How to install Windows 11 on unsupported hardware

UPDATED 2/17/2024: If you have a computer with unsupported hardware, you may upgrade to Windows 11 (including version 23H2 or 22H2), but not through Windows Update. Instead, you must use a bootable USB flash drive or ISO file to manually perform a clean install or in-place upgrade.

Microsoft left the loophole open but didn’t mention it anywhere in the documentation, nor is it supported. According to the company, installing Windows 11 on unsupported hardware is an option for organizations. However, anyone could upgrade at their own risk, knowing there is no guarantee of system stability and driver compatibility.

In other words, you can manually continue the setup if you install Windows 11 on incompatible hardware. However, you must acknowledge that the upgrade will have an “unsupported state.” Microsoft defines an “unsupported state” as a computer that doesn’t meet the minimum system requirements. As a result, it won’t be entitled to receive updates from Windows Update. Although these devices may continue to receive updates anyway, the company isn’t obligated to provide security and driver updates or technical support.

In this tutorial, I will teach you how to install Windows 11 (version 23H2 or 22H2) on a computer with incompatible hardware. Since the device does not officially support the new version of Windows, using this workaround is not recommended unless you know the risks and understand that stability, compatibility, and updates are not guaranteed.

Install Windows 11 on unsupported hardware from USB
Upgrade to Windows 11 on unsupported hardware from ISO file
Upgrade to Windows 11 on unsupported hardware from Command Prompt
Upgrade to Windows 11 on unsupported hardware from Registry
Install Windows 11 on unsupported hardware from Rufus

Important: Microsoft is expected to require the POPCNT instruction inside the processor to install Windows 11 24H2. Otherwise, the computer will fail to boot. However, you will continue to be able to perform an installation on unsupported processors. The only exclusion will be processors from AMD and Intel released before 2008.

Install Windows 11 on unsupported hardware from USB

Using the ISO file to perform a clean installation, you must create a bootable media using a third-party tool like Rufus or Command Prompt to start the setup process with a USB flash drive.

In addition, you also have to make sure the device can start from USB, which means you will have to change the UEFI settings. Since most computers have different settings, check your manufacturer support website for more specific details.

To install Windows 11 on an unsupported PC, use these steps:

Start the unsupported PC with the Windows 11 USB flash drive.
Press any key to continue.
Use the “Shift + F10” keyboard shortcut to open Command Prompt.
Type the following command and press Enter:
```
regedit
```
Navigate the following path:
```
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Setup
```
Right-click the Setup (folder) key, select New, and then the Key option.
Name the key LabConfig and press Enter.
Right-click the LabConfig (folder) key, select New, and then the DWORD (32-bit) Value option.
Name the key BypassTPMCheck and press Enter.
Double-click the newly created key and set its value from 0 to 1.
Click the OK button.
Right-click the LabConfig (folder) key, select New, and then the DWORD (32-bit) Value option.
Name the DWORD BypassSecureBootCheck and press Enter.
Double-click the newly created key and set its value from 0 to 1.
Click the OK button.
Click the Next button.
Click the Install now button.
Click the “I don’t have a product key” option if you are reinstalling. If Windows 11 has been previously activated after the installation, reactivation will happen automatically.
Select the edition of “Windows 11” that your license key activates (if applicable).
Check the “I accept the license terms”option.
Click the Next button.
Select the “Custom: Install Windows only (advanced)” option.
Select each partition in the hard drive you want to install Windows 11 and click the Delete button. (Typically, the “Drive 0” is the drive that contains all the installation files.)
Warning: Deleting a partition also deletes all data on the drive. Also, it is not necessary to delete the partitions from a secondary hard drive.
Select the hard drive (“Drive 0 Unallocated Space”) to install Windows 11 on an unsupported device.
Click the Next button.
Select your region setting after the installation on the first page of the out-of-the-box experience (OOBE).
Click the Yes button.
Select your keyboard layout setting.
Click the Yes button.
Click the Skip button if you do not need to configure a second layout.
The computer will automatically connect to the network using an Ethernet connection. If you have a wireless connection, you must set up the connection manually (a security key may be required) and click the Next button.
Confirm a name for the computer.
Quick note: This is an optional step, but it’s highly recommended to set a name to make it easier to identify the device in the network, on your Microsoft account, and when restoring your computer from backup. Also, after completing this step, the setup will restart to apply the new name, but it’ll start where you left off to continue with the settings.
Click the Next button. (The device will restart automatically.)
Select the “Set up for personal use” option if configuring Windows 11 Pro. The “Home” edition does not have this option.
Quick tip: Use the “Set up for work or school” option to skip the Microsoft account and create a local account.
Click the Next button.
Click the Sign in button.
Confirm your Microsoft account email or phone number to create an account.
Click the Next button.
Confirm your Microsoft account password.
Click the Next button.
Click the “More options” setting.
See Also
Can your old PC run Windows 10? The answer will surprise you Why You Shouldn't Bypass Windows 11's Hardware Requirements Windows 11 Home vs Windows 11 Pro: What's the difference?8 Ways Windows 11 Is Better Than Windows 10
Quick tip: You can also click the “Restore from this PC” button to restore your files, apps, settings, and credentials from the system backup available in your OneDrive account. You can learn more about the Windows Backup app in this guide.
Click the “Set up a new device” option to continue or select the backup to restore.
Click the Create PIN button.
Create a new four-digit PIN.
Click the OK button.
Scroll down and confirm the privacy settings that best suit your situation by turning on or off the toggle switch for each setting.
Click theAccept button.
(Optional) On the “Let’s customize your experience” page, select one or more ways you plan to use the device to allow the setup to suggest tools and service customizations during this experience.
Click the Accept button to continue. Or click the Skip button to skip this part of the setup.
Click the Skip button for the Android phone link process.
Click the “Continue without” button to skip the Microsoft 365 setup.
Click the Decline button to skip the OneDrive offer.
Click the “Skip for now” button to skip the Game Pass subscription promotion.

