Let's install Windows 11 on incompatible hardware

gaffar · 2026-09-17T10:30:41-0400

i am taking help from google to find out whether my mounted iso is corrupted or not.

Celery · 2026-09-17T11:10:54-0400

spapakons said:
In addition, to upgrade an unsupported computer using the ISO you must disconnect from the internet to prevent a hidden compatibility check that makes the upgrade to fail.

I have always successfully upgraded unsupported computers using the command D:\setup /product server, even with an active internet connection.

However, it is worth disabling the downloading of updates under “Change how Setup downloads updates”, as this can significantly speed up the upgrade process.

gaffar said:
with ventoy it is just copy paste isos, but with ventoy, it is difficult to prepare bootable USBs, which can bypass windows 11 hardware restrictions.

If you want to perform a clean installation of Windows 11, Ventoy has built-in control options. Ventoy's "Bypass CPU/TPM/SecureBoot check when install Windows 11" option is enabled by default and works as intended. I tested this on a virtual machine a week ago.

Off-topic:

Ventoy's "Bypass online account requirement when install Windows 11" option is also enabled by default, but with the latest Windows 11 installation media, it no longer appears to bypass the online account requirement on its own.

However, it is now possible to create a local account using the latest Windows 11 25H2 installation media (create the installation media with the Media Creation Tool to get the latest version).

"You can click/tap on the small Learn more link below to go to step 21 to set up a local account instead."

Clean Install Windows 11

This tutorial will show you step by step on how to clean install Windows 11 at boot on your PC with or without an Internet connection and setup with a local account or Microsoft account. Windows 11 is a client operating system and includes features that users and organizations should know...

www.elevenforum.com

However, the "Learn more" link does not appear if there is no internet connection. In that case, on the "Let's connect you to a network" screen, open Command Prompt by pressing Shift + F10 and run the following command:

start ms-cxh:localonly

spapakons · 2026-09-17T11:54:20-0400

From the symptoms either the USB flash drive is corrupt (removed before finishing writing or there was a power fluctuation corrupting some data), or the ISO is corrupt. I know it will probably take some time to download it again, but do it just in case. Then it is not necessary to create a USB flash drive, just mount it (Open with File Explorer) and run Setup with the server parameter. Yes, disconnecting from the internet might not be 100% necessary at some computers, but do it anyway because you know Murphy's Law. Better safe than sorry.

idgat · 2026-09-17T19:12:39-0400

gaffar said:
i downloaded 8.30 GB ISO from windows insider website.using idm

Why not from the MS (official) web site?

garlin · 2026-09-17T19:18:53-0400

Celery said:
start ms-cxh:localonly

This is deliberately removed from 26H2. Or will be DOA when 26H2 reaches GA.

Banjoman301 · 2026-09-17T19:22:15-0400

Rufus is another option for clean installs on unsupported hardware.

Probably mentioned waaaay upthread.

gaffar · 2026-09-18T00:48:57-0400

Banjoman301 said:
Rufus is another option for clean installs on unsupported hardware.

Probably mentioned waaaay upthread.

On intel 2nd Gen i7, Rufus 4.15 does it but does it once. Not 2nd,3rd,4th times.

gaffar · 2026-09-18T00:50:37-0400

idgat said:
Why not from the MS (official) web site?

Has Microsoft changed its official website.

spapakons · 2026-09-18T01:40:12-0400

garlin said:
This is deliberately removed from 26H2. Or will be DOA when 26H2 reaches GA.

Thanks for sharing. So we have to clean install 25H2 and use the 26H2 Enablement Package to switch to 26H2 if we want a local Administrator account. That's until a new workaround is discovered.

PS: I just remembered, Microsoft might block it on Insider's version because you have to use your Microsoft account to be eligible using that version. They did something similar with the 25H2 Insider's version. I will download the 26H2 and test it on a virtual machine to confirm it is blocked or not and post back.

spapakons · 2026-09-18T01:42:21-0400

gaffar said:
On intel 2nd Gen i7, Rufus 4.15 does it but does it once. Not 2nd,3rd,4th times.

What do you mean once? As far as I know it works for both a clean installation and an upgrade every time you use it. There is no limit how many times you do it.

garlin · 2026-09-18T01:55:38-0400

spapakons said:
Thanks for sharing. So we have to clean install 25H2 and use the 26H2 Enablement Package to switch to 26H2 if we want a local Administrator account. That's until a new workaround is discovered.

