Future 'rug-pull' for unsupported Win 11 installs?

AddRAM · Feb 22, 2022

There will be no more new versions of Windows in the future, we will continue to update Windows 10.
Oh, wait a minute we are releasing Windows 11.
Oh, wait another minute, we will soon be releasing Windows 12.

meimeiriver · Feb 23, 2022

Dch48 said:
Microsoft is testing a desktop watermark for unsupported Windows 11 PCs

The Windows 11 requirements caused some serious debate last year, with the tech giant stating the requirements are in place for security reasons. Microsoft’s decision angered many folks who were looking forward to Windows 11 and several workarounds were discovered to bypass the requirements...

www.windowslatest.com

It's coming.

Putting an annoying watermark in the bottom right corner of your desktop is a far cry from bricking one's system. To wit:

"At the moment, you will find these alerts in two places – desktop and Settings app. So far, these notifications can be safely ignored and they do not affect the overall user experience as the watermark is limited to the desktop or Settings page only.

There are no indications that Microsoft is planning to display the “unsupported device” alert on top of open apps.

Thankfully, it is possible to remove the watermark by following these step..."

No further negative effects, beyond the cosmetic, have been reported. No being cut off from future Updates, nor reports of your system being crippled in any way.

So, I stand by my opinion that MS will not, one day, brick ppl's systems. Even excluding people from getting further Updates is something they will very likely not actually do (even though they initially warned about that). It's simply too much of a global security risk, leaving all these machines vulnerable -- and thus irresponsible.

meimeiriver · Feb 23, 2022

RFS said:
I purchased 3 Windows 7 licences in 2009 when MS had a special deal: they cost me £45 each and were full retail licences. Since then I've not spent a penny with MS for Windows, and am very pleased (and somewhat surprised) that this outlay 13 years ago has so far provided me with 6 years of W7 support, 6 years of W10 support and now ongoing W11 support.

In exactly the same position. I bought a Windows 8 licence once, very cheap from their developers network, and it entitled me to a free upgrade to Windows 10; and now the same 'entitlement upgrade' to Win 11. They could have been a lot more greedy, but chose not to.

kjlkjadfasdfasd · Feb 23, 2022

sgage said:
Whatever MS does or does not do with regard to enforcing compliance is their business. What I find really irritating bordering on despicable is that they won't just come out and say what they're going to do, and when they're going to do it. I've gone back to Win10 for Windows needs. I have saved an image of the latest Win11 in case MS declares they will support Win11 on machines they have supported so far. Until they do, no more Win11 for me. If they don't want me to have it, I don't want to have it. I will not play this game.

I am of the same mindset.

I upgraded my only Win11-capable machine last night. I have two other PCs in my household -- one uses BIOS, 2nd-gen CPU, no TPM, the other is 6th-gen CPU, no TPM. I am pretty certain I will ride those out on Win10 and then upgrade the 6th-gen if it's still possible in late 2025. It's amazing to me that the 2nd-gen machine even runs Win10 since it's more than a decade old, but it's perfectly adequate for surfing the web and using Office.

Dch48 · Feb 23, 2022

meimeiriver said:
Putting an annoying watermark in the bottom right corner of your desktop is a far cry from bricking one's system. To wit:

"At the moment, you will find these alerts in two places – desktop and Settings app. So far, these notifications can be safely ignored and they do not affect the overall user experience as the watermark is limited to the desktop or Settings page only.

There are no indications that Microsoft is planning to display the “unsupported device” alert on top of open apps.

Thankfully, it is possible to remove the watermark by following these step..."

No further negative effects, beyond the cosmetic, have been reported. No being cut off from future Updates, nor reports of your system being crippled in any way.

So, I stand by my opinion that MS will not, one day, brick ppl's systems. Even excluding people from getting further Updates is something they will very likely not actually do (even though they initially warned about that). It's simply too much of a global security risk, leaving all these machines vulnerable -- and thus irresponsible.

Yes it is different but I see it as the first step in the eventual cutoff.

Dch48 · Feb 23, 2022

kjlkjadfasdfasd said:
I am of the same mindset.

I upgraded my only Win11-capable machine last night. I have two other PCs in my household -- one uses BIOS, 2nd-gen CPU, no TPM, the other is 6th-gen CPU, no TPM. I am pretty certain I will ride those out on Win10 and then upgrade the 6th-gen if it's still possible in late 2025. It's amazing to me that the 2nd-gen machine even runs Win10 since it's more than a decade old, but it's perfectly adequate for surfing the web and using Office.

You shouldn't be surprised. I have a 2011 vintage HP laptop with the first generation Llano APU from AMD and it runs 10 every bit as good as it ran 7. I even ran 10 on a 2006 HP laptop with a single core AMD Turion processor and 2GB of RAM.

Bree · Feb 23, 2022

kjlkjadfasdfasd said:
It's amazing to me that the 2nd-gen machine even runs Win10 since it's more than a decade old, but it's perfectly adequate for surfing the web and using Office.

Dch48 said:
You shouldn't be surprised. I have a 2011 vintage HP laptop with the first generation Llano APU from AMD and it runs 10 every bit as good as it ran 7.

I have quite a collection of laptops of varying vintage. In all cases they run Win10 at least as well as, if not better, than they ran Win7. My System Two in 'My Computers' below was built in 2010 and is now easily running Windows 11, despite having a 1st gen Intel CPU.

BrianInEngland · Feb 23, 2022

ThrashZone said:
Hi,
No real reason you can't keep both unless you don't have two ssd's to install 10 and 11 on
Then simply make a system image of your 10 install if you/ we get kicked off 11 just restore it after saving any new files.

