One person's results installing Win 11 (final) on really old hardware

One of my machines that I never attempted to install Win 11 on during the Beta, is a pretty old one.

It runs a 4th Gen intel i7, but it's fairly well equipped otherwise. The TPM module is older (version 1.2, not 2.0), but is has an SSD as the boot drive, 32GB RAM, UEFI BIOS, and supports secure boot. So, just for grins, I thought I would see what happens.

Preparation

That machine performs an image backup every night, so I was good for backups. To take it one step further, I did an export of all drivers to a thumb drive, and it turns out that this was a good move.

Installation

I performed a clean install from a thumb drive, and during the installation there was not a hint of a problem anywhere. Everything went smoothly. I was encouraged when I went into Windows updates after installation, and it did at least over me a couple minor security related updates.

BitLocker - a bad idea.

I always encrypt my entire C: drive, so I did the same here. The encryption went fine and I even rebooted a couple times after that with no problem. That's when I encountered something really odd. I disconnected my keyboard and monitor because I run this machine headless - I simply remote desktop to it when needed. However, on the next boot I found I could not connect to it. I attached a monitor and found that it was asking for my BitLocker recovery key. I supplied that, and all was okay, even after reboots, until I again disconnected monitor and keyboard. Same problem. So, for now, I decrypted the drive for further investigation at a later time.

One missing driver

There was one item in Device Manager listed an SMBus controller that showed an error. Letting Windows search the Internet for a driver yielded no positive results. So, I pointed to my thumb drive with backed up drivers, and just like that I no longer have any indications of hardware faults.

After hammering on it for a few hours now, we're looking good so far.

Summary

I'm not saying that this is the route everyone should be taking. I am under no illusion that what I am doing is sane, or even a supported procedure. I merely thought it would be an interesting experiment, and so far, it seems to actually be a fairly successful one. I'll continue to abuse this poor machine over the coming days and weeks to see if I can find any current flaws, but I'm pretty happy with how this little test went. Was expecting far worse.

Hello Hshestedt,

I'm back on the forums, just wondering if you tried this tool from Intel for your driver issue. SMBus Controller Not Recognized by Windows* not sure if this is updated for 11 yet, keep a eye for optional or driver updates through WU.

Best,

Shawnloveshorses

Shawnlovehorses said:

Hello Hshestedt,

I'm back on the forums, just wondering if you tried this tool from Intel for your driver issue. SMBus Controller Not Recognized by Windows* not sure if this is updated for 11 yet, keep a eye for optional or driver updates through WU.

Best,

Shawnloveshorses

Click to expand...

Thanks for the suggestion, much appreciated. So, it turns out that this is exactly what I did when I installed Windows 10. Then, I exported those drivers. So, effectively, when point to those backed up drives, I doing basically the same thing in a bit of a round-about way.

But I like your suggestion. I will likely do yet another clean install soon because in my early experiments with new machines I tend to really mess things up (on purpose). I'll probably grab those drivers to make sure I have the very latest.

Thanks again!

Have you tried contacting Windows Support?

Shawnlovehorses said:

Have you tried contacting Windows Support?

Click to expand...

Not sure I understood the question. Contact support for what? The BitLocker issue? Why would I do that? I already noted I've not done any troubleshooting yet and that I am on a completely unsupported configuration. No, MS support will not be a option for this issue. I was Microsoft Technical Support for over a decade. If I was the one receiving that call I would have laughed you off the phone in 2 seconds.

Just kidding, not really, but you get my point.

hsehestedt said:

Not sure I understood the question. Contact support for what? The BitLocker issue? Why would I do that? I already noted I've not done any troubleshooting yet and that I am on a completely unsupported configuration. No, MS support will not be a option for this issue. I was Microsoft Technical Support for over a decade. If I was the one receiving that call I would have laughed you off the phone in 2 seconds.

Just kidding, not really, but you get my point.

Click to expand...

They can help you with your bit-locker, you should try some troubleshooting, all the steps are on Microsoft website for 11, also windows support will help you though.

Though everyone here at the forums will love to help you too :)

I just usually go for support since they can help me :)

Shawn

hsehestedt said:

I was Microsoft Technical Support for over a decade. If I was the one receiving that call I would have laughed you off the phone in 2 seconds.

Just kidding, not really, but you get my point.

Click to expand...

Well, at least that would be better than giving a stupidly wrong answer that some people have gotten from MS Support.

NavyLCDR said:

Well, at least that would be better than giving a stupidly wrong answer that some people have gotten from MS Support.

Click to expand...

I never had any issues with support, they are always so nice to me, and I always get my issue solved. If not, it is the forums, :)

You saw that I was kidding, right? My point was simply that I would be embarrassed to go to Microsoft and ask them to fix something that was

1) Clearly unsupported.
2) Where I had made zero effort to diagnose the problem myself yet.

Invariably, one of the first question asked would be "what have you tried so far to resolve the issue?".

Nevertheless, I appreciate the suggestion. Thanks for trying to help.

In the meantime, since my original post about my experiment on this machine, I thought I'd push it yet once again. Installed 11 on a laptop with a 6th gen CPU. That machine at least has a TPM 2.0 module. That one worked flawlessly. Everything, including BitLocker, seems to work just fine on that machine so far.

I'm merely experimenting at this point to see what can and cannot be done.

hsehestedt said:

You saw that I was kidding, right? My point was simply that I would be embarrassed to go to Microsoft and ask them to fix something that was

1) Clearly unsupported.
2) Where I had made zero effort to diagnose the problem myself yet.

Invariably, one of the first question asked would be "what have you tried so far to resolve the issue?".

Nevertheless, I appreciate the suggestion. Thanks for trying to help.

In the meantime, since my original post about my experiment on this machine, I thought I'd push it yet once again. Installed 11 on a laptop with a 6th gen CPU. That machine at least has a TPM 2.0 module. That one worked flawlessly. Everything, including BitLocker, seems to work just fine on that machine so far.

I'm merely experimenting at this point to see what can and cannot be done.

Click to expand...

Oh sorry Hsehestedt, I didn't notice you mentioned 6th gen, I am sorry my bad. Well they would still help you though anyways there is a ELeven Fourms for a reason to have each other to help : )

Shawnlovehorses said:

Oh sorry Hsehestedt, I didn't notice you mentioned 6th gen, I am sorry my bad. Well they would still help you though anyways there is a ELeven Fourms for a reason to have each other to help : )

Click to expand...

Yeah, in my first post I was talking about a 4th gen desktop PC. Now I added a 6th gen mobile into the mix :)

You are 100% correct. I've learned tons from these forums and consider them an invaluable asset.