- Oh, hold up there hot stuff.
ID?
Core two duo.
Get outta here with this trash.
This is Windows 11, an exclusive club
for only PCs running the finest hardware.
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If you're anything like, I don't know, most gamers,
you were probably outraged when Microsoft announced
that Windows 11 wouldn't officially support
any CPU released before about 2017.
But as usual, the whole story
is a little bit more complicated than that.
By far the easiest way to get up and running
with Windows 11 today is the official one.
An in-place upgrade via the Insider Program.
Sign into your Microsoft account in Windows 10,
follow the steps to register online,
enroll your device in the settings pane
and choose the dev branch.
Just make sure that optional diagnostics
reporting is enabled, restart your PC,
and if all goes well,
you should get Windows 11 as an update.
But what if it doesn't go well?
Well, chances are that you don't have Secure Boot enabled
or your TPM isn't enabled or both.
Okay, but what are those and why do we need them?
- I'm glad you asked.
You've probably heard of them by now,
but the TPM or a Trusted Platform Module isn't new.
It's a pretty simple device
that generates and stores cryptographic keys
to help protect encrypted data and credentials.
Microsoft has actually required them
for system integrators since July of 2016,
but they're far less common in the DIY space
because for a long time, the only way to get one
was to add it to your motherboard
with a tiny little PCB like this one.
It plugs neatly into a keyed header and the job is done,
but that assumes you can find
a compatible one in the first place.
Traditionally, very few shops have carried them
and there's at least three different pin outs
from ASUS alone
with everyone seeming to have different ideas
about how to implement them.
Or not.
Compact ITX motherboards often omit it altogether.
This lack of standardization has
made them tough to find even before
Microsoft announced you needed one.
And I mean, even ASUS could only find one
in their US office at all.
So thankfully I had one of my own to bring in.
The good news is that TPMs
have been built into the firmware
of our motherboards since around 2015.
So chances are, you might have one already
and not even know it,
but these ones have the disadvantage
of being tied to the CPU and many will clear their keys
when you factory reset or update the BIOS.
Derp.
Manufacturers like ASUS say
they'll be enabling it by default going forward.
But until Windows 11, this firmware TPM
has been disabled by default on most DIY boards.
That's because in order to use a TPM module like this
that you install yourself,
you have to disable the firmware TPM and vice versa.
These days, TPM is mostly important
for features like Windows Hello
and BitLocker drive encryption.
So it's no surprise that it's becoming more relevant
as they become more popular.
There's also additional security that can be gained
through using a TPM in conjunction
with Intel's Management Engine
and AMD's Platform Security Processor.
and this is important for Windows 11.
More on that later.
Well, all right, TPMs are good,
but why does Windows need it?
Short answer, it doesn't.
If you install Windows 11 or Windows 10 for that matter,
and then disable it, you just need to re-enroll
your Windows Hello credentials
and use your BitLocker backup key.
You did keep that key, right?
But what about Secure Boot?
Short answer, it can provide a security boost in Windows
by blocking non-WHQL or non-certified drivers.
Long answer, it ensures your operating system
and drivers are what they say they are when your PC boots.
And Microsoft mandates that their partners
include Microsoft keys by default.
So all you need to do is turn it on
and it should start working.
Of course, this has some fun implications
for alternative operating systems
that aren't willing to use their keys.
Now as of filming, toggling Secure Boot off
or installing without it
doesn't really have any effect
on being able to run Windows 11.
So again, good for security in theory,
but this is another non requirement.
And one you'd probably want to keep off
if you want to play with Linux or something.
If you do want to turn it on, then good news.
Most computers released since Intel's third gen core
support Secure Boot.
Bad news, not all Windows installs
done since then will support it.
Secure Boot only works with pure UEFI mode.
So if you're using a legacy Windows install,
or even if you just have CSM enabled in the BIOS,
you're incompatible.
You can check which you're running
and whether Secure Boot is enabled or not
using the system information app.
If Secure Boot state shows on, then you're good.
And if it doesn't and your BIOS mode shows UEFI,
then all you need to do is turn on Secure Boot
in your BIOS.
Sometimes this is done by just installing default keys
rather than just the toggle.
But if the BIOS mode says legacy,
you'll need to do some more work.
First, make sure your BIOS can enable Secure Boot at all.
It should have its own section,
usually under the security or boot menus.
Don't actually enable it yet though.
First we need to prepare Windows
by using a built-in tool called MBR2GPT.
Go to settings then find the recovery pane
under update and security and click restart now
under advanced start-up.
Choose troubleshooting,
then advanced options, then command prompt.
Then type this command into the command prompt window
and hit enter.
If all goes well,
it should say validation completed successfully.
