufus stick can simply be copied onto a SSD folder for faster turnaround times.