Criteria For Determining Upgrade Viability

tonightwetaco · Dec 4, 2021

21H2

Hello. My laptop computer does not meet the minimum requirements for Windows 11. I am however, confused. Yes the laptop is old but I play graphic intensive games on it and use Zoom chats with dozens and dozens of people without a hitch. I find it really hard to believe that Windows 11 will have issues. Appreciate the help understanding.

AddRAM · Dec 4, 2021

It may not have any issues at all, but Microsoft will not be responsible if anything happens to your laptop.
Make a image of W10 and install W11 if you want. There are plenty of Tutorials here on how to install W11 on unsupported hardware.
But the risk is entirely yours. Personally, I would remove your W10 drive and install W11 on another drive.
W11 will activate on its own, so don`t worry about that.
Good Luck.

tonightwetaco · Dec 4, 2021

AddRAM said:
It may not have any issues at all, but Microsoft will not be responsible if anything happens to your laptop.
Make a image of W10 and install W11 if you want. There are plenty of Tutorials here on how to install W11 on unsupported hardware.
But the risk is entirely yours.

thanks! What is the risk then? So its not just a graphics risk?

AddRAM · Dec 4, 2021

You may not get updates.

tonightwetaco · Dec 4, 2021

AddRAM said:
You may not get updates.

wow, that's pretty disgusting

davewin11 · Dec 4, 2021

tonightwetaco said:
wow, that's pretty disgusting

You are not compelled to go to 11. 10 will be supported by MS for another 4 years

NavyLCDR · Dec 4, 2021

tonightwetaco said:
wow, that's pretty disgusting

Then use Linux.

RFS · Dec 4, 2021

tonightwetaco said:
wow, that's pretty disgusting

Windows 11's driving force is to improve security, and has the potential to exploit security improvements made available in recent hardware changes. Unsupported PCs are those which do not have these hardware improvements, and hence may not then work properly with Windows 11 in the future. This is why you will be unsupported if you upgrade, and may not get updates if these introduce changes which cause Windows on your PC to fail.

By all means bypass the requirements and install W11 at your own risk, but be prepared you may have to go back to W10. W10 is supported for 4 more years.

Bree · Dec 4, 2021

tonightwetaco said:
Yes the laptop is old but ... I find it really hard to believe that Windows 11 will have issues.

It won't have issues. I've not yet found a machine that can't run Windows 11 (and I've tried on some really low spec devices). It's Microsoft that will have issues, in that they do not support installing 11 on anything that doesn't meet the system requirements. Although they haven't done so yet, they have warned that they may stop providing update to such machines.

The main requirements are a UEFI system capable of secure boot, TPM 2.0, and an Intel processor that's 8th gen or newer (or the equivalent for AMD). My guess is that MS will continue providing updates for unsupported installs until such time as they want to add code that can only run on these newer generation of processors. You may then need to clean install Windows 10 to remain up to date. That's the risk you take if you bypass the requirements and install 11 on an unsupported machine.

The-Hive · Dec 4, 2021

As it works so well on 10 leave it on 10. The requirements for 11 are there for a reason, maybe not obvious. To my mind if you have to change things and alter settings to get it to upgrade it's not worth doing and may lead to problems in the future

mackie · Dec 4, 2021

tonightwetaco,

This pc that I'm on right now does not meet any of the requirements at all, and it is running Windows 11 beautifully.
All the updates are presently coming through just fine. The ambiguity about the updates is about something that may occur in the future but is not happening now.

The-Hive · Dec 4, 2021

mackie said:
tonightwetaco,

This pc that I'm on right now does not meet any of the requirements at all, and it is running Windows 11 beautifully.
All the updates are presently coming through just fine. The ambiguity about the updates is about something that may occur in the future but is not happening now.

It's not just the updates, each to their own choice about upgrading but personally I see no point in doing it, as I said those restrictions are there for a reason. I did try back in the early days but my machine ran slower than slow yet it's great on 10

Bree · Dec 4, 2021

The-Hive said:
personally I see no point in doing it

My only point in doing it is to find out if/when everything will go badly wrong. I use an unimportant test machine for that. I made sure I had fully supported devices for my two other W11 machines. Everything else will stay firmly on W10.

The-Hive · Dec 4, 2021

Bree said:
My only point in doing it is to find out if/when everything will go badly wrong. I use an unimportant test machine for that. I made sure I had fully supported devices for my other W11 machines.

I did the same on an old machine that wasn't being used for anything else

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