New Rufus-like app brings simple Windows 11 24H2 unsupported PC (CPU/TPM) bypass

Performed some testing and I have good news and bad news...

Test scenario

Install a clean copy of 23H2 (build 22631.4037) on Hyper-V. Set Hyper-V to not provide a TPM, and turn off TPM for the VM.
Attempted an upgrade install to 27718.1000.

Test 1 - Use "setup /product server"

This failed and would not allow the upgrade.

Test 2 - Change to the sources folder on install media and run "setupprep /product server"

This test also failed.

Test 3 - Patch the ISO image to mark it as a type "server" product.

SUCCESS!

When starting setup in this manner I got a screen I had never seen before that looks like this:



Simply enter your Windows Generic Product Key like this and click on Next:



To make this change to your Windows installation media, simply do this (this is very fast, taking mere seconds after running the commands):

NOTE: A hat tip to @garlin. It was Garlin who posted the fact that wimlib could be used to do this.

Download wimlib from here:

https://wimlib.net/

Extract the contents of the ZIP file to a folder.

For this procedure we need only two of the files from wimlib: wimlib-imagex.exe and libwim-15.dll.

Open a command prompt and change to the folder where wimlib-imagex.exe is located.

EDIT: Mount your Windows ISO image by double-clicking the ISO image in File Explorer. Note the drive letter it is mounted to. I assume D: in this example.

Get the number of indicies in the image:


The result looks something like this:

Image Count = 11

Modify the installation type, changing it to "Server". Note that the third number in the parenthesis should reflect the number of indicies in the image as found from the above command.


Example of the results:

Setting the WINDOWS/INSTALLATIONTYPE property of image 1 to "Server".
Setting the WINDOWS/INSTALLATIONTYPE property of image 2 to "Server".
Setting the WINDOWS/INSTALLATIONTYPE property of image 3 to "Server".
Setting the WINDOWS/INSTALLATIONTYPE property of image 4 to "Server".
Setting the WINDOWS/INSTALLATIONTYPE property of image 5 to "Server".
Setting the WINDOWS/INSTALLATIONTYPE property of image 6 to "Server".
Setting the WINDOWS/INSTALLATIONTYPE property of image 7 to "Server".
Setting the WINDOWS/INSTALLATIONTYPE property of image 8 to "Server".
Setting the WINDOWS/INSTALLATIONTYPE property of image 9 to "Server".
Setting the WINDOWS/INSTALLATIONTYPE property of image 10 to "Server".
Setting the WINDOWS/INSTALLATIONTYPE property of image 11 to "Server".

That is all that you need to do FOR AN UPGRADE INSTALL. Just create your physical installation media like normal using this patched image.

OPTIONAL: If you also want to patch your ISO image to bypass Win 11 requirements for a CLEAN INSTALL, do this:

Extract the contents of your Windows ISO image to a folder. In this example I will assume D:\Project\ISO_Files.

Create a temporary folder to place a copy of the BOOT.WIM file. I will assume D:\Project\WinPE.
Copy the BOOT.WIM from D:\Project\ISO_Files\Sources to D:\Project\WinPE.

Create another folder to mount the BOOT.WIM file to. In this procedure I will the use of D:\Project\MOUNT.

Run the following commands from an elevated command prompt:


Repeat for index 2 (the boot.wim contains 2 images):


Copy the boot.wim file from D:\Project\WinPE to D:\Project\ISO_Files\Sources overwriting the copy that is there.

Use your favorite method to convert the files on the HDD back into a bootable ISO image or create your physical boot media the same way you would normally. My preference is to use OSCDIMG from the Windows ADK like this (note that this is all one single long command):


NOTE: If you use different paths, make sure to change all 3 paths in the above command. Also, I am saving the final ISO image to D:\project\Win11.iso. Use whatever path and filename you wish.

Dell 5810, "unsupported machine", with v4 motherboard can be had for peanuts, and can be upgraded. via DELL firmware patch, to TPM2.0.

With previously mentioned regedit lines, Win 24H2 can be installed on this machine, from official Microsoft iso, burned by Rufus.

Why users prefer "acrobatic insanity" (Mission Impossible 2 ), over such a simple solution, really is beyond me..

