Thursday 7 October 2021

install Windows 11on unsupported PCs with Microsoft's assistance

Microsoft has published a new support webpage where they provide an official method to bypass the TPM 2.0 and CPU checks (TPM 1.2 is still required) and have Windows 11 installed on unsupported systems.

This is somewhat surprising considering the tech giant's unwavering stance concerning the minimum requirements for the new Windows version.

However, it looks like Microsoft couldn’t ignore the fact that bypassing TPM checks is fairly simple, so to avoid having people breaking their systems by using non-standardized third-party scripts, they decided to just give users an official way to do it.

Installing Windows 11 on unsupported hardware comes with some pitfalls that users must be aware of, and in some cases, agree to before the operating system will install.

How to install Windows 11 on unsupported devices
Microsoft's official bypass is to add a Registry value named “AllowUpgradesWithUnsupportedTPMOrCPU” and then install Windows 11 using bootable media.

The whole registry entry required can be seen below.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Setup\MoSetup]
"AllowUpgradesWithUnsupportedTPMOrCPU"=dword:00000001

The Windows 11 setup program will no longer check for a TPM 2.0 security processor or compatible CPUs when added.

However, you will still require a TPM 1.2 security processor, which many will not likely have. If you are missing a TPM 1.2 processor, you can bypass all TPM checks by using this script that deletes appraiser.dll during setup.

To use the new AllowUpgradesWithUnsupportedTPMOrCPU bypass to install Windows 11 on devices, Microsoft instructs you to perform the following steps:

Please read all of these instructions before continuing.
Visit the Windows 11 software download page, select “Create tool now”, and follow the installation instructions to create a bootable media or download an ISO.
On Windows, click ‘Start’, type ‘Registry Editor’ and click on the icon to launch the tool.
Navigate to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Setup\MoSetup Registry key and create a new “REG_DWORD” value named “AllowUpgradesWithUnsupportedTPMOrCPU” and set it to “1”.

Alternatively, you can download a premade Registry file that you can double-click on and merge it to create the above value for you.

Reboot your system