Once you complete the steps, Windows 11 will install in an unsupported state, so you may not get security or driver updates.

Upgrade to Windows 11 on unsupported hardware from ISO file

Alternatively, you can perform an in-place upgrade of Windows 11 with an ISO file on a device that doesn’t meet the system requirements. However, you must run a script to bypass the TPM, Secure Boot, and processor check.

1. Bypass Windows 11 requirement checks

To bypass the minimum system requirements to install Windows 11, use these steps:

Open MediaCreationTool.bat GitHub page.
Click the Code button from the top-right corner and the Download Zip option.
Select the MediaCreationToo.bat-main folder and click the Extract all button.
Click the Browse button.
Select the extraction location and click the Select folder button.
Click the Extract button.
In the extracted folder, inside the MediaCreationToo.bat-main folder, open the bypass11 folder.
Right-click the “Skip_TPM_Check_on_Dynamic_Update.cmd” file and select the Run as administrator option.
Click the More info option.
Click the Run anyway button.

Once you complete the steps, you can mount an ISO file to begin the installation of Windows 11 on unsupported hardware (see steps below). If the script is not working, restart the computer and run it several times.

2. Upgrade to Windows 11 from ISO

To upgrade an incompatible computer to Windows 11 with an ISO file, use these steps:

Open Microsoft Support website.
Under the “Download Windows 11 Disk Image (ISO)” section, select the Windows 11 option.
Click the Download button.
Select the installation language.
Click the Confirm button.
Click the Download button to save the Windows 11 ISO file on the device.
Right-click the ISO file, select the Open with submenu, and choose the Windows Explorer option.
Click on the mounted drive from the left navigation pane.
Double-click the Setup file to begin the Windows 11 upgrade process.
(Optional) Click the “Change how Windows Setup downloads updates” option.
Select the “Not right now” option.
Click the Next button.
Click the Install button to upgrade while keeping files and apps.

If you want to start fresh with a clean installation of Windows 11, click the “Change what to keep” option, select the “Nothing” option, click the Next button, and then click the “Install” button.

After you complete the steps, the setup will continue to upgrade the laptop or desktop computer to the Windows 11 2022 Update (version 22H2). However, Windows 11 will run in an unsupported state that won’t guarantee updates, nor will you receive support from Microsoft.

Upgrade to Windows 11 on unsupported hardware from Command Prompt

Also, it’s possible to perform an in-place upgrade from an installation media with a single special command that will allow the system to bypass the system requirements.

Although this method continues to work at the time of writing, as of build 25977, you can no longer use this command. However, it’s still possible to bypass the check with the setupprep /product server command is available in the “Sources” folder in the installation media.

