Cannot upgrade to Windows 11 unsupported CPU - ZBook Studio G4

[PeterCamps]

Hi,

I have a ZBook Studio g4 laptop, it has been a great laptop the last few years. Running Windows 10 Enterprise.

I would like to upgrade to Windows 11, but the installation stops telling me that the cpu is unsupported.

Strange is that on https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/design/minimum/supported/windows-11-supported-inte... it says that the Intel i7-7820HQ is supported.........but on https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/design/minimum/supported/supported-systems it only applies to Dell Precision 5520 and 
Surface Studio 2. Does this actually mean that my $2400 device that is only 3,5 years old will not be able to be upgraded to Windows 11?

Or does HP still have to test this and give the go ahead?

On https://support.hp.com/us-en/drivers/selfservice/hp-zbook-studio-g4-mobile-workstation/14840026 I can already find some drivers for Windows 11 for this device. So I don't quite understand this.

Hope to hear from you

[Paul_Tikkanen · Accepted solution]

Hi:

HP's hands are tied because Microsoft drew the line at the Intel 8th gen core processors and only a couple of 7th gens.

If you want to force the upgrade to W11, it is pretty easy to do so...

I would make a system image of your current W10 installation prior to updating to W11, so you can easily reinstall W10 in the future.  I used the free Macrium Reflect software to do that, under the Backup at Home section.

Macrium Software | Reflect Free Edition

First make this registry change...

https://www.hellpc.net/how-to-bypass-tpm-and-cpu-requirements-windows-11-upgrade-unsupported-pc/

Then download the Windows 11 ISO file (3rd option), not the W11 installation assistant.

Download Windows 11 (microsoft.com)

Then open the file with Windows explorer, and click on the setup application.

To do that, right click on the ISO file and select 'Open With' and select Windows Explorer.

See the screenshot...this is what you will see when you open the file with Windows Explorer.

After you double click to run the setup application, you will get this window, and you can now upgrade to W11.

You just have to accept the agreement that comes up during the upgrade process about your PC not meeting the requirements, etc., etc..

My unsupported W11 PC's got all of the W11 updates. 

However, I don't know how long that will continue, or what will happen when the new build of W11 comes out next year in October.

[PeterCamps]

Hi Paul,

Thanks for your answer, I saw that there is a way to bypass the unsupported cpu warning.

But I am disappointed that such a capable and expensive device is being blocked from using Windows 11.

I was able to create a VM on this laptop and install Windows 11 just fine. In the VM it shows the physical CPU

Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-7820HQ CPU @ 2.90GHz. I did not get any warning, so I was a bit surprised when I tried to install it on my laptop and got the unsupported cpu message.

Don't know if I will still try to upgrade..........

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.

I'm running W11 on a:

Dell Optiplex 7050 MT with an i7-7700 processor

HP 8200 Elite CMT with an i7-2600 processor

HP Stream Pro 11 G4 with a Celeron N3450 processor

HP 350 G1 with an i3-4005U processor

HP Thin Client t630 with an embedded AMD GX-420GI processor

They all work great on W11, and have gotten all of the updates thus far.

Since I made W10 system images with Macrium Reflect of all the drives right before I installed W11, I can easily go back to W10 in less than 15 minutes on each PC, if Microsoft makes it impossible to continue on W11.

At the present time, Microsoft has zero intentions of allowing any other older processors into the W11 club.

Since there are easy methods to bypass the W11 roadblocks, I took advantage of them, and could not be happier.