Intel Seventh Generation incompatible with Windows 11 23H2

I have a Windows 11 22H2 system which is not allowed by Microsoft to update to 23H2. Intel Seventh Genaration equipped systems were supplied until the end of 2020. This means that Microsoft has determined that systems just over three years old are now set for land fill disposal.

How can domestic users trust Microsoft anymore?

hake said:

I have a Windows 11 22H2 system which is not allowed by Microsoft to update to 23H2. Intel Seventh Genaration equipped systems were supplied until the end of 2020. This means that Microsoft has determined that systems just over three years old are set for land fill disposal.

How can domestic users now trust Microsoft?

Click to expand...

Is this going to be a “I hate Microsoft” thread?

You can use Microsoft Windows 10 until October 14th 2025 when it will reach end of support, but after that, strangely enough… (and I do mean this is strange)

Microsoft Extends Security Updates for Windows 10 Beyond 2025 (for a Price)​

Bear in mind that it is also extremely easy to work around this limitation. While Microsoft will not officially support you on older hardware, Windows 11 works just fine on such hardware. If you are willing to take a chance and try it, it will almost certainly work on your system.

7th Gen CPUs were introduced in January of 2017 so 2025 - 2017 gives us 8.5 years fully supported plus the extended time that is available at a cost. I'd call that more than a reasonable amount of time to officially support a system. Offering extended support at a cost also seems reasonable to me (assuming no crazy prices for such support).

But again, as noted, if you absolutely must have Win 11 rather than stick with 10, you can EASILY work around the limitations. Among my unsupported hardware that all works flawlessly on Win 11 are:

7th Gen Intel i7 based PC
6th Gen Intel i7 based PC
4th Gen Intel i7 based PC
2nd Gen Intel i5 based PC
1st Gen Intel i5 based PC

I have even more, but that's a good sampling. Every single one of them run 100% perfectly on Windows 11.

hake said:

I have a Windows 11 22H2 system which is not allowed by Microsoft to update to 23H2. Intel Seventh Genaration equipped systems were supplied until the end of 2020. This means that Microsoft has determined that systems just over three years old are now set for land fill disposal.

How can domestic users trust Microsoft anymore?

Click to expand...

I had this very same issue until I manually forced in the 23H2 enablement package. Then I got the 23H2 update and I started to get other updates also. Until then I got NO updates at all. This went unnoticed for months.

My system is using i7-7700k

Here you can find more info regarding the enablement package:

Hi folks.

There's plenty of ways to run W11 on older equipment -- I have to agree with @SlicEnDicE --thanks for the info on the enablement stuff but I still maintain that it's totally bonkers in that as far as most non technical users are concerned quite new equipment barely 3 years old is destined for a one way trip to the municipal tip. And that whole idea of requiring a TPM for security purposes --that type of device is at least 8 years old which is the equivalent of a Geological era ago in terms of technology (i.e you'd be in the Jurassic era).

If I could find some good alternative to EXCEL (I use zillions of advanced features, interrogate remote SQL and SAP HANA type databases, do a lot of data scraping from the web into EXCEL etc I'd probably ditch Windows altogether as a desktop physical OS and just keep running as a VM.

As far as getting W11 to run on older gear -- this ancient laptop (currently running a test Linux system -- I don't use flatpak etc but I'm just testing an "Unofficial Pre-beta release") will boot up current W11 insider builds without any issues from external devices (I use physical windows systems mainly via WindowstoGo type of installs). This laptop is using a Gen 6 i5 CPU. Main Hardware shown in screenshot.




Cheers
jimbo

I run Windows Eleven just fine on my 2017 Dell Inspiron 13-7378 7th Generation Intel Core i3

And yet, millions buy a new $1000 iPhone every time the next one comes out. Never had one myself. Is very subjective who and what one trusts, or not, and for what reasons. I like to keep my 2 computers up to date within about 3-4 years myself.

steveg said:

And yet, millions buy a new $1000 iPhone every time the next one comes out. Never had one myself. Is very subjective who and what one trusts, or not, and for what reasons. I like to keep my 2 computers up to date within about 3-4 years myself.

Click to expand...

Very true. You can buy a really decent top range Laptop for the price of a new model iPhone Pro Plus, even just a Pro. Australian conversion, an Apple iPhone Pro 13 cost me AU$1800 and it was hardly just released, in fact I bought it just before the 14 came out.

antspants said:

Very true. You can buy a really decent top range Laptop for the price of a new model iPhone Pro Plus, even just a Pro. Australian conversion, an Apple iPhone Pro 13 cost me AU$1800 and it was hardly just released, in fact I bought it just before the 14 came out.

Click to expand...

Or buy an Android phone that is nearly as good for a tenth of the price of a poxy iphone!

cereberus said:

Or buy an Android phone that is nearly as good for tenth of the price of a poxy iphone!

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lol probably.

What does the latest samsung do that the S21 doesn't do -- apart from generate income for Vodafone and the like.
As for (Cr)-Apple stuff --the less said the better. You can probably buy 2 passable second hard cars or at least workable ones for the price of one of those things !!!!

In any case who want's to be looking at tiny screens all day long.

Cheers
jimbo

hake said:

Microsoft has determined that systems just over three years old are now set for land fill disposal.