To upgrade a computer that doesn’t meet the Windows 11 requirements through Command Prompt, use these steps:

Open Microsoft Support website.
Under the “Download Windows 11 Disk Image (ISO)” section, select the Windows 11 option.
Click the Download button.
Select the installation language.
Click the Confirm button.
Click the Download button to save the Windows 11 ISO file on the device.
Right-click the ISO file, select the Open with submenu, and choose the Windows Explorer option.
Confirm the letter for the drive with the installation files.
Open Start.
Search for Command Prompt, right-click the top result, and choose the Run as administrator option.
Type the following command to open the location with the installation files and press Enter:
See Also
How to know what windows you have? 3 Methods to Find Out
```
J:
```
In the command, change the letter “J” for the letter that corresponds to your drive.
Type the following command to run the Windows 11 setup bypassing the hardware requirements and press Enter:
```
setup.exe /product server
```
Quick tip: If the command doesn’t work, in the installation drive, open the “Sources” folder with the cd sources command and run the setupprep /product server to launch the setup again.
(Optional) Click the “Change how Windows Setup downloads updates” option.
Select the “Not right now” option.
Click the Next button.
Click the Install button to upgrade while keeping files and apps.

Once you complete the steps, the setup will continue to upgrade to the latest version of Windows 11. However, Windows 11 will run in an unsupported state that won’t guarantee updates, nor will you receive support from Microsoft.

Also, note that the setup will now be labeled as “Windows Server,” but it’ll install the client version of the operating system.

While this command works to upgrade a device running Windows 10 or an older version of Windows 11, it’s important to mention that there will be times when it may not work, and you may end up with a message about the setup not being able to determine if your computer is compatible. You can try the command a few more times, but if it doesn’t work, you should try a different method.

Upgrade to Windows 11 on unsupported hardware from Registry

Although it’s not supported, Microsoft has published a workaround to bypass the Windows 11 requirements to continue the setup by editing the Registry. However, the computer needs a TPM 1.2 chip and UEFI firmware with Secure Boot enabled. (These steps may or may not work on Windows 11 22H2.)

1. Edit Registry to bypass official checks

To bypass the minimum system requirements to upgrade to Windows 11, use these steps:

Open Start.
Search for regedit and click the top result to open the Registry Editor.
Navigate to the following path:
```
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Setup\MoSetup
```
Right-click the MoSetup (folder) key, select the New submenu, and choose the “DWORD (32-bit) Value” option.
Name the key AllowUpgradesWithUnsupportedTPMOrCPU and press Enter.
Double-click the newly created key and set its value from 0 to 1.

Once you complete the steps, you can mount an ISO file or connect a USB media to begin the installation of Windows 11 on unsupported hardware.

2. Upgrade to Windows 11 using ISO file

To begin the Windows 11 upgrade process, use these steps:

Open Microsoft Support website.
Under the “Download Windows 11 Disk Image (ISO)” section, select the Windows 11 option.
Click the Download button.
Select the installation language.
Click the Confirm button.
Click the Download button to save the Windows 11 ISO file on the device.
Right-click the ISO file, select the Open with submenu, and choose the Windows Explorer option.
Click on the mounted drive from the left navigation pane.
Double-click the Setup file to begin the Windows 11 upgrade process.
(Optional) Click the “Change how Windows Setup downloads updates” option.
Select the “Not right now” option.
Click the Next button.
Click the Accept button to agree to the terms.
Click the Install button to upgrade while keeping your files and apps.

If you want to start fresh with a clean installation of Windows 11, click the “Change what to keep” option, select the “Nothing” option, click the “Next” button, and then click the “Install” button.

Once you complete the steps, the setup will continue with the upgrade on your device to Windows 11.

Install Windows 11 on unsupported hardware from Rufus

Alternatively, you can create a Windows 11 bootable USB that bypasses the TPM 2.0, Secure Boot, and memory requirements on unsupported hardware using the Rufus tool.

1. Create bootable USB with Rufus

To create a bootable USB of Windows 11 to bypass hardware requirements, use these steps:

Open Rufuswebsite.
Click the link to download the latest version.
Double-click the rufus.4.x.exe file to launch the tool.
Under the “Device” section, use the drop-down menu and select the flash drive to create the Windows 11 bootable USB media.
Click the Select button.
Select the Windows 11 ISO file.
Click the Open button.
Select the “Standard Windows Partition” option in the “Image option” setting.
Select the GPT option in the “Partition scheme” setting.
Select the UEFI (non CSM) option in the “Target system” setting.
Under the “Volume label” section, specify a descriptive name for the Windows 11 bootable USB flash drive – For example, Windows 11 Bypass.
Use the default settings for the File system and Cluster size options.
Check the Quick format option.
Check the “Create extended label and icon files” option.
Click the Start button.
Check the “Remove requirement for 4GB RAM, Secure Boot, and TPM 2.0” option to install Windows 11 on unsupported hardware.
Check the “Remove requirement for an online Microsoft account” option to use a local account and bypass the internet requirements.
Click the OK button.

