Let's install Windows 11 on incompatible hardware

dbartenstein said:

Kinda like my trusty old Dell 6410.....

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I'll see your Dell 6410 and raise you a Dell E4310....

"Rather less helpful is the Acer manual. To get to the RAM, first remove the keyboard. Only then can you access the 14 screws that hold the back plate on. Seems rather excessive over-engineering for a 10" netbook !!!"

Right ON!
My own Acer One Netbook came with Windows XP and 1.5 GB of ram.
I tried to install Win-7/x86 on it, but the video drivers from Win-7 really sucked!
Win 10/x86 was also a Wash! No better than 7.

Finally, just fussing around with it one day, I tried Windows 8.1/Pro/x86 and LO and BEHOLD everything worked and even the video looked good, at minimum resolution, of course.

That little Netbook is my traveling companion, but not much use here at home, even though I do try to keep it charged and up to date.
Just getting in to it to change a HD or update the ram, is like performing Brain Surgery. Too many screws and too many tiny little connectors to break! So I just won't do that. I might work on my wrist watch, but not on my Netbook! My Timex is actually easier to work on!

Cheers Mates, and wishing you all a Happy Labor Day!
TM

TechnoMage2021 said:

"Rather less helpful is the Acer manual. To get to the RAM, first remove the keyboard. Only then can you access the 14 screws that hold the back plate on. Seems rather excessive over-engineering for a 10" netbook !!!"

Right ON!
My own Acer One Netbook came with Windows XP and 1.5 GB of ram.
I tried to install Win-7/x86 on it, but the video drivers from Win-7 really sucked!
Win 10/x86 was also a Wash! No better than 7.

Finally, just fussing around with it one day, I tried Windows 8.1/Pro/x86 and LO and BEHOLD everything worked and even the video looked good, at minimum resolution, of course.

That little Netbook is my traveling companion, but not much use here at home, even though I do try to keep it charged and up to date.
Just getting in to it to change a HD or update the ram, is like performing Brain Surgery. Too many screws and too many tiny little connectors to break! So I just won't do that. I might work on my wrist watch, but not on my Netbook! My Timex is actually easier to work on!

Cheers Mates, and wishing you all a Happy Labor Day!
TM

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That's why professionals charge a premium to upgrade laptops. It's not a 5 minutes job to upgrade RAM as most think (based on unknown brands with a simple cover for RAM)

Any pc that has a Vista sticker should be able to run WiN11 lol well as long it has 2GB of ram but of course more would be nice

However,

you have to be a little careful when upgrading RAM..... ESPECIALLY on OEM machines
They tend to limit the MAX usable via BIOS, my motherboard is actually capable of more according to the Intel site
BUMMER
and in the old days bricking a machine with BIOS mods was quite common

torchwood said:

However,

you have to be a little careful when upgrading RAM..... ESPECIALLY on OEM machines
They tend to limit the MAX usable via BIOS, my motherboard is actually capable of more according to the Intel site
BUMMER
and in the old days bricking a machine with BIOS mods was quite common

Click to expand...

Hence I hate OEM Branded MB's

torchwood said:

However,

you have to be a little careful when upgrading RAM..... ESPECIALLY on OEM machines
They tend to limit the MAX usable via BIOS, my motherboard is actually capable of more according to the Intel site
BUMMER
and in the old days bricking a machine with BIOS mods was quite common

Click to expand...

They don't limit the RAM, the specs are so tight that you cannot just buy more RAM. It has to be of specific speed etc to match with the other module. Some times even it has to be of specific timings just to work alone.

TechnoMage2021 said:

Just getting in to it to change a HD or update the ram, is like performing Brain Surgery.....

Click to expand...

Tell me about it !!!
I've just found a good use for the 2GB RAM I liberated in the netbook's upgrade. It's gone into the 2nd slot of a Win7 laptop I still use, doubling its RAM. As a number it took the same time to do it: 'one and a half' - measured in 'hours' for the netbook and 'minutes' on the laptop.

OHHHH they do,,

I've upgraded Ram in all my machines
and i do know all about speeds/volt/slot limitations

i last tested on my primary just after i bought it,
interestingly MSInfo32 will pick up the total ram installed, 32gb in my case,
(MS calculates Usable, by reducing installed ram MINUS graphic card settings)
however in my Bios log it reported the max limitation by slot, and only passed thru 16GB
I accidently bought a 32GB stick, the Max, but the lappy could only use 16GB x 2

torchwood said:

OHHHH they do,,

I've upgraded Ram in all my machines
and i do know all about speeds/volt/slot limitations

i last tested on my primary just after i bought it,
interestingly MSInfo32 will pick up the total ram installed, 32gb in my case,
(MS calculates Usable, by reducing installed ram MINUS graphic card settings)
however in my Bios log it reported the max limitation by slot, and only passed thru 16GB
I accidently bought a 32GB stick, the Max, but the lappy could only use 16GB x 2

Click to expand...