Thanks for the alternative to Rufus utility and for the guide how to mark images as server. I hope I won't need it soon but good to know. Giving up and buying a new PC, no matter how cheap, is the easy solution, but the whole point of these threads is to keep your old hardware as much as possible. It sounds much like giving up troubleshooting, even for simple issues and just format and reinstall Windows. Some teenagers do that and pose as computer experts. This is not very convenient. Of course a very old one like my test laptop without SSE4.2 cannot be upgraded forever, but a 10-12 year old one is still very fast and since we can perfectly do our job or gaming, why change it? Thankfully we can still upgrade to 24H2 and keep it as current and fully capable as possible. Maybe we can buy a refurbished for peanuts (correction: for a large bag of peanuts), but if we can avoid this unneeded expense, even better.

spapakons said:

Giving up and buying a new PC, no matter how cheap, is the easy solution, but the whole point of these threads is to keep your old hardware as much as possible. I

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If a PC:

• Does not have NVME socket, or does not natively support booting from NVME,
• Does not have UEFI bios,
• Does not support at least DDR4 2400MHz,
• Does not support BIOS updating from non bootable USB Key,
• Does not support Secure boot,
• Does not support TPM 2.0

It is just too old to be running modern os, and inherently susceptible to modern malware.

Sure, one can waste time trying to overcome it's old age, but wouldn't it be better, spending that time, doing something creative?
Tinkering/Troubleshooting unnecessarily, is for the unsophisticated, in my book.

Of course very few agree with you because not anybody has money to waste on a new computer. Yes, a new computer will be much faster that our current one, but we don't need a faster computer. Gamers already have invested in a Windows 11 compliant PC. All of us non-gamers can live with our current "slower" systems. So no, it is not a waste of time trying to prolong our computer's life. Although an old dual core is more than enough for a typical office PC, I would set the minimum a little higher, to at least a Intel Core-i3 CPU or equivalent AMD and at least 4GB DDR3 RAM and the mechanical disk replaced by an SSD. This description fits almost any system with SSE4.2 support, so if everyone has a system than can be upgraded to 24H2 and it doesn't need any faster, he can try to bypass compatibility check and install/upgrade to Windows 11 24H2. If he wants anything faster, he is free to replace it, but that doesn't mean all of us should replace our old PCs.

spapakons said:

Of course very few agree with you because not anybody has money to waste on a new computer. Yes, a new computer will be much faster that our current one, but we don't need a faster computer. Gamers already have invested in a Windows 11 compliant PC. All of us non-gamers can live with our current "slower" systems.

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Think you will find, I am one of the most "bang per buck" guys, you will ever hear from.

Last thing I would suggest, is buying a "new" computer, to run Windows 24H2.

I am merely stating, for approx £100 GBP/$140 USD/€130, person can buy old Dell Precision Workstation, that can run Win 24H2, if ISO burnt with Rufus.

What is actually astounding, is, you can fit Xeon 2687W V4 CPU to this machine, which is actually 8% faster, than i7-10700.

I prefer having fun with this rig, (have 4x of them), than struggling to get Win 24H2 running on non SSE4.2 CPU.

We have already established in other threads that there is not yet any known workaround to install 24H2 on a CPU without SSE4.2 All discussions here are to bypass compatibility check to install in a CPU with SSE4.2, which are Intel Core-3 first generation or higher and equivalent AMD CPUs with SSE4.2. Basically anything from 1st to 7th generation Intel Core-i3/i5/i7 and equivalent AMDs. Or compliant CPUs without TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot. Some for example may have old legacy installations of Windows 7/8 upgraded to 10 and now want to upgrade to 11 avoiding a new installation of Windows 11 in UEFI mode. Officially Windows 11 doesn't support Legacy BIOS mode, so the upgrade is not allowed and hence the need to bypass compatibility check, even on a compliant system.

Regarding replacing a 24H2 capable computer with a cheap refurbished, this is not always the desired solution. If this is an office PC, you wouldn't mind replacing it with a cheap refurbished one. But if it is a home PC, usually more powerful than the typical office PC of the same age, you would like to replace it with something equally good, not something with less capabilities. This raises the cost to the point most cannot afford it. So they either compromise and buy something newer but inferior or at least similar in performance to the what the currently have, or they have to give at least 2-3 times the amount of a cheap refurbished to buy something equivalent in features with better performance. For example you don't want to replace a full ATX motherboard with many ports, expansion slots etc with a mini-ATX one. In my current PC I have too many cards to reconnect and a mini-ATX card is no go. Same for the CPU. I currently have an Intel Core-i7, I cannot afford a newer Core-i7/i9 and I wouldn't like to replace it with a Core-i3. So I would rather "struggle" to upgrade my unsupported PC to Windows 11 24H2 than replace it.

spapakons said:

So I would rather "struggle" to upgrade my unsupported PC to Windows 11 24H2 than replace it.

