Upgrading HP 290 G1 MT to run Windows 11

[Michael_IT]

Hi. My company have 2 units of HP 1QN46EA equipped with Intel Core i5-7500 cpu. Mentioned cpu is not compatible with Windows 11. Does anyone know if this pc motherboard can be equipped with any other (LGA1151) i5 8 gen. cpu, that will be compatible with W11? I'm also curious if W10 Pro OEM that came with this pc will still be legitimate after cpu swap? Thanks in advance for replies.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi:

According to the specs below, the 290 G1 only has processor support up to the i7-7700.

HP 280 G3, 290 G1 Microtower Business PC Specifications | HP® Customer Support

Now, this is interesting...the 290 G1 SFF has processor support for some Intel 8th and 9th gen core processors.

HP 290 G1 Small Form Factor Business PC

You should be able to run W11 on your existing PC if you clean install it and yes, the OEM product key in the BIOS will still be good for W11.

If you want to try this one of them, here is what you need to do...

If you want to see if W11 works on your PC, you can make a bootable W11 USB installer from the link below.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-in/software-download/windows11

See this article.  3rd headline from the bottom.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/microsofts-windows-11-how-to-get-it-now-or-later/?ftag=TREc64629f&bhid...

If for some reason, W11 does not work correctly on your PC, you can reinstall W10.

I currently have W11 clean installed on two PC's that I have, that do not meet the requirements for the W11 upgrade and they both work fine on W11 so far.

I used the free Macrium Reflect software to make system images of the W10 installation before I installed W11.

You may want to do the same. 

Make a system image using Macrium reflect, and if W11 doesn't work right, you can easily go back to your current W10 installation.

You save the image on a portable hard drive and the software will have you make a bootable USB flash drive or DVD you boot from to access the system image stored on the portable hard drive.

Macrium Software | Reflect Free Edition

You want the file listed on the left side of the webpage under the Backup at Home section.

[Michael_IT]

Thanks for answering. I checked my pc using HWiNFO and now it's clear it has H110 chipset (HP 8350 mb), that support up to 7 gen cpus. That's a bit disappointing. So I guess company will have to buy two new pcs in 2025, after W10 will be discontinued. Too bad.

I know it's still possible to perform clean install on unsupported hardware, but lack of update option is a big drawback for me. In 2025 those 2 pc will be 8 y.o, so I'll keep them as backup and just buy two new units.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.