Solved I need some up-to-date info regarding upgrade installation on unsupported hardware

There are a ton of threads about performing installation on unsupported hardware but much of it is old, outdated info. For example, I know that the method of performing an upgrade installation by replacing the file appraiserres.dll no longer works.

Could someone point me to current info on what methods still work for an UPGRADE installation (not a clean install)? I'm having a difficult time sorting through all the info to figure out what is current.

I have an old document that I wrote as notes to myself detailing all the methods to install Windows 11 both clean and as an upgrade on unsupported hardware, but that doc needs to be updated to reflect all the current options.

The way you can bypass Windows 11's hardware checking by modifying the registry is a more technical approach that usually involves tweaking a few key registry entries to "trick" the installer into thinking your hardware is compliant.



The basic idea is to turn off or bypass Microsoft's hardware compatibility checks by adding or modifying specific registry keys before installing Windows 11. This includes, but is not limited to, processor, TPM (Trusted Platform Module), and secure boot checks.

1. In the Registry Editor, navigate to the following path:
2. Right-click on "MoSetup" and select "New" > "DWORD (32-bit) Value".
3. Name the new value AllowUpgradesWithUnsupportedTPMOrCPU.
4. Double-click on the newly created value, set the numeric data to 1 and make sure the base is Hexadecimal.
5. HHEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SETUP\SETUP\MoSetup

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How can I force to install Windows 11 on unsupported PC?

I recently tried to install Windows 11 on my old unsupported PC and ran into a tricky problem because my hardware doesn't meet the official system..

techcommunity.microsoft.com

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I am marking this issue as resolved. I took all the info I could find and tested the various methods to see what still works and what does not. I'm happy to now have a number of working solutions to cover every scenario that I am likely to run into.

hsehestedt said:

I am marking this issue as resolved. I took all the info I could find and tested the various methods to see what still works and what does not. I'm happy to now have a number of working solutions to cover every scenario that I am likely to run into.

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Care to share? I'm sure a lot of us would like to know all of the ones that do work.

Thank you.

Wynona

hsehestedt said:

There are a ton of threads about performing installation on unsupported hardware but much of it is old, outdated info. For example, I know that the method of performing an upgrade installation by replacing the file appraiserres.dll no longer works.

Could someone point me to current info on what methods still work for an UPGRADE installation (not a clean install)? I'm having a difficult time sorting through all the info to figure out what is current.

I have an old document that I wrote as notes to myself detailing all the methods to install Windows 11 both clean and as an upgrade on unsupported hardware, but that doc needs to be updated to reflect all the current options.

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When did the appraiserres.dll method stop working since I used this method only a few months ago?

Wynona said:

Care to share? I'm sure a lot of us would like to know all of the ones that do work.

Thank you.

Wynona

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Sure. I posted a copy here...

Steve C said:

When did the appraiserres.dll method stop working since I used this method only a few months ago?

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It still works for 23H2. It hasn't worked for 24H2 since build since 24H2 Insider build 25951.

Be aware that if your CPU doesn't support POPCNT (SSE4.2) then 24H2 will never work, even if you can bypass the *installation* requirements

BrianInEngland said:

Be aware that if your CPU doesn't support POPCNT (SSE4.2) then 24H2 will never work, even if you can bypass the *installation* requirements

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A good point. You can figure that any CPU that does not support POPCNT will be roughly 15+ years old as a general rule of thumb.

The current standard release is 23H2 that doesn't require SSE4.2 and PopCnt instruction. This means that it can be installed in almost all 64-bit systems with 2GB RAM if you bypass compatibility check.

For upgrading from Windows 10 or from Windows 11 21H2/22H2 to 23H2 it is not enough to bypass compatibility check. You must also disconnect from the internet. If you are online there is a hidden online compatibility check that makes the upgrade fail at about 70% before the first restart. So stay offline during the whole process. There are three options to bypass compatibility check:
1) Download the latest Windows 11 ISO directly from Microsoft and use Rufus to create a bootable USB Flash drive and disable compatibility check. Run Setup from the USB and proceed. This is the easiest method.
2) Download the latest Windows 11 ISO directly from Microsoft, mount it (open with File Explorer) and open a Command Prompt. Use appropriate commands to navigate to the virtual DVD drive and run Setup with the /product server parameter. Assuming the virtual DVD is assigned drive F:
This doesn't check compatibility, but you still must stay disconnected from the internet during the whole upgrade.
3) Download the latest Windows 11 ISO directly from Microsoft, mount it (open with File Explorer) and run Setup. Let it reach 100% but BEFORE proceeding you must replace a specific hidden file to bypass compatibility check. Make sure you enable showing hidden files from File Explorer settings and that you also uncheck the box to hide known extensions. Right-click on the desktop and select New -> Text Document, This will create an empty .txt file which you much rename to appraiserres.dll WITHOUT the .txt at the end, This is your fake file and you must copy-paste it to the hidden folder C:\$Windows.~BT\sources replacing the original. Now you may proceed with the upgrade. Setup won't find the appropriate code in the file to check compatibility and it will let you proceed as if your computer was Windows 11 compliant. This also includes Legacy BIOS (MBR) installations without TMP 2.0, without Secure Boot, like my test laptop (see 1st system specs). That's the method I used to upgrade from Windows 11 21H2 to 22H2 and then from 22H2 to 23H2
4) If you run Windows 11 22H2 build 22621.1506 or newer you can upgrade to 23H2 by downloading and running the 23H2 Enablement Package. Most 23H2 features are included in that or newer builds but locked. The Enablement Package unlocks them and switches the version from 22H2 to 23H2. Ideal for computers with too little free disk space for a proper upgrade and it also doesn't check compatibility. KB5027397 Enablement Package for Windows 11 version 23H2 Feature Update Download the x64 version.

