Experience with Rufus-assisted Win 10 > Win 11 in-place upgrade on unsupported hardware?

I was just wondering if anyone here has personal experience using Rufus-made installation media to perform an in-place upgrade from Win 10 to Win 11 24H2 on unsupported hardware.

The only thing I'm fuzzy on is whether or not Win 11 24H2 requires you to still manually add the two registry keys[*] and their entries before running the update. I've seen references that state you need to do it as well as some that omit adding the registry info.

Again, this is specifically for Rufus-prepared installation media making use of its Win 11 hardware check bypass features.

[*]
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\HwReqChk

HKLM\SYSTEM\Setup\MoSetup

My personal experience is limited.

However, this is a reliable source:

Bypass Windows 11 System Requirements on Unsupported PC | Windows 11 Forum

Scroll down to Option 3, specific to 24H2.

You may wish to read some of the posts after that, too.

The only unsupported upgrade I've done was on a cheap laptop that met all hardware requirements for 11, except for its Gen6 Intel CPU. (That was back in 2021.) The initial upgrade was done by setting a single Registry key, which I believe was an official Microsoft feature that allowed developers to work on unsupported hardware back before 11 was released. I've had no trouble installing subsequent upgrades, some as an upgrade-in-place (from an unmodified ISO), some via Windows Update. It's currently on 26100.4770.

HTH.

It should work. I last used it a couple of weeks ago, not on that computer to check the Windows version.

If it doesn't you wasted about twenty minutes or so. Not the end of the world.

It would be a good idea to make an image of your current Win 10 install if you need or want to revert.

Rufus prepares the Win 11 installation media with modifications to defeat/avoid/counter/neutralize checks for the TPM. Secure Boot is not necessary for Windows 11. Unless you want to jump through hoops to create your own keys everyone who dual boots to Linux or macOS has to turn off Secure Boot.

If and when Microsoft decides not to update those modified Win 11 installations it will be via software for which I would bet there will be workarounds.

I will leave it to others to research the many ways TPM and Secure Boot have been compromised. Ryzen owners in particular might want to research that.

I have used RUFUS at least four times to install Windows 11 on old Dell computers with no problems at all.

Flyby11 is a newer method that has been mentioned on this forum that I may try next time if my wife ever gives up Windows 10 and Windows Live Mail. I refuse to mess with Wiindows Live Mail anymore.

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Bouldergramp, USA

Would it be off topic to recommend Flyby11? Which was an absolute breeze. So much so that there is no point asking me what I did, it was so unmemorable.

Flyby11 apparently just became Flyoobe a few days back. From what I gathered with my quick look earlier today, the "new" app seems to include changes to the overal user experience. Hence, there doesn't seem to be any tutorials or demonstrations available yet showing Flyoobe in action for an in-place upgrade.

FlyBy11/FlyOOBE is simpler than Rufus. I've done some each way. The BlyOOBE method is what I would use to either upgrade or fresh install. I used it for upgrades so far and had no issues.

That will certainly help people looking for it. Has Microsoft trademarked "11"? Mind you I can see why they would be irritated by it!

Billiam29 said:

I was just wondering if anyone here has personal experience using Rufus-made installation media to perform an in-place upgrade from Win 10 to Win 11 24H2 on unsupported hardware.

The only thing I'm fuzzy on is whether or not Win 11 24H2 requires you to still manually add the two registry keys[*] and their entries before running the update. I've seen references that state you need to do it as well as some that omit adding the registry info.

Again, this is specifically for Rufus-prepared installation media making use of its Win 11 hardware check bypass features.

[*]
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\HwReqChk

HKLM\SYSTEM\Setup\MoSetup

Click to expand...

I've also successfully installed W11 on an unsupported Dell laptop (met the requirements except that it has a Gen 6 processor).

With a boot USB created by Rufus, no need for registry hacks.

The one issue: Dell often require their own graphic drivers. My laptop has a built in Nvidia GTX 1050 (which will run standard Nvidia drivers) and an Intel 630 adapter (which won't run Intel drivers). As Dell don't support W11 on this laptop, they don't provide W11 drivers for the 630, and there are some minor issues with the Dell W10 driver in W11 24H2.

