Let's install Windows 11 on incompatible hardware

Hopachi · Sep 2, 2021

jbcarreon123 said:
I have an limited internet speed, and the boot drive is an HDD. Upgrading through ISO is not an option.
Also, I have an ISO but it will downgrade me to 22000.71

That ISO is fine.
How about manually installing the updates?

jbcarreon123 · Sep 2, 2021

Hopachi said:
That ISO is fine.
How about manually installing the updates?

I'm now on ~~22000.186~~.
/edit
22000.168

Hopachi · Sep 2, 2021

jbcarreon123 said:
I'm now on 22000.186.

You should be able to install updates manually, through msu or cab file method.

Install CAB file in Windows 10

How to Install a CAB File in Windows 10

www.tenforums.com

Bree · Sep 2, 2021

jbcarreon123 said:
Also, I have an ISO but it will downgrade me to 22000.71

That should not be an issue, it should check for updates and upgrade itself to the latest build. My non-insider installs were done with a UUPDump ISO for that build and have since had all the CUs. Even my very much below spec System Two is now on 22000.168.

jbcarreon123 · Sep 2, 2021

Bree said:
That should not be an issue, it should check for updates and upgrade itself to the latest build. My non-insider installs were done with a UUPDump ISO for that build and have since had all the CUs. Even my very much below spec System Two is now on 22000.168.

I didn't update my ISO

Bree · Sep 2, 2021

jbcarreon123 said:
I didn't update my ISO

As long as the major build 22000 is the same It won't matter if you use an ISO for an older minor build such as .71.

An install or upgrade using an ISO for an old build by default will check for updates during the install if done while online. If not done while online, then windows update will check for and install updates when you boot up the newly installed Windows.

spapakons · Sep 2, 2021

I tried the two methods below successfully:

Method 1: Create a Windows 10 USB Flash drive and replace the file install.wim (or install.esd) in the sources folder with that from Windows 11 ISO. I could boot into an old unsupported Acer laptop (see my specs) and successfully install Windows 11. Of course I cannot upgrade to a newer build directly, but I could try deleting the appropriate file from Windows Setup temporary files on disk C before starting the setup process (see earlier posts in this thread).

Method 2: Delete the appropriate file from Windows Setup temporary files in C to bypass compatibility checks and upgrade from Windows 10 to 11 or from one build of 11 to a newer build on unsupported systems. I have successfully upgraded another laptop, Lenovo ThinkPad T450 from Windows 10 Pro to Windows 11 Pro. Unfortunately, to do that you must start the setup from the ISO. If you have access to another computer, you can download the ISO, extract all the files to a folder, share the folder to the network and then access setup from the network, you don't have to sacrifice valuable disk space at your target computer

Bree · Sep 2, 2021

spapakons said:
Method 1: Create a Windows 10 USB Flash drive and replace the file install.wim (or install.esd) in the sources folder with that from Windows 11 ISO. I could boot into an old unsupported Acer laptop (see my specs) and successfully install Windows 11.

Yes, I have used that method too. I haven't used it recently, but every time I tested it with hybrid install media there was always a problem with a broken Windows Security app. Screenshots here:

https://www.elevenforum.com/t/kb500...ev-build-10-0-22000-51-june-28.195/post-10220 - post #838

This is not a 'show stopper' as it can then be fixed with an in-place repair upgrade using your Method 2.

Colif · Sep 2, 2021

just curious, has this been mentioned yet?

Company spokespeople have said that users can manually perform an upgrade using offline media, either via the Media Creation Tool or via official ISOs on PCs with CPUs that aren't on the official list, just like Windows 10 can. The only requirements that will be checked during a manual upgrade or install are whether or not the PC has TPM 1.2 enabled, 64GB minimum storage, 4GB RAM, and a dual-core CPU.

Microsoft does not recommend or encourage users to manually upgrade to Windows 11 via offline media on unsupported PCs, and will continue to refer to the official requirements when asked. Of course, upgrading an unsupported PCs may result in a dysfunctional or broken state, though most modern PCs will likely work just fine, even if officially "unsupported" by Windows 11.

Official Windows 11 ISOs will not hard block most PCs with CPUs that aren't officially supported

Unsupported PCs can still join the fun, even if Microsoft doesn't recommend it.

www.windowscentral.com

sorry if it has but it might help once Win 11 is actually out as it seems you don't need tpm 2.0 for it. I don't get why WU version needs 2.0 yet ISO only wants 1.2.

Jack07 · Sep 2, 2021

I failed upgrading from 22000.176 to 22449 on incompatible hardware.

Using offlineinsiderenroll at 6% download it checks the PC and rolls back.

Using a ISO made with UUPDump and Win 11 Boot And Upgrade FiX KiT v2.0 - it will fail at 0% upgrade.

erpster4 · Sep 2, 2021

spapakons said:
There should not be a difference

a few weeks late on this but thanks. just installed Win11 Pro (build 22000.132) a while ago on a very old Dell laptop that uses Intel Core 2 Mobile T7600 CPU and 4gb of RAM (but only 3.25gb is usable to the Win11 OS) {see attached pic}

spapakons said:
I tried the two methods below successfully:

Method 1: Create a Windows 10 USB Flash drive and replace the file install.wim (or install.esd) in the sources folder with that from Windows 11 ISO. I could boot into an old unsupported Acer laptop (see my specs) and successfully install Windows 11. Of course I cannot upgrade to a newer build directly, but I could try deleting the appropriate file from Windows Setup temporary files on disk C before starting the setup process (see earlier posts in this thread).