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You know: all this is from the evil one. You can't make candy out of rubbish.

Dronix said:

You know: all this is from the evil one. You can't make candy out of rubbish.

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Agreed..
Even though my favorite quote involves, "You can't polish a ..."

neves said:

to waste effort on something when there is no chance of succeeding

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My bucket list contains a wish to create a new noun that means exactly this. Examples: typing on an unpowered keyboard; striving for a job the bosses have allready decided you'll never get; trying to pursuade someone their political viewpoint is wrong.

If pioneers and inventors gave up with each difficulty, we would still live in Middle Ages.

spapakons said:

If pioneers and inventors gave up with each difficulty, we would still live in Middle Ages.

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Pioneers and Inventors, provide better ways of doing things, for the advancement of humanity, not waste time unnecessarily, on problems that can be solved, by $130 spend on a PC.

Silvio said:

Pioneers and Inventors, provide better ways of doing things, for the advancement of humanity, not waste time unnecessarily, on problems that can be solved, by $130 spend on a PC.

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You don't want to understand. $130 will buy an entry level refurbished Windows 11 compliant computer. Nowhere near in features with what we already have. It's like swapping an old Mercedes for a Mini. Would you ever do that? I would rather keep my old Mercedes since I cannot afford a new one. Not swap it for a Mini! Besides I don't have $130 to waste right now, let alone the same hardware would cost more in Greece.

spapakons said:

You don't want to understand. $130 will buy an entry level refurbished Windows 11 compliant computer. Nowhere near in features with what we already have. It's like swapping an old Mercedes for a Mini. Would you ever do that? I would rather keep my old Mercedes since I cannot afford a new one. Not swap it for a Mini! Besides I don't have $130 to waste right now, let alone the same hardware would cost more in Greece.

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If a computer does not support:

SSE4.2,
Native NVME Boot,
DDR4,
UEFI Bios,
Secure Boot

It is just below par, for running modern operating systems, no amount of nostalgia will change that.

Well, my main PC (see 2nd system specs), supports UEFI, Secure Boot, SSE4.2, not sure if it has TPM at all, probably not, my RAM is DDR3 but fast enough for my needs, my SSD is SATA but I can buy a NVMe PCIe card if I ever need faster. And certainly is not junk, just because is 3rd generation. And as I have said, if I can do my job, my light gaming and whatever I want, why buy any faster? If I ever replace it, I will be ready to spend over 500-600€ to buy something equivalent in features, not an entry level refurbished. At the moment I don't have this amount and I don't want to compromise with anything inferior, so I keep what I have as long as I can.

spapakons said:

Well, my main PC (see 2nd system specs), supports UEFI, Secure Boot, SSE4.2, not sure if it has TPM at all, probably not, my RAM is DDR3 but fast enough for my needs, my SSD is SATA but I can buy a NVMe PCIe card if I ever need faster. And certainly is not junk, just because is 3rd generation. And as I have said, if I can do my job, my light gaming and whatever I want, why buy any faster? If I ever replace it, I will be ready to spend over 500-600€ to buy something equivalent in features, not an entry level refurbished. At the moment I don't have this amount and I don't want to compromise with anything inferior, so I keep what I have as long as I can.

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I bought my 2x main PCs (Dell Workstations, with 850W PSUs, dual gfx slots, TPM2, ddr 2400, sata 3 ports), for < £100 GBP each.

I ugraded the 2x Cpu's, to Xeon 2687W V4/Xeon 2680 V4 for £70 GBP total.

I use one for daily work, running Win 11 23H2 ( Will go 24H2 next year).
The other is my home computer, running Linux Fedora.
So others may choose to struggle running latest Windows on oldest hardware, I prefer to use my time wisely.

No struggle at all if you read the respective threads and follow easy instructions.