This is because of compatibility restrictions. If you put the maximum RAM supported at the appropriate specs, it would be used. If you put more it's just ignored because the chipset or the CPU cannot make use of it. Hence in your case half the RAM is usable.

hsehestedt said:

Nice. I had a little Core 2 Duo based machine. Was a nice little cube box. Made the mistake of tossing it, now regretting that decision

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I have three Desktop PC's with Core 2 Duo's at the moment and one Gigabyte motherboard with a Core 2 Quad. I just recycled three SFF Dell Optiplex's with Core 2 Quads this Summer as they were quite dirty and I didn't feel like sorting them out. I offer the remaining up for free if one were to pursue the cost of shipping! RAM included.

To keep on track with the thread, I may just try installing Windows 11 on to the Core 2 Quad setup once I find time to put it together.

maximum ram for my motherboard is 64GB......
i5 11th gen i5 1135g7

32gb is an HP limitation

I Rember when I had 64k of memory. Now my primary system has literally over 2 million times that amount of memory!

torchwood said:

maximum ram for my motherboard is 64GB......
i5 11th gen i5 1135g7

32gb is an HP limitation

Click to expand...

You would not see any difference between 32GB and 64GB unless you do some serious 3D rendering or playing a multimonitor game at max settings. Gamers apart the average user would not see any difference between 16GB and beyond.

Bree said:

I haven't, I still have some on 32-bit W10. They may have 64 bit processors, but my 'ridiculously inappropriate for W11 netbook' has an Intel Atom N2600 which cannot support much more than 2GB RAM.

https://ark.intel.com/content/www/u...el-atom-processor-n2600-1m-cache-1-6-ghz.html

At a pinch you can fit a 4GB RAM and the OS will see 2.99GB of it, but that's the limit
.

When I'm not torturing it by running Windows 11 its primary OS is 32-bit Windows 10. I reckon that if I can run 11 on that, then it should run on virtually anything.

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On an old Sony VAIO laptop I tested running XP and then running a 64 bit VM (W7 Ultimate) on it -- so long as CPU supports 64 bit architecture and VT / VT-X enabled / equiv for AMD) it will work but you can only get 4GB RAM for Host and guest combined for whole lot however much Real RAM in the machine.

This precludes W11 for running as a 64 bit OS on any sort of system if it doesn't have 4GB RAM for itself. The W11 system will also need at least a 2 core processor unless there's some way of bypassing that.

@spapakons

Virtual machines just "Eat RAM for breakfast" -- so if you want to run a few concurrent VM's you'll need a big amount of RAM. If you also have a lot of users on a hosted web site you'll need a decent amount of Ram, - If you have anything like large MySql type databases same is true, or even for scratch files when editing large photos in photoshop etc.

Cheers
jimbo


cheers
jimbo

4GB RAM is recommended for good Windows 11 performance. It can run on only 2GB but it will not be fast. Once the OS is installed you can even reduce RAM to 1GB but it will be very slow. This is for those thinking to borrow an 1GB module to install Windows 11 and then remove it. Yes, it can be done but it will be slow. To improve performance disable all visual effects such as transparency and fades.

jimbo45 said:

This precludes W11 for running as a 64 bit OS on any sort of system if it doesn't have 4GB RAM for itself. The W11 system will also need at least a 2 core processor unless there's some way of bypassing that.

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Before I upgraded my AOD270's RAM it had just 2GB. W11 could certainly run trot walk in that without any issues apart from being slowed down by more use of the swapfile.

Almost every requirement check can be bypassed, though for a processor with a single core and only one thread I wouldn't bother, even W10 would be slow.

Working with a professional RAM seller, at the Market Pro Computer Shows, for several years, I learned a lot about what and where to buy ram, that will work first time, and every time. So for the longest time now, I will only buy my ram from "Crucial/Micron".
I use their System/Ram checker program to determine what a PC needs and then I can order it right there while I'm on their website.

I've done that while in clients homes/offices many times and when the ram comes in, I go back and install it.

I really miss those old Computer Shows. They were loads of fun, and a great source for parts and accessories.
TM

Windows 11 can be installed on a single core non-Hyperthreading 64-bit CPU (such as the first generation Intel 6xx 64-bit CPUs) but of course performance will be slow. That's why a dual core processor is recommended (but not absolutely necessary). It also works with 1GB (or even 512MB) RAM but it will be very slow. You will need at least 2GB for the clean installation and 4GB for upgrade from Windows 10, you can reduce the RAM after installing.

Wanted to add to my loss of hair today by trying to install Windows 11 on a Toshiba NB255. The machine came with 1GB ram, upgraded to 2GB (can't install more), but even with a modified install ISO made in Rufus Windows would not install.