Method 2: Delete the appropriate file from Windows Setup temporary files in C to bypass compatibility checks and upgrade from Windows 10 to 11 or from one build of 11 to a newer build on unsupported systems. I have successfully upgraded another laptop, Lenovo ThinkPad T450 from Windows 10 Pro to Windows 11 Pro. Unfortunately, to do that you must start the setup from the ISO. If you have access to another computer, you can download the ISO, extract all the files to a folder, share the folder to the network and then access setup from the network, you don't have to sacrifice valuable disk space at your target computer

or perhaps do the "reverse" as someone named Ken P commented here
(replace Win11 sources folder with the Win10 sources folder on the bootable Win11 usb install media, except for install.wim/install.esd)

Jack07 · Sep 2, 2021

Jack07 said:
I failed upgrading from 22000.176 to 22449 on incompatible hardware.

Using offlineinsiderenroll at 6% download it checks the PC and rolls back.

Using a ISO made with UUPDump and Win 11 Boot And Upgrade FiX KiT v2.0 - it will fail at 0% upgrade.

So it worked using the offlineinsiderenroll. After it fails due to system checks you go to C:\$WINDOWS.~BT\Sources\ and delete the appraiserres.dll then click retry to start the update again.

Some people replaced appraiserres.dll with one from a Windows 10 iso, but in my case it worked by just deleting that file.

erpster4 · Sep 2, 2021

I manually updated to 22000.176 using abbodi's latest W10UI script tool.
use that to install the KB5006050 cab & psf files after getting those files thru uupdump - went through without problems

I won't bother trying out 22449.x anytime soon

spapakons · Sep 3, 2021

As I said, use the ISO (offline media) for the upgrade, not Windows Update directly. It always work. I clean installed Windows 11 in my laptop (see my specs), so I didn't have the security settings glitch. If I would upgrade to a newer Windows 11 build, I would use the second method by deleting the appropriate file from setup cache on C. This worked and did not notice any glitches.

Hopachi · Sep 3, 2021

erpster4 said:
I manually updated to 22000.176 using abbodi's latest W10UI script tool.
use that to install the KB5006050 cab & psf files after getting those files thru uupdump - went through without problems

I won't bother trying out 22449.x anytime soon

That's the one I used as well on earlier updates.
Will try it with later release later on.
The cab & psf way...

Kari · Sep 5, 2021

jimbo45 said:
Hi @Kari

on HYPER-V the TPM emulation seems OK but can you also fiddle around with the CPU topography so the HYPER-V VM "thinks" it's running a supported CPU?

Simple answer is no.

Hyper-V VM always uses the host machine CPU directly, therefore VM Device Manager reports / shows exactly the same CPU as the host. Screenshot from a Hyper-V VM on this laptop I am currently using (System 2 in my specs). That's exactly the same than the host reports / shows:

Kari

jimbo45 · Sep 5, 2021

Kari said:
Simple answer is no.

Hyper-V VM always uses the host machine CPU directly, therefore VM Device Manager reports / shows exactly the same CPU as the host. Screenshot from a Hyper-V VM on this laptop I am currently using (System 2 in my specs). That's exactly the same than the host reports / shows:

View attachment 7158

Kari

Hi there

thanks -- however the CPU could be a problem further down the line of W11 restrictions as they were originally published become enforced.

I was hoping that away from the HYPER-V GUI for managing the VM there might be an "editable XML file" which *might be* capable of being edited to change the Virtual CPU. !!!

So far not necessary --GEN 2 performance seems reasonably snappy -- "Poodle faking" the CPU does actually work by using a "2nd level" VM -- i.e HOST KVM->Windows 10 with Hyper V->W11 VM -- performance isn't actually as poor as I would have thought !!!!

2nd level VM : to create (for AMD change Intel to AMD)

sudo modprobe -r kvm_intel
sudo modprobe kvm_intel nested=1
echo "options kvm-intel nested=1" | sudo tee /etc/modprobe.d/kvm-intel.conf

Check :

$ systool -m kvm_intel -v | grep nested
nested = "Y"
nested_early_check = "N"
$ cat /sys/module/kvm_intel/parameters/nested
Y

I know you are 100% Windows but I put this in because others who read these Forums might well want to try something like that. !!!

Cheers
jimbo

Almighty1 · Sep 5, 2021

erpster4 said:
I manually updated to 22000.176 using abbodi's latest W10UI script tool.
use that to install the KB5006050 cab & psf files after getting those files thru uupdump - went through without problems

I won't bother trying out 22449.x anytime soon

What's the correct URL to get the latest W10UI script tool? Also, what's the difference between the PSF and the regular versions?

erpster4 · Sep 6, 2021

Almighty1 said:
What's the correct URL to get the latest W10UI script tool? Also, what's the difference between the PSF and the regular versions?

here - latest W10UI version is 10.9f

you can also ask abbodi about PSF - he's also active in MDL forums as well

edit - saw this recent comment about 22449.100