Upgrade Older PCs to Windows 11

[buster921]

Here's a link to a way to upgrade older PCs from Win 10 to Win 11. I've done so, and it works!! More importantly, I am receiving Win 11 updates as they are sent out. Good luck! https://dongknows.com/steps-for-windows-11-upgrade-on-unsupported-hardware/

[WAWood]

@buster921 

NOT really a good idea for the long run!

I understand your issue -- as I have the same situation with an old laptop that meets almost none of the Win11 hardware requirements.

But -- this is an "experiment" at best, not a long-term solution.

Let me explain ...

MS has relented, for now, in enforcing Win11 hardware requirements -- but they already have the code to check hardware because they provide that as a downloadable utility.  It would take little effort to package that as a Security Update, push it to the PCs, and after a reboot, we get messages that our PCs are disabled and we have to reinstall Win10 from scratch to get a working PC back. MS has already done this with "insiders" who were running really old hardware on Windows 11. Their PCs were disabled by a Windows Update.

I'm OK because I have a full image backup of the laptop running Windows 10 -- which would take me 5 minutes to restore. Most folks don't even know what that means and will end up with a nonworking PC -- and no simple way to restore it.

So, enjoy it while you can -- but do not expect it to last long.

[buster921]

@WAWood

I certainly can appreciate your post and the rationale for it. Like you, I keep full images of my machine on my NAS, On the larger question of MS penalizing folks like us, I'm not so pessimistic. As stated in my original post, I have all "the fixins" for upgrading to Windows 11, save that my genuine Intel CPU is one cycle lower than the cut-off that MS has (somewhat arbitrarily) imposed, including a genuine copy of Windows 10 that came with the machine. IMHO, it would be a public relations disaster for MS to "brick" machines like mine that are compatible in every way save a slightly earlier CPU.

Since upgrading, I've had multiple Windows 11 updates come through without a hitch. While it's not outside the realm of possibility that MS would do something so ill-advised as to package a new security update that effectively shuts me and others like me from using Windows 11 after having gotten used to it, I can't say I'm too worried that its a big item on the MS to do list. Nevertheless, I'll hope for the best and plan for the worst.

[WAWood]

@buster921 

In fact, I just had another Win11 update come through today for my "incompatible" Dell laptop.

So at least for the latest "patch Tuesday", MS is still upgrading these types of PCs.

I post that warning because unlike you and me, most of the Win11 users have no idea how to make an image backup or even what it is, so when they "upgrade" their old laptop to Win11 and then  MS disables is, they will be stuck with an unworking PC and no easy way to restore it.