For anyone interested for a clean installation there are also three options:
1) Download the latest Windows 11 ISO directly from Microsoft and use Rufus to create a bootable USB Flash drive and disable compatibility check. This is the easiest method.
2) Create a hybrid Windows 10/11 USB flash drive. This is a standard Windows 10 USB with the file sources\install.wim or sources\install.esd with the respective file from Windows 11 ISO. You can also go from .wim to .esd and vice versa, the format is not important apart from the .esd version is more compressed and smaller. This in effect uses the Windows 10 Setup which doesn't check compatibility to install Windows 11 instead. Since 23H2 version it only works in Legacy BIOS (MBR) installation. Trying a hybrid USB for an UEFI (GPT) installation gives an error while it worked in 21H2 and 22H2.
3) Use the Windows 11 ISO to create a USB flash drive but patch the Registry or use a script that bypasses compatibility check before proceeding.

spapakons said:

For upgrading from Windows 10 or from Windows 11 21H2/22H2 to 23H2 it is not enough to bypass compatibility check.

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Bravo! Well done. I can't wait to try this. Thanks for sharing.

I heard setup /product server no longer works and neither does the appraiser trick.

SIW2 said:

I heard setup /product server no longer works and neither does the appraiser trick.

Microsoft has patched the 'product server' trick for TPM check bypass

The recently discovered setup.exe /product server command that one could use to skip TPM and CPU restrictions in Windows 11 no longer works. After the

winaero.com

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Probably not for Insider's versions (aka Preview or Beta versions). The latest standard release, 23H2, still supports them. When the standard 24H2 release comes this fall we will see if they still work.

spapakons said:

Probably not for Insider's versions

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Bummer. That's what I have been playing with now, pretty much exclusively. I've had to resort to all clen installs except for one machine that I used a more drastic approach on last night. I found a post on the web where someone took the drive from their non-compliant system and dropped it into a system that does support Win 11, updated it, then moved it back. I tried that and it worked like a freakin' charm.

When the standard 24H2 release comes this fall we will see if they still work.

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I doubt it.

I found a post on the web where someone took the drive from their non-compliant system and dropped it into a system that does support Win 11, updated it, then moved it back. I tried that and it worked like a freakin' charm.

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That's the way to do it.

hsehestedt said:

Bummer. That's what I have been playing with now, pretty much exclusively. I've had to resort to all clen installs except for one machine that I used a more drastic approach on last night. I found a post on the web where someone took the drive from their non-compliant system and dropped it into a system that does support Win 11, updated it, then moved it back. I tried that and it worked like a freakin' charm.

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This reminds me of very old computers that could run Windows 7 32-bit, albeit slowly, but their BIOS could not boot the Windows 7 DVD to begin installation. We had to remove the disk, connect it to a newer computer, use Dism or ImageX to copy Windows 7 Setup files on the disk and make it bootable. Then we connected the disk back to the old computer and boot it. It was like we had installed Windows 7 and restarted the computer. Setup would resume into the second stage and complete successfully (after more than an hour). Bingo! We had Windows 7 on the old computer. It seems history repeats itself...

This reminds me of very old computers ... could not boot the Windows 7 DVD to begin installation.

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Possibly because they couldn't load 8 sectors . Win7 etsfsboot is 4k so load 8 sectors. Vista etfsboot is 2k so load 4 sectors. Some people used vista etfsboot to create their win7 iso files for that reason. Only needed to create one win7 dvd like that and it could be used on any number of machines


vista


win7




If using cdimage.exe or oscdimg.exe to create the iso, the command is the same. just point it at the vista version of etfsboot.com, no need to specify the load sectors.
something like
oscdimg.exe -m -o -U1 -UDFVER102 -B"path_to_etfsboot.com" "path to distribution" "iso_path_and _name"


If using mkisofs I think the load sectors need to be specified, I always do
something like
mkisofs.exe -iso-level 4 -udf -r -force-uppercase -duplicates-once -volid "SOMENAME" -hide boot.catalog -hide-udf boot.catalog -b "PATH_TO/ETFSBOOT.COM" -no-emul-boot -boot-load-size 4 -o "iso_path_and _name" "path to distribution"

Thanks for sharing, but I would rather use a GUI tool such as GimageX.

For people who can't do commands, something like imgburn could do the job. Or replace the contents of the vista iso with the contents of win 7 iso using anyburn or similar gui tools.

I use GimageX to copy the Windows Setup files from install.wim You must find the appropriate image to install (Windows 7 Home or Professional or Ultimate before proceeding. Easy enough to use, albeit with a Guide. Without Guide you must know what you are doing. WimageX can also import the Setup data from the install.wim file and make the partition bootable. You don't need another utility apart from the Windows 7 ISO or DVD or USB. Boot from Windows 7 USB since the command prompt syntax to make the partition bootable is a little different on higher Windows versions.