From here type MBR2GPT slash convert
to convert the install from legacy to UEFI.
Once that's done close the window and reboot.
Now you can turn on Secure Boot and enjoy neat UEFI features
like this handy UEFI firmware settings button
in the advanced startup menu.
Of course we promised there was a backdoor, remember?
So don't worry if you don't have Secure Boot or UEFI
or even a TPM for that matter, there is still a way forward.
- Which brings up an important question.
How can Microsoft justify
having us jump through all these extra hoops?
Well, Microsoft's analytics reportedly showed
that Surface devices equipped with a TPM
and Secure Boot as part of virtualization-based security
reported up to 60% fewer instances of malware infection.
That's pretty huge.
And even though you can get this level of security
in Windows 10 today,
it makes sense that Microsoft
would want to make that change mandatory
for what they're calling the most secure Windows ever.
Especially if they want to keep Windows competitive
with MacOS and Chrome OS.
So in my mind, if you're running a system
with those security features available,
there is no question that you should enable them.
It's free security.
But the problem is that many people
don't have those features available.
And that's why there's been so much concern
about these system requirements.
But there's hope if you don't quite meet them.
For our first trick,
we're gonna get into the Insider Program
with unsupported hardware.
You will still need a TPM for this.
Windows checks for one at the last mile while downloading,
but a little bit of registry hacking
will bypass the hardware compatibility checks.
Just enroll with the Insider Program as before,
then when you see that your only choice
is the release preview branch, play along for now.
Reboot and then when you get back to the desktop,
go ahead and launch regedit.
Navigate to this key and change these values
to read like this,
then navigate to this key and change these values.
They're basically the same things
but pay attention to the names.
Once that's done,
reboot and look at the Insider Program settings pane again.
You should now be enrolled and able to download
the Windows 11 update,
with the major caveat that you are not allowed
to update to the final release when it drops.
So if you want to run the full version when it releases,
watch on.
The solution here is to use the same method
that's used to install a fresh copy
of Windows 11 on unsupported hardware, an ISO.
Now as of filming, Microsoft has yet
to make one officially available,
but that doesn't mean that you can't make one yourself.
They already provide the files that you need.
So using UUP dump, you can select Windows 11,
then choose the additions that you want to be included.
This next screen is a bit confusing,
but the TLDR is that we want to choose this option
to add additions
and then this option to create an ISO with install.esd
instead of install.wim.
Click create download package,
and you'll be given a zip file
that is way smaller than an ISO.
That's because what we downloaded is just a script
that downloads and creates the ISO for you
straight from Microsoft, not from a third party.
The script is readable so you can verify it for yourself
before running it if you like.
This will take a while though, so let the tool do its thing
while you go grab a snack or maybe browse lttstore.com
for a cool new T-shirt like this one.
Once you have a Windows 11 ISO,
you can either burn it to a disc or
extract its contents to a USB flash drive.
Boot from it and you'll see a very familiar screen.
From there on it's just one more familiar trick
to let us install on any system we want,
even so-called incompatible ones.
Hold shift and press F10
to make a command prompt window appear,
then type regedit and navigate to this registry key.
Right click on it and make a new key called LabConfig.
In here create two DWORD values,
BypassTPMCheck and BypassSecureBootCheck
and set them both to one.
Close regedit and the command prompt
and continue on your merry way.
Now we're not sure if Microsoft will continue
to allow this registry hack after official release.
They did say though that some OEM
and integrated systems will be exempt.
And presumably this is how they'll do it,
but it is Microsoft and you never know.
So if it does stop working
by the time Windows 11 is released,
you can work around it in one of two other ways,
both using a Windows 10 ISO.
First, you copy this DLL file from the sources folder
of a Windows 10 ISO
into the sources folder of a Windows 11 ISO.
This file contains the compatibility checks.
So because they didn't exist in Windows 10,
you're able to use that same compatibility check
for Windows 11's installer.
It is possible that Windows 11's installer
will change before release, however,
so the more future-proof method
is to go the other way around.
This time copy the install.esd file
from the sources folder of the Windows 11 ISO
into the sources folder of the Windows 10 ISO,
and bam, that Windows 10 ISO
is now a fully functional Windows 11 installer.
It even works for legacy systems without UEFI.
But wait, hold on a second.
Why does this work?
- The Windows setup process uses a tool called DISM
or Deployment Image Servicing and Management.
Fundamentally, the Windows installation files
are just a disk image that is applied to the target disk
when installing.
This makes for a very clean and easily verified install,
and it makes it far easier to generate custom images
that can then be installed on multiple PCs,
complete with the normal first time setup.
It's how system integrators like Dell and HP
make their customized Windows installs.
The setup program isn't actually doing anything more
than prepping your drive and applying the image to it.