PS: I just remembered, Microsoft might block it on Insider's version because you have to use your Microsoft account to be eligible using that version. They did something similar with the 25H2 Insider's version. I will download the 26H2 and test it on a virtual machine to confirm it is blocked or not and post back.

uh no. There's a new hack floating around the Internet, which will probably the #1 workaround for Local Accounts in 26H2.

https://twitter.com/x/status/2098825591285776775

spapakons · 2026-09-18T02:09:22-0400

I had also read about this method, but it is rather complicated for the average user, so I preferred single commands, like oobe\bypasnro and start ms-cxh:localonly However, I post it here, there is no hard to have one more alternative:

How to create a Local user, alternative method (Developer Console):

Step-by-Step Instructions:

(In OOBE screen)
Select Region and Keyboard Layout
When the setup begins, choose your Region and Keyboard Layout.
Note: Optional if using the default settings, but recommended for accuracy.
Ensure You're on the Correct Screen
Proceed until you reach the screen where a secondary keyboard layout option is available.
Navigate to the Back Arrow
Press the Tab key repeatedly until the Back Arrow in the upper-left corner is highlighted.
Open Developer Console
Press Ctrl + Shift + J to open the developer console.
Ensure Caps Lock is OFF before typing.
Prepare for Command Entry
This is a JavaScript command and is case-sensitive (except "LOCALONLY" can be lowercase).
Enter the Command
Type: WinJS.Application.restart("ms-cxh://LOCALONLY")
Execute the Command
Press Enter.
Close the Console Prompt
Press Esc to exit the console.
Enter Local Account Information
Proceed by creating or entering your Local Account credentials.

gaffar · 2026-09-18T02:16:07-0400

garlin said:
This is deliberately removed from 26H2. Or will be DOA when 26H2 reaches GA.

There’s no difference between “They removed it” and “They deliberately removed it”.

garlin · 2026-09-18T02:19:09-0400

gaffar said:
There’s no difference between “They removed it” and “They deliberately removged it”.

No, because a feature can magically disappear from the Insider builds and users will panic. Then it magically re-appears in a later build.
So how do you really know it's been deliberately removed or not (versus a build mistake)?

At different times in the past two years, people have said BypassNRO.cmd disappeared from Insider. But now you can say it's truly gone.

gaffar · 2026-09-18T02:23:01-0400

@spapakons
(1) If one installs windows 11 using server method, does windows update work flawlessly..
(2) Does Linux users face similar problems as we. Windows users or are there problems worse than us.

spapakons · 2026-09-18T02:36:48-0400

gaffar said:
@spapakons
(1) If one installs windows 11 using server method, does windows update work flawlessly..
(2) Does Linux users face similar problems as we. Windows users or are there problems worse than us.

1) Yes, the Windows Update downloads every single update available on unsupported computers except updates that upgrade to a newer version, such as the 26H2 Enablement Package. These ones you have to manually download and install. Of course you will never be offered to upgrade to 26H2 or any other version from Windows Update on an unsupported computer. If there is no Enablement Package you have to manually download the newer ISO and run Setup /product server to upgrade to the next version.
2) I recently tried to upgrade a very old Ubuntu version, 12.0 to as more newer as possible. The old repositories are all invalid, so I had to redirect to the old versions Ubuntu repositories. Even then, I managed to upgrade to 13.04 and couldn't go any further. "No updates found". I didn't manage to get past 13.04 from Terminal using the internet. To go any further I had to manually download Ubuntu 14, upgrade and probably download a couple more ISOs before being able to continue from the internet. Not worth the effort and time. It was a dual boot taking valuable disk space, so I just deleted the Linux partition and the Swap partition and expanded the Windows partition to take the whole disk. Previously with very little free space Windows was crawling. Now it feels much faster.

For comparison, I can install Windows XP x64 Professional, upgrade to Windows Vista 64-bit, then to 7 64-bit. Then to Windows 10 64-bit and finally to Windows 11. Try doing that on Linux, it's bound to break somewhere in the process.

gaffar · 2026-09-18T03:09:02-0400

spapakons said:
What do you mean once? As far as I know it works for both a clean installation and an upgrade every time you use it. There is no limit how many times you do it.

Yes. It works for (1) clean

installation and (2) upgrade. But it works ONCE. At least for me.
I used Rufus 4.15 enabled bootable usb to install windows 11 26H2 build 26340.9212.look at the picture below, it has a windows insider watermark on bottom right corner. I installed different themes and this watermark is always there. I tried several times to install it again but everytime got different error messages.

SlicEnDicE · 2026-09-18T03:28:28-0400

gaffar said:
Yes. It works for (1) clean installation and (2) upgrade. But it works ONCE. At least for me.

You make absolutely no sense.

You make it sound like that if one bought a burner phone, you can either send one SMS or make one phone call, after either usecase the phone is dead.

spapakons · 2026-09-18T03:29:33-0400

gaffar said:
Yes. It works for (1) clean installation and (2) upgrade. But it works ONCE. At least for me.

If I understand correctly, you run Setup to upgrade and didn't pass compatibility check? Passing compatibility check to allow you upgrade but then fail is not the same as not passing compatibility check at all.

gaffar · 2026-09-18T03:44:38-0400

SlicEnDicE said:
You make absolutely no sense.

You make it sound like that if one bought a burner phone, you can either send one SMS or make one phone call, after either usecase the phone is dead.

No. I installed windows 11 26H2 build 26340. 9212 using Rufus but it wasn’t automatically updating.it was clean

install.
I heard there’s new and more powerful version build 26340.9482. I prepared Rufus 4.15 enabled bootable usb. This time it didn’t upgrade or clean install. Yes clean install.got various error messages.

Let's install Windows 11 on incompatible hardware

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