Let's install Windows 11 on incompatible hardware

Bree · May 24, 2025

Davidoo said:
I'm not familiar with what you mean by "enablement package."....

Others have explained it well. I'll just add that the enablement package installs like a cumulative update, and makes no compatibility checks. The 22H2 to 23H2 update was easy to install on an unsupported device, no workarounds needed.

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 and dormant state. These new features will remain dormant until they are turned on through the “enablement package,” a small, quick-to-install “master switch” that activates the Windows 11, version 23H2 features.

KB5027397 Enablement Package for Windows 11 version 23H2 Feature Update

spapakons · May 24, 2025

The 23H2 Enablement Package could be installed remotely via AnyDesk or similar utilities because it doesn't check compatibility and it doesn't require to disconnect from the internet on unsupported computers. Also it was done in a couple of minutes compared to 30-60 minutes for a complete upgrade using the ISO. If 25H2 can be installed on 24H2 systems the same way, this is good news for all of us with unsupported computers. This means that the hardware requirements will be the same as 24H2 and that 25H2 can be installed on all computers that can run Windows 11 24H2.

garlin · May 24, 2025

The downside of EP is the normal monthly CU bloats to an unnatural size ahead of the intended EP release. They don’t sneak everything the month right before the 25H2 release date.

Bree · May 24, 2025

spapakons said:
This means that the hardware requirements will be the same as 24H2 and that 25H2 can be installed on all computers that can run Windows 11 24H2.

I have the Dev and Canary builds running on an unsupported device. The Dev build is rumoured to be the base build for 25H2.

Zac Bowden said:
Microsoft has confirmed that it will begin testing new behind-the-scenes platform changes for Windows 11 with Insiders in the Dev Channel via a new series of builds in the 26200 range. This is likely intended to lay early groundwork for version 25H2, which is expected to release later this year.

Microsoft readies next wave of Windows 11 with new preview build

bldegle2 · May 27, 2025

Just upgraded my laptop, Dell Inspiron 5575, meets specs for install except for Ryzen 5 2500u (2500x on list, but not the 2500u?), in place upgrade with .cmd script application before install to quell the CPU check. This one went smooth as butter compared to main rig back in March, not one problem, all programs came over including Office....all updates installed without a problem.....

hsehestedt · Friday at 3:02 AM

garlin said:
The downside of EP is the normal monthly CU bloats to an unnatural size ahead of the intended EP release. They don’t sneak everything the month right before the 25H2 release date.

I'm really late in replying to this, but just saw it now. Your post reminds me that I have been wondering when on earth MS was going to come out with a new checkpoint update for 24H2 because the differential update is itself growing so large now.

MS made this big deal of the checkpoint and differential update change but there has not been a new Checkpoint update since 26100.1742.

garlin · Friday at 3:12 AM

hsehestedt said:
I'm really late in replying to this, but just saw it now. Your post reminds me that I have been wondering when on earth MS was going to come out with a new checkpoint update for 24H2 because the differential update is itself growing so large now.

MS made this big deal of the checkpoint and differential update change but there has not been a new Checkpoint update since 26100.1742.

MIA:

- roadmap for 24H2 Checkpoint release cycle

- GPO to bypass OOBE forced updates

- Admin Protection Mode in production branch

Bree · Friday at 9:17 AM

An interesting observation regarding device encryption.

A few days ago I clean installed 24H2 on an unsupported laptop to set it up as a simple file server (fails on 4th gen i7, TPM 1.2). Yesterday I decided I had a better machine for the job, one that only fails on its 6th gen i7. So I used Macrium Reflect to image the first machine and restore to the second.

As expected, the initial install on the 1st machine did not encrypt the C: drive. So far, so good....

I hadn't expected what happened next. On finding itself on a new machine that now had TPM 2.0 Windows automatically turned on device encryption in anticipation of me turning on full Bitlocker.

I thought that was only supposed to happen during OOBE after a clean install on a suitable machine (which the 1st one wasn't). The 2nd machine wasn't a clean install, it was an already configured OS that had been running for a while on the previous machine. But the fact that it now had TPM 2.0 available was apparently enough to trigger the automatic device encryption. Something to watch out for.....

I've turned off encryption now, I don't want/need it on this PC.

hsehestedt · Friday at 6:11 PM

garlin said:
MIA:
GPO to bypass OOBE forced updates

I don't have a GPO for this, but I did figure out a way to do this in my unattended setups that works well for me.

garlin · Friday at 6:22 PM

Bree said:
I hadn't expected what happened next. On finding itself on a new machine that now had TPM 2.0 Windows automatically turned on device encryption in anticipation of me turning on full Bitlocker.

I thought that was only supposed to happen during OOBE after a clean install on a suitable machine (which the 1st one wasn't). The 2nd machine wasn't a clean install, it was an already configured OS that had been running for a while on the previous machine. But the fact that it now had TPM 2.0 available was apparently enough to trigger the automatic device encryption. Something to watch out for.....

24H2 deliberately removed some of the HW requirements, so more PC's are eligible "as-is" for automatic encryption.

BitLocker drive encryption in Windows 11 for OEMs

Bree · Friday at 7:03 PM

garlin said:
24H2 deliberately removed some of the HW requirements, so more PC's are eligible "as-is" for automatic encryption.

