TPM, homebuilds, and Win11

[AZRedhawk44]

I was always curious why my homebuild gaming PC would report on Windows Update, running Windows 10, that it wasn't compatible with Windows 11.

I did some research and found out it was due to the Trusted Platform Module in the BIOS.  All I had to do was enable/clear TPM and on the next reboot and WinUpdate check I was invited to upgrade to Windows 11.

That being said, is Win11 worth upgrading to?  What am I getting as far as gaming extensibility that I'm not getting with Windows 10?  What restrictions/compromises will I get on my computer as a result of the upgrade?

[lee n. field]

Worth it?   Probably only because Win 10 will be going to the Limbo of Unsupported OSs in the not too distant future.

I find it mostly annoying to deal with, more than anything else, compared to Win 10.  (I'm talking Pro here.  Don't go with Home.)

[AZRedhawk44]

Yeah I'm Win10Pro right now.  It's offering 11, didn't pay close enough attention to see if it's offering Pro or Home.

I've been meaning for awhile to spin up a Samba domain on my NAS and join my PC to it; I've heard that a lot of the document and profile snooping in Windows 10 is disabled for domain user environments.

[WLJ]

On my main home office desktop I bit the bullet yesterday and updated it to 11 after playing with 11 for a while in a virtual machine. You quickly get used to it but I think you may know some of my dislikes from another thread. My laptop doesn't meet the stated HW requirements but I will force feed it before too long.

For S&G I force fed it on a 2010 Acer with a AMD Phenom II X 4 w/8gb & SSD and was surprised at how well it ran. Runs smooth and is perfectly usable for anything but newer games. Remains to be seen how long MS will allow bypassing the HW requirements but heck they even tell you how to do it.

[lee n. field]

Yeah I'm Win10Pro right now.  It's offering 11, didn't pay close enough attention to see if it's offering Pro or Home.

If you're upgrading from Pro you'll upgrade to Pro.

I've been meaning for awhile to spin up a Samba domain on my NAS and join my PC to it; I've heard that a lot of the document and profile snooping in Windows 10 is disabled for domain user environments.

[WLJ]

If you're upgrading from Pro you'll upgrade to Pro.

Yep, 7/8/10 Home will upgrade to 11 Home and 7/8/10 Pro to 11 Pro automatically

[lee n. field]

For S&G I force fed it on a 2010 Acer with a AMD Phenom II X 4 w/8gb & SSD and was surprised at how well it ran. Runs smooth and is perfectly usable for anything but newer games. Remains to be seen how long MS will allow bypassing the HW requirements but heck they even tell you how to do it.

For "S&G" I set up a Win 10 virtual, fed it a Win 7 license key during the install.  Then set the virtual machine to have a virtual TPM, and upgraded to 11.  All worked, activated, everything.

[WLJ]

For "S&G" I set up a Win 10 virtual, fed it a Win 7 license key during the install.  Then set the virtual machine to have a virtual TPM, and upgraded to 11.  All worked, activated, everything.

Yep, you can use 7, 8, & 10 keys. If reusing a key it must be a retail key not OEM unless installing on the same machine.
In other words retails keys can be transferred, OEM keys are only good for the PC they were sold with and first installed on.

[WLJ]

For an easy way to install it on a machine that doesn't met the stated HW requirements download a W11 ISO file from MS then a program called Rufus. Rufus will allow bypassing the HW checks as well as bypassing the hated create a MS account requirement. You can actually do those things manually without Rufus but Rufus makes it a easy no brainer process.
You will need a USB drive.

https://rufus.ie/en/

[WLJ]

[Calumus]

Yep, you can use 7, 8, & 10 keys. If reusing a key it must be a retail key not OEM unless installing on the same machine.

Plus, if you were lucky enough to be a Technet subscriber back when the keys were permanent, those windows 7 keys work too. Best $200 I spent back around 08 or so. Ended up with around 60 Windows 7 keys that can be activated 10 times each. For testing purposes only though...

[WLJ]

Plus, if you were lucky enough to be a Technet subscriber back when the keys were permanent, those windows 7 keys work too. Best $200 I spent back around 08 or so. Ended up with around 60 Windows 7 keys that can be activated 10 times each. For testing purposes only though...

Sounds like a volume key.

[HeroHog]

I was an early adapter of Win-11 and have been happy with it. Yeah, there was a learning curve but it is configurable enough that It now feels "like home", if ya know what I mean. It runs ALL my stuff, even some OLD DOS based stuff and my copy of Paint Shop Pro 4.12 (copyright 1991-1999).