Supported/ Unsupported doesn't matter it's just some features you can't use and most are security wise for ransomware ...
The same security on 10 is used on 11 so it's a no loss and no gain.

Direct storage and some other features may or may not work but 10 doesn't have them yet either so no loss or gain there either.

I have two systems that can qualify for 11 new requirements but intentionally installed 11 working around all five win-11 checks
No uefi only boot
No gpt partition system
No secure boot
No tpm
One system No supported cpu out of three.

Secure Boot is not a requirement for Windows 11, the PC only has to *support* it, it doesn't need to be enabled in BIOS

ThrashZone · Feb 23, 2022

BrianInEngland said:
Secure Boot is not a requirement for Windows 11, the PC only has to *support* it, it doesn't need to be enabled in BIOS

Hi,
One out of five seems silly to not include it in the ignore checks reg :lmao:

I agree secure boot is docile but still a dumb requirement.

Winuser · Feb 23, 2022

Dch48 said:
Yes it is different but I see it as the first step in the eventual cutoff.

If Windows 12 is really in the works, then that could be the OS that closes the door to unsupported devices. Windows 12 might even be a paid for OS with no free upgrades from Windows 11.

spapakons · Feb 24, 2022

For all fellow posters that are scared of Windows 11 and have gone back to 10, that was exactly the purpose of Microsoft. To scare users of unsupported machines and make them either upgrade or use Windows 10. I have also read that there are some warnings for Windows 11 Insiders on unsupported machines. I believe these builds just don't allow upgrading to the newer build on unsupported machines from Windows Update. Have you tried to download the ISO and start Setup offline? I would download the latest Insider's ISO from UPP, start Setup and then delete the hidden file C:\$Windows.~BT\sources\appraiserres.dll from Windows Setup cache. Exactly the same hack I do when upgrading an unsupported machine from Windows 10 to 11 or from one build of 11 to the other. Try that and then report if you succeeded.

Regarding the watermark, no big deal. There are utilities to remove any watermark (such as the Windows version or Test mode etc) at the bottom of the screen. Soon should be some utility to remove the "Unsupported machine" watermark. As long as it doesn't affect functionality, I wouldn't care.

Regarding official Microsoft Support, who cares? How many times you ever needed to contact Microsoft Support for an issue? I needed only a couple of times and they never reply fast enough. And their first replies are useless, such as "Have you tried this?", Yes, of course I have and your suggestion doesn't really help me solve my issue. I personally find it much more useful to post at a relevant forum, such as Elevenforum. I get my solution much faster and most fellow posters really take the time to read and understand your issue before replying.

Winuser · Feb 24, 2022

spapakons said:
Regarding official Microsoft Support, who cares? How many times you ever needed to contact Microsoft Support for an issue?

I've only contacted them for activation help. They did help me with my problem.

spapakons said:
their first replies are useless, such as "Have you tried this?"

Their reading from a book.

spapakons · Feb 24, 2022

I cannot tell for other regions, but here in Greece if you call Microsoft and you select to be assisted as an individual user (not company), then you are connected to an automated activation system, not a representative. I never had to activate Windows 11 by phone, but I don't think the automated system would care. You just type all the numbers of the activation ID and then you are told all the numbers to type in the relevant boxes and activate. I don't think they would block activation if the system is unsupported. Even if you talk to a representative, I don't think he would deny activation because the system is unsupported. Yes, he can refuse to assist you for any issues for an unsupported system, but not regarding activation. I hope I will never have to find out.

Bree · Feb 24, 2022

I have a theory. If true, paradoxically Windows 12 may be good news for unsupported Windows 11 devices.

Windows 12 - Microsoft starts work from March

No, it's not a typo. According to our information, Microsoft will start preparing for Windows 12 in March. In the run-up, they had already been looking for employees who would then provide additional support to the team. SwiftOnSecurity also confirms this information. That doesn't mean that...

www.twelveforums.com

BunnyJ · Feb 24, 2022

Bree said:
I have a theory. If true, paradoxically Windows 12 may be good news for unsupported Windows 11 devices.

Windows 12 - Microsoft starts work from March

No, it's not a typo. According to our information, Microsoft will start preparing for Windows 12 in March. In the run-up, they had already been looking for employees who would then provide additional support to the team. SwiftOnSecurity also confirms this information. That doesn't mean that...

www.twelveforums.com

Could be one reason they came out with it. Who knows.

Dch48 · Feb 24, 2022

It seems the whole Windows 12 thing is a joke started by someone at SwiftOnSecurity and they have apologized.

The-Hive · Feb 24, 2022

Trouble is now, so many websites have caught on to it and we have had so many serious and joke posts, who knows what to believe. personally I think there is something in it.... The big question is what :)

Winuser · Feb 24, 2022

The-Hive said:
Trouble is now, so many websites have caught on to it and we have had so many serious and joke posts, who knows what to believe. personally I think there is something in it.... The big question is what :)

For the answer to these and other questions, stay tuned in.

Bastet · Feb 25, 2022

On the basis that Microsoft will block updates I’ve returned to Windows 10 until either definitive information on what will be blocked (security updates, cumulative updates, feature updates) or 2025 arrives & Windows 10 is no longer supported.
If just feature updates are blocked then I’ll upgrade again.

meimeiriver · Feb 25, 2022

The-Hive said:
Trouble is now, so many websites have caught on to it and we have had so many serious and joke posts, who knows what to believe. personally I think there is something in it.... The big question is what :)

This is rumor-control. Here are the facts:

The requirements for two TPMs was a joke, the advent of Windows 12 itself is not. However, only the devolopment of Windows 12 is said to start in March; doesn't mean we'll actually see Windows 12 arrive next month, of course.