Yes, I'm aware of that. It will happen at install on any suitable machine, supported or not. Having TPM 2.0 seems to be the most significant 'qualification'.

What took me by surprise was that restoring an image of an unencrypted machine to an 'eligible' one triggered the device encryption.

spapakons · 2025-06-07T04:23:52-0400

Bree said:
Yes, I'm aware of that. It will happen at install on any suitable machine, supported or not. Having TPM 2.0 seems to be the most significant 'qualification'.

What took me by surprise was that restoring an image of an unencrypted machine to an 'eligible' one triggered the device encryption.

One more reason to bypass compatibility check even for compliant systems. I would disable TMP 2.0 and Secure Boot, bypass compatibility check, install or upgrade to 24H2, make sure BitLocker is disabled, and then enable TMP 2.0 and Secure Boot. This will make sure your disks won't be automatically encrypted, but only if you choose to do so with a password you know.

siliconbeaver · 2025-06-07T18:54:04-0400

this happened when my PC moved from HP 800 G3 (6th, non-TPM 2.0, unsupported) to 8th/9th, TPM 2.0, supported. either HP or Dell.

frankly, I hated that. every time after 24H2 Pro OS migration to a new PC, I needed to remove "Bitlocker encryption" (all PCs in a LAN, request to share data, to access easily, in my work)

my latest OS migration has changed to use 23H2.

Bree said:
An interesting observation regarding device encryption.

A few days ago I clean installed 24H2 on an unsupported laptop to set it up as a simple file server (fails on 4th gen i7, TPM 1.2). Yesterday I decided I had a better machine for the job, one that only fails on its 6th gen i7. So I used Macrium Reflect to image the first machine and restore to the second.

As expected, the initial install on the 1st machine did not encrypt the C: drive. So far, so good....

I hadn't expected what happened next. On finding itself on a new machine that now had TPM 2.0 Windows automatically turned on device encryption in anticipation of me turning on full Bitlocker.

I thought that was only supposed to happen during OOBE after a clean install on a suitable machine (which the 1st one wasn't). The 2nd machine wasn't a clean install, it was an already configured OS that had been running for a while on the previous machine. But the fact that it now had TPM 2.0 available was apparently enough to trigger the automatic device encryption. Something to watch out for.....

I've turned off encryption now, I don't want/need it on this PC.

siliconbeaver · 2025-06-07T18:56:50-0400

I am using "SD11" script from MDL to handle that on 24H2. but so far only tested on VM.
my physical devices are running 23H2.

spapakons said:
One more reason to bypass compatibility check even for compliant systems. I would disable TMP 2.0 and Secure Boot, bypass compatibility check, install or upgrade to 24H2, make sure BitLocker is disabled, and then enable TMP 2.0 and Secure Boot. This will make sure your disks won't be automatically encrypted, but only if you choose to do so with a password you know.

Dirtyflash · 2025-06-07T19:24:23-0400

Seems the older the non-compliant system that can run 24H2, the better?

spapakons · 2025-06-08T03:26:38-0400

Dirtyflash said:
Seems the older the non-compliant system that can run 24H2, the better?

Even a current generation CPU system becomes non-compliant when you change one of the official requirements, such as disabling TMP 2.0 during installation/upgrade.

Stigg · 2025-06-08T03:34:13-0400

Just to bring this thread back to the present.
What is currently the best method?

This last worked for me.
setup.exe /product server

spapakons · 2025-06-08T04:32:38-0400

Stigg said:
Just to bring this thread back to the present.
What is currently the best method?

This last worked for me.
setup.exe /product server

That's the only method (except using Rufus) that still works for upgrade to 24H2. The old method of replacing a specific file doesn't work for 24H2. For clean installation the Registry hack still works, but I would first switch to the old Setup (click that option when prompted), just in case.

Stigg · 2025-06-08T04:53:18-0400

spapakons said:
That's the only method (except using Rufus) that still works for upgrade to 24H2. The old method of replacing a specific file doesn't work for 24H2. For clean installation the Registry hack still works, but I would first switch to the old Setup (click that option when prompted), just in case.

I really don't know why Microsoft is applying these restrictions.
Many older computers still run very well.

I'm not short of money, but it's such a waste to bin computers just because Microsoft say so.

I still have a computer running fine that I built on November 20, 2009.
These are the basic specs.

GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD7 Motherboard
Intel Core i7 920 Processor LGA1366 2.66GHz 8MB Cache CPU

spapakons · 2025-06-08T07:02:28-0400

They do it to show the hardware manufacturers that they help them sell more computers, but they make sure the workarounds to bypass compatibility check "accidentally leak" (I don't believe it), so advanced users can force upgrade their old computers and won't lose their huge user base. If we couldn't upgrade to 11, we would either stay with 10 as long as possible or switch to Linux. That's Microsoft losing customers and that's exactly what they try to avoid without letting down hardware manufacturers that want to sell new computers. So the average user that doesn't know how to force install Windows 11 will likely replace their computers, mission accomplished. Also the advanced user will keep his current computer forcing the upgrade to 11, thereby staying loyal to Microsoft, it is a win-win (pun intended) situation.

Let's install Windows 11 on incompatible hardware

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