[Cliffh]

Crap.  I couldn't remember why my laptop wasn't able to be upgraded to Win11, just checked it again.  Seems like the TPM and Secure Boot needs to be enabled (can do) - but - the CPU isn't on the list of supported CPUs. 

[WLJ]

Crap.  I couldn't remember why my laptop wasn't able to be upgraded to Win11, just checked it again.  Seems like the TPM and Secure Boot needs to be enabled (can do) - but - the CPU isn't on the list of supported CPUs.

The HW requirements can be bypassed. Download a W11 ISO and Rufus stated in as reply #8.
Either that or do the registry hack manually. MS even tells you how to do it on their website.

I should have noted before that MS will still provide updates. MS is not treating such systems any different. Like I said they even tell you how to do it. Now whether or not they reverse that who knows?

[Cliffh]

Did not know that Rufus would get around the CPU requirement.

On the other hand, how well is Win11 going to run on an "unsupported" system?  This being my main computer right now, I'd hate to FUBAR it.  According to the PC Health Check, the CPU's fast enough (right at the minimum), just isn't supported.

[WLJ]

Did not know that Rufus would get around the CPU requirement.

On the other hand, how well is Win11 going to run on an "unsupported" system?  This being my main computer right now, I'd hate to FUBAR it.  According to the PC Health Check, the CPU's fast enough (right at the minimum), just isn't supported.

See reply #3 for my example.

[Cliffh]

Looks like I'll have to figure out how I'm going to do a full system backup & find out if I'm going to like W11.

[WLJ]

Just to make sure MS hasn't screwed something up since I last did it I'm right at this moment making a new Rufus boot stick with the latest W11 ISO and I'm going to install it again on to the old Acer. Stay tune.

[WLJ]

There will be a small delay. Forgot I had to set MBR for legacy boot for the old fossil when creating a new Rufus boot stick

[WLJ]

Installed, activated and running updates.

As far as speed of 11 on your system vs 10 it should be pretty much the same and in fact may be a touch bit snappier

[WLJ]

The TPM requirement is understandable for security reasons
The CPU requirement yes and no. The best theory I've heard is that MS's main revenue stream is from OEM licenses on new PCs and that the CPU requirement despite it running just fine on "older" CPUs is MS's way of nudging people into buying new PCs. Make sense and maybe one reason MS has been looking the other way and even putting on their website, if you know where to look, on how to bypass it through a registry edit as it could maybe open the door to lawsuits otherwise but I'm not a legal expert.

[Cliffh]

Seen some articles on how Win11 cumulative updates won't be available on unsupported systems, but every article seems to have been written in 2021.  At least I can't find anything more recent.

If MS is telling folks how to install in unsupported systems, seems they wouldn't withhold the updates for those systems, even though their site states:

If you proceed with installing Windows 11 on a PC that does not meet the requirements, that PC will no longer be supported and won't be entitled to receive updates.

I did see that EOL for Win10 isn't projected to be until 2025, so I'm thinking there's no really rush in upgrading?

[WLJ]

Seen some articles on how Win11 cumulative updates won't be available on unsupported systems, but every article seems to have been written in 2021.  At least I can't find anything more recent.

If MS is telling folks how to install in unsupported systems, seems they wouldn't withhold the updates for those systems, even though their site states:

I did see that EOL for Win10 isn't projected to be until 2025, so I'm thinking there's no really rush in upgrading?

Updates just fine.
If they decide to cut off the updates at some point in my case out will come a Linux install boot stick for the machines that don't meet the requirements. I have two that don't met the requirements, one* is duel boot machine with XP on it as a retro gaming machine and the other is my laptop. The first I don't care since it main purpose is to run XP and running newer Windows on is not even necessarily. the laptop is mainly for reading while I'm in  bed and Linux will do just fine for that.

*Same machine I just reinstalled 11 on to make sure MS hadn't screwed with anything. It's an old 2010 Acer.

And you have two years from next month till MS cuts off updates for 10

Edit: Almost forgot. And two 2009(8?) Dells. Don't use them but I did install 11 with Rufus on one over a year ago just to see and it ran just fine.

[lee n. field]

How are you getting those options.  I've got rufus open in front of me, with a freshly download win11.  Not seeing them.

never mind, found a write up on it