On June 24, Microsoft officially released their new Operating System dubbed Windows 11. Since then, it has been gaining popularity for all sorts of reasons, most of them good, with some of them being bad. Despite all of the great new features, Microsoft has introduced some compatibility issues with older hardware. In this article, you will get in-depth information about the hardware limitations Microsoft has introduced, and methods to bypass them.
Many users have tried upgrading their systems to the new version of windows, only to be met with incompatibility problems. Using the TPM 2.0 standard as a minimum requirement was a bad move by Microsoft. Installing the new OS requires you to have Secure Boot enabled, along with TPM 2.0 support on a hardware level. Most modern PCs allow you to enable these options if you have a ‘UEFI’ BIOS. On the contrary, if you have a Legacy BIOS installed, things can be harder for you.
Recently Microsoft Announced they are “thinking” of reducing the requirements to AT LEAST include 7th Gen Intel and 1st Gen Ryzen for official release.
First let’s take a look at what TPM is, and why Microsoft introduced it as a minimum requirement.
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What Is TPM and Why Windows 11 Needs It?
TPM is the shorthand for Trusted Platform Module. To put it in simple terms, TPM is a security measure that works at a hardware level on your device. The TPM module creates encrypted keys and stores them in a module present on your motherboard. Currently, there are two versions of TPM being used – TPM 1.2 on older systems & TPM 2.0 for the new ones.
Microsoft justifies forcing TPM 2.0 requirements on Windows 11 users because of the increasing cybersecurity threats day by day. Most of the attacks have been firmware-related due to the use of older TPM protocols. Microsoft believes that every user of their OS needs this critical layer of security. In reality, though, most individual customers are very less likely to experience firmware attacks by cybercriminals.
How To Get Windows 11 Upgrades?
Upgrading to Windows 11 for free requires you to have Windows 10 installed. If you want to test the early access build right now, then you have to enroll for ‘Windows Insider’ updates. Follow these simple steps for enabling insider access to get the latest developer builds on your system.
- Ensure that your PC is connected to a Microsoft account.
- Go to Settings > Update & Security
- Locate Windows Insider Program on the left tab
- Click on “Get Started”.
- Use the “+” button to connect your Microsoft account and continue
Follow the on-screen instructions and select the Dev channel.
- Select ‘confirm’ and then restart your PC
- Once done, go to Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update
- The new dev build of Windows 11 should show up.
From here on, you can install the new version of Windows just like how you’d install any other update. Now, if your PC doesn’t support TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot, read on to find out how to upgrade your Windows version regardless of compatibility issues.
How to Update Any PC to Windows 11
Check if your system hardware has support for TPM 2.0 by pressing the Windows button + ‘R’ key, then typing “tpm.msc” and clicking the ‘ok’ button. Once done, you should be greeted with a window that shows the TPM status of your system. If your device is compatible, you should have “The TPM is ready for use” under the status tab. Also on the lower right corner, you can check the “Specification Version” to check if you have TPM 1.2 or 2.0.
There are two methods of installing Windows 11 on incompatible PCs. The first one involves editing your registry, and the second method involves changing some files in the setup of the OS itself.
Note that if your device is incompatible, and you still install Windows 11 by bypassing the compatibility checks, you may not receive future updates. Keeping that it mind, take a look at these steps to install Windows 11 without any compatibility errors.
Bypassing Windows 11 Setup Requirement Using Registry Edits
The first method that you can use to bypass the TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot requirement involves modifying the Windows registry.
- When installing the OS, once you get to the error screen, press Windows key + R.
- Type “regedit” to open the registry editor.
- Once the registry editor is open, navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Setup
- Create a new key under this location with the name “LabConfig”
- In the “LabConfig” key, create these two new entries –
- BypassTPMCheck with the value of dword:00000001
- BypassSecureBootCheck with the value of dword:00000001
- Save these changes, and you should be able to bypass the restrictions.
If you are not well versed with the registry editor, then you can also make a ‘.reg’ file that will automatically apply the required registry keys. For this method, follow these steps –
- Open “Notepad” on your Windows PC.
- Copy and paste this text in Notepad –
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Setup\LabConfig]
“BypassTPMCheck”=dword:00000001
“BypassSecureBootCheck”=dword:00000001
- Once done, save the file as “Bypass.reg”.
- Run the file, and confirm that you want to make a change in the registry.
- Reboot your PC and your Windows 11 installation should proceed smoothly.
These steps should help you to bypass both TPM and Secure Boot requirements.
Bypassing Windows 11 Setup Requirements by Modifying the Setup Files
There is another method that can bypass the requirements easily. You need to copy one file from any Windows 10 installation media to your Windows 11 setup ISO. You can get the setup using this tutorial that we have covered earlier. Take a look at the steps you need to take for creating your copy of the compatible Windows 11 setup.
- Install “7-zip” if it isn’t installed on your PC already. Download it HERE.
- Extract your Windows 11 ISO file by right-clicking on it, and select ‘Extract Here’. You should get all the extracted files in the same folder as the setup.
- Now you need to copy the “appraiserres.dll” from your Windows 10 installation media, or you can just download the file HERE if you don’t have the Windows 10 setup with you.
- Next, navigate to the folder containing the Windows 11 setup that you extracted earlier.
- From there, go to the ‘Sources’ folder.
- Paste the “appraiserres.dll” file that you copied or downloaded earlier in this folder. Select the replace option when the copy window pops up.
- Run the setup again from the extracted files to successfully bypass the restrictions and install it.
- In case you want to flash a USB with the setup, you will need to store the files in an ISO using tools like Rufus or AnyBurn.
Conclusion
Even with the restrictions imposed by Microsoft, the huge community of Windows users has found a way to bypass them. It is quite obvious that the TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot requirements are something that’s not essential for end-users who are not prone to firmware attacks by cybercriminals. For now, you can easily bypass the restrictions imposed by Microsoft by using the steps we have listed above.