Click to expand...

hsehestedt said:

Among my unsupported hardware that all works flawlessly on Win 11 are:

7th Gen Intel i7 based PC
6th Gen Intel i7 based PC
4th Gen Intel i7 based PC
2nd Gen Intel i5 based PC
1st Gen Intel i5 based PC

I have even more, but that's a good sampling. Every single one of them run 100% perfectly on Windows 11.

Click to expand...

I also have a 1st gen Intel Core i5 that runs 23H2 flawlessly, my 14 year old System Two in My Computers below.

For the forthcoming 24H2, currently being tested in the Insider Dev and Canary builds, MS now require a CPU that supports the PopCnt instruction. All the Intel Core generations have that instruction, the older Core 2 doesn't. Here's a clean install of 24H2 on my 1st gen i5.

cereberus said:

Or buy an Android phone that is nearly as good for a tenth of the price of a poxy iphone!

Click to expand...

This is not true at all. Those cheap Android phones are total garbage compared to any iPhone and midrange and up Android phones. Note, I'm on Android myself and the models I would even consider buying/upgrading to range from 1000€ and up. For the cheaper ones I would rather get a 25€ Nokia and switch computing completely to a laptop/Desktop PC.

There are cheap iPhones too. Stop hating on devices you know nothing about.

jimbo45 said:

What does the latest samsung do that the S21 doesn't do -- apart from generate income for Vodafone and the like.
As for (Cr)-Apple stuff --the less said the better. You can probably buy 2 passable second hard cars or at least workable ones for the price of one of those things !!!!

In any case who want's to be looking at tiny screens all day long.

Cheers
jimbo

Click to expand...

It’s personal choice I suppose. Mine get written off on tax. My wife gets her devices given to her by clients or contractors that think they will get favourable exceptions. And my 12.9” iPad, of which I am on now and I use a lot during the day, although not a phone, is in no way a small screen. Plus I have been using Apple products for many years and have them integrating with Windows to the extent I like them to, and to all the other iDevices throughout my home. Which are many.

jimbo45 said:

What does the latest samsung do that the S21 doesn't do -- apart from generate income for Vodafone and the like.

Click to expand...

Not much, except you get support for 2 years longer. They have better battery life with better performance. That's about it. That's why I'm still happy rocking my Note 20 Ultra still.

hake said:

This means that Microsoft has determined that systems just over three years old are now set for land fill disposal.

Click to expand...

It does not mean that.
Lots of computers run Windows 11 despite not fulfilling its system requirements.
There are lots of examples in Let's install Windows 11 on incompatible hardware - ElevenForum
The installation / update method has to be adjusted - see my ref to it - #4 - ElevenForum


All the best,
Denis

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hake said:

I have a Windows 11 22H2 system which is not allowed by Microsoft to update to 23H2. Intel Seventh Genaration equipped systems were supplied until the end of 2020. This means that Microsoft has determined that systems just over three years old are now set for land fill disposal.

How can domestic users trust Microsoft anymore?

Click to expand...

SlicEnDicE said:

I had this very same issue until I manually forced in the 23H2 enablement package. Then I got the 23H2 update and I started to get other updates also. Until then I got NO updates at all. This went unnoticed for months.

My system is using i7-7700k

Here you can find more info regarding the enablement package:

KB5027397 Enablement Package for Windows 11 version 23H2 Feature Update

Microsoft Support: Summary Windows 11, versions 22H2 and 23H2 share a common core operating system with an identical set of system files. Therefore, the new features in Windows 11, version 23H2 are included in the latest monthly quality update for Windows 11, version 22H2 but are in an inactive...

www.elevenforum.com

Click to expand...

I have upgraded to Windows 23H2 myself, with windows 11 23h2 enablement package mentioned above.

My PC is very old, with Intel Core i7-4790 (2014), and it works well.

Just whack Eleven on a USB using RUFUS. Can’t get any simpler.

hake said:

I have a Windows 11 22H2 system which is not allowed by Microsoft to update to 23H2. Intel Seventh Genaration equipped systems were supplied until the end of 2020. This means that Microsoft has determined that systems just over three years old are now set for land fill disposal.

How can domestic users trust Microsoft anymore?

Click to expand...

Polemics?

Windows 11 mostly required Intel Gen8 CPUs or newer since 11 was released.

The exceptions were the I9-79x0X series, Socket 2066. They're still on the supported list.

I have a laptop with a Gen6 CPU. (Otherwise compliant.) It's running 22631.3235. I don't recall the full update path, but I received that via Windows Update over an older 22631 build. Its original upgrade to 11 from 10 used a Registry key that was provided by Microsoft so that developers could work with 11 on unsupported hardware.

I'm not a fan of Microsoft, and I'm dubious about the security requirements that made 11 unsupported on a lot of hardware. Apparently, 24H2 will break 11 on some older hardware, unless some new hacks are found.

I hope people dont throw out perfectly good equipment because they can not officially install windows 11 on old hardware. The workaround is so easy to upgrade.
One way is download the full ISO install of 6.4gb from Microsoft, mount it by right clicking the iso file, use command prompt admin to navigate to the folder and then run setupprep.exe /product server in the sources folder.