Once you complete the steps, Rufus will create a bootable USB media with the hardware requirements turned off, and you can now proceed to install a fresh copy of Windows 11 or an in-place upgrade on unsupported hardware with the same steps as a regular installation.

2. Clean Windows 11 install on unsupported hardware

To perform a clean install of Windows 11 from a Rufus USB on unsupported hardware, use these steps:

Start the unsupported PC with the Windows 11 USB flash drive.
Press any key to continue.
Click the Next button.
Click the Install now button.
Click the “I don’t have a product key” option if you are doing a reinstallation. If Windows 11 was previously activated after the installation, reactivation would happen automatically.
Select the edition of “Windows 11” that your license key activates (if applicable).
Check the “I accept the license terms”option.
Click the Next button.
Select the “Custom: Install Windows only (advanced)” option.
Select each partition in the hard drive you want to install Windows 11 and click the Delete button. (Typically, the “Drive 0” is the drive that contains all the installation files.)
Warning: When you delete a partition, it also deletes all data on the drive. Also, it is not required to delete the partitions from a secondary hard drive.
Select the hard drive (Drive 0 Unallocated Space) to install the operating system.
Click the Next button.
Select the hard drive (“Drive 0 Unallocated Space”) to install Windows 11 on your device.
Click the Next button.
Select your region setting after the installation on the first page of the out-of-the-box experience (OOBE).
Click the Yes button.
Select your keyboard layout setting.
Click the Yes button.
Click the Skip button if you do not need to configure a second layout.
The computer will automatically connect to the network using an Ethernet connection. If you have a wireless connection, you must set up the connection manually (a security key may be required) and click the Next button.
Confirm a name for the computer.
Quick note: This is an optional step, but it’s highly recommended to set a name to make it easier to identify the device in the network, on your Microsoft account, and when restoring your computer from backup. Also, after completing this step, the setup will restart to apply the new name, but it’ll start where you left off to continue with the settings.
Click the Next button. (The device will restart automatically.)
Select the “Set up for personal use” option if configuring Windows 11 Pro. The “Home” edition does not have this option.
Quick tip: Use the “Set up for work or school” option to skip the Microsoft account and create a local account.
Click the Next button.
Click the Sign in button.
Confirm your Microsoft account email or phone number to create an account.
Click the Next button.
Confirm your Microsoft account password.
Click the Next button.
Click the “More options” setting.
Quick tip: You can also click the “Restore from this PC” button to restore your files, apps, settings, and credentials from the system backup available in your OneDrive account. You can learn more about the Windows Backup app in this guide.
Click the “Set up a new device” option to continue or select the backup to restore.
Click the Create PIN button.
Create a new four-digit PIN.
Click the OK button.
Scroll down and confirm the privacy settings that best suit your situation by turning on or off the toggle switch for each setting.
Click theAccept button.
(Optional) On the “Let’s customize your experience” page, select one or more ways you plan to use the device to allow the setup to suggest tools and service customizations during this experience.
Click the Accept button to continue. Or click the Skip button to skip this part of the setup.
Click the Skip button for the Android phone link process.
Click the “Continue without” button to skip the Microsoft 365 setup.
Click the Decline button to skip the OneDrive offer.
Click the “Skip for now” button to skip the Game Pass subscription promotion.

Once you complete the steps, Windows 11 will install on a computer that doesn’t meet the minimum requirements for processor, memory, and security components.

If you want to perform an in-place upgrade, then connect the bootable media on the unsupported computer, run the “Setup.exe” installer, and continue with the on-screen directions like a regular upgrade.

Update October 11, 2023: Added the instructions to use a Command Prompt command to launch the setup experience to bypass the requirements on an unsupported computer.

Update October 21, 2023: This tutorial has been updated with additional instructions for the Command Prompt method.

Update November 6, 2023: This guide has been updated to ensure accuracy and reflect changes in the Out-of-box Experience with version 23H2.

How to install Windows 11 on unsupported hardware - Pureinfotech (2024)