It doesn't care what's in the image,
garbage in, garbage out.
Windows 11's installer simply has some visual changes
compared to 10's,
and of course, those extra checks
to make sure you're using a TPM and Secure Boot.
So putting the Windows 11 install image
onto a Windows 10 ISO
bypasses all of Windows 11's new installation requirements.
- The rest of this phase of the install process
is the same as Windows 10.
Enter a product key if you have one,
pick your addition, choose a RAID driver if needed,
select which drive to install to,
and format it if necessary.
When the installer finishes Windows will boot up
with a pretty animation
and greet you with a region and language selection screen
followed by an update, naming the PC, and a reboot.
A word of warning though, once it's back up
it'll ask you for your Microsoft account
and there is no way of skipping that
on Windows 11 Home Edition.
Sort of.
As of right now,
you can actually just unplug the ethernet cable
before it reboots,
and it will let you set up a local account instead.
I wouldn't count on this working in the future though,
because Microsoft has indicated that an internet connection
will be required for Home Edition moving forward.
Although there's nothing that would prevent you
then from un-linking your Microsoft account
after the initial setup.
At least for now,
because there's no way to know
if it will stay that way in the future.
In Windows 11 Pro though,
you can just choose to never input one.
On the plus side,
if you do sign in with a Microsoft account,
you get to choose whether to restore apps and settings
from a backup of your previous install,
kind of like Android.
Although the apps they're talking about
are Windows Store apps.
But you also get to choose privacy options
just like you do in Windows 10 today.
And then after a short setting up period,
you will be at the Windows 11 desktop.
Speaking of which, get subscribed
because we're planning a deeper dive
into what's new with Windows 11
and you are not going to want to miss it.
But hang on.
If you can ignore the security requirements
and just install Windows anyway,
what are the real system requirements?
Well, it might not surprise you
that we can go back farther
than Microsoft's officially listed
Coffee Lake and Zen+ CPU's.
How about a fourth gen CPU from 2013?
Not far enough back for you?
How about this Core 2 Duo E 8400 from 2008.
Yeah, that's right.
It's running Windows 11 without even a UEFI BIOS.
This was as far back as we could go, though,
without running into serious issues.
The single core Pentium 4630 that we tried
should have supported the 64 bit instructions necessary
to run the OS,
but it ended up just hard resetting
every time we tried to run it, even the installer.
A single core Athlon 64 might be okay,
but we don't have one of those handy to test with.
So clearly the system requirements are nonsense,
but here's the thing.
What you guys might know is that these shenanigans
with minimum system requirements are nothing new.
Microsoft actually lists a fifth gen Core CPU
as the oldest that can run Windows 7.
I mean, that's clearly not true.
Windows 7 came out over five years
before those CPUs even existed.
So what's up with that?
Well, the keen-eyed among you
might've spotted a pattern here.
Between Windows 10 and Windows 11,
Microsoft tested and validated only CPUs
from as old as one or two years prior
to the release of each.
And this is what you're seeing
on the official support lists, validation.
Microsoft made a blog post recently saying as much,
calling out security, reliability, and compatibility
specifically as guiding principles.
They're apparently looking into Zen One
and Kaby Lake CPUs now
after seeing so much backlash from consumers, by the way.
So that's pretty cool.
And it's not that Microsoft
is recommending the CPUs that they are
simply because they're lazy
and they didn't feel like testing more.
Windows 11 makes it an official recommendation,
and as far as I can tell,
a requirement for OEMs going forward,
to use a new driver model called Windows Drivers,
which Microsoft claims
can reduce driver related crashes by 99.8%.
That would be great.
But the downside is that a new driver model
means that they're probably going to need new drivers,
assuming that they disallow
the previous driver model at some point.
Well, this is where the eighth gen Core
and Ryzen 2000 recommendations come from.
The hardware surrounding those chips
is still officially supported by their vendors
and is likely to get Windows 11 drivers,
while the same is not necessarily true
for CPUs from 2017 or earlier.
So AMD and Intel actually have their own role to play here
in this artificial lockout
of older, but not very old hardware.
All of which is to say then that at least for now,
you can install Windows 11
on basically anything that you would want to,
but the experience might be subpar
and might get sub-er, par-er in the future.
According to Microsoft,
it will be best to run on something newer
for official support, both from the vendor and from them.
But at the end of the day,
if you're worried you won't be able to install Windows 11,
don't be.
Microsoft hasn't locked it down the way that we feared,
at least not yet.
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- So thanks for watching guys.
Go check out our recent video
where we gamed on the leaked build of Windows 11.
Very impressed at how well it was running
even before they announced it.
It is a different kind of video,
more of an exploration thing, you know?