Let's install Windows 11 on incompatible hardware

While reading irrelevant stuff on Google I discovered the following interesting parameters for Windows 11 Setup:

/compat ignorewarning /migratedrivers all

The first suppresses minor warnings and proceeds with the upgrade without stopping the installation. The second is much more important! It leaves your perfectly working drivers alone, including official OEM drivers, without trying to replace them! So the full syntax of the command to upgrade Windows 11 on an unsupported computer is:

D:\setup /product server /compat ignorewarning /migratedrivers all

where D: is the drive letter of the virtual drive when you mount the ISO, change if different. Of course don't forget to disconnect from the internet during the installation, just in case.

The reason a lot of updates fail (SAFE_OS migration) is MS constantly pushes out a compatibility list which blocks specific drivers during an update. By ignoring the list with "/migratedrivers all", you're doing it at your own risk.

garlin said:

The reason a lot of updates fail (SAFE_OS migration) is MS constantly pushes out a compatibility list which blocks specific drivers during an update. By ignoring the list with "/migratedrivers all", you're doing it at your own risk.

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If a successful upgrade will save me many hours of installing, configuring and tweaking all my applications from scratch I am willing to take the risk. With the proper steps and precautions (install all updates, upgrade all drivers, disable unnecessary startup applications and devices, disconnect from the internet) I maximize the chance of success.

Disconnecting from the network means you're blocking the upgrade from checking the appcompat list. That's great for bypassing HW requirements, but it doesn't solve the problem of why MS added specific apps and drivers to the compatibility list. MS didn't add them for random reasons.

When you using Rufus to bypass the requirements, all it does is temporarily overwrite the HW portion of the block list in the registry. The goal in the end is to have a bootable Windows, and sometimes a driver should be blocked.

garlin said:

Disconnecting from the network means you're blocking the upgrade from checking the appcompat list. That's great for bypassing HW requirements, but it doesn't solve the problem of why MS added specific apps and drivers to the compatibility list. MS didn't add them for random reasons.

When you using Rufus to bypass the requirements, all it does is temporarily overwrite the HW portion of the block list in the registry. The goal in the end is to have a bootable Windows, and sometimes a driver should be blocked.

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All my drivers are compatible with Windows 10/11: Intel H61 chipset, nVidia GeForce RTX 3050, Realtek HD Audio, Realtek Gigabit Network, Wireless 802.11ac USB dongle, Bluetooth 4.0 USB dongle, so nothing to fear, especially if I have updated them all before the upgrade. I prefer to deal with some minor compatibility issues, if any, than doing a clean installation that would take days with my limited free time. Common sense.