The issue this causes is that the Dell W10 driver does not work perfectly with the W11 24H2 ACM (colour management) and needs a work-around. However, Microsoft has so completely screwed up backward compatibility for ACM with legacy colour management that this is hardly surprising.

There is always the risk with W11 on unsupported hardware that won't get W11 drivers for some features, and the W10 drivers might at some future point stop working.

Not specifically to Billiam29 but to anyone who reads this:

What does upgrading a Win10 PC that not compatible with Win11, to Win11 do, compared to continue running Win10 with the ESU (Extended Security Updates)?

In the prior, there is a risk that the non legit Win11 might be negatively affected by a Win11 update, while the latter will not have that risk. I would hate to turn on a daily use PC only to find that it doesn't work properly.

I used RUFUS to install Win 11 on at least three computers from about the time it was released. I get updates constantly. They never seem to stop.

Here are a few of the latest:













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Bouldergramp, USA

Bouldergramp said:

I used RUFUS to install Win 11 on at least three computers from about the time it was released. I get updates constantly. They never seem to stop.

Click to expand...

If OS updates ever stopped, I'd be very nervous about security. New exploits are constantly being designed to exploit new vulnerabilities, so the OS needs patching. That's been going on for a very long time, and I have no reason to think it will end any time soon.

Just to throw my reasons out there since I started this thread…

I have just one system running Windows 10 which also happens to be on unsupported Win 11 hardware (i5 6600K, Z270 motherboard). It was my primary PC several years ago. Now days, this system is pretty much of tertiary use for me where Windows is concerned.

Since the computer was my primary PC for an extended period, there's always a chance there may be something still on there which I neglected to migrate to my current primary PC. Doubtful by this point, but still possible.

I really simply don't want to take the time to go through every single folder on this old machine prior to the October deadline for the relatively small chance there's something I overlooked. What makes that especially so is that the system is already dual booting into Linux Mint off of a separate physical drive for that OS. Linux can see and accesses all the Windows disk volumes in the machine without issue.

So with these particular circumstances, I pretty much feel like “Why not?” when it comes to attempting an unsupported Win 10>11 in-place upgrade. If the Windows OS dies on the machine, then it dies. I'd still have access to any user data I might discover I need from the Linux side. Same basic attitude if the upgrade to 24H2 works, then I get roadblocked at 25H2 on the unsupported hardware whenever Microsoft cuts off support for 24H2. It wouldn't be a big deal in my use case.

I have an old Dell Precision desktop computer next to a TV used as the monitor. It dual boots Windows 7 and Windows 11. It is kind of a backup and DVD player. Windows 7 runs old children's games and is sometimes used to record over-the-air TV. It still gets an occasional update:



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Bouldergramp, USA

Bouldergramp said:

I have an old Dell Precision desktop computer next to a TV used as the monitor. It dual boots Windows 7 and Windows 11. It is kind of a backup and DVD player. Windows 7 runs old children's games and is sometimes used to record over-the-air TV. It still gets an occasional update:

Click to expand...

OMG, Windows 7? You must be terrified. How do you even sleep at night?

/sarc

Actually, I'm just jealous. It was such a fine system.

Billiam29 said:

Just to throw my reasons out there since I started this thread…

I have just one system running Windows 10 which also happens to be on unsupported Win 11 hardware (i5 6600K, Z270 motherboard). It was my primary PC several years ago. Now days, this system is pretty much of tertiary use for me where Windows is concerned.

Since the computer was my primary PC for an extended period, there's always a chance there may be something still on there which I neglected to migrate to my current primary PC. Doubtful by this point, but still possible.

I really simply don't want to take the time to go through every single folder on this old machine prior to the October deadline for the relatively small chance there's something I overlooked. What makes that especially so is that the system is already dual booting into Linux Mint off of a separate physical drive for that OS. Linux can see and accesses all the Windows disk volumes in the machine without issue.

Click to expand...

Gently, maybe consider having a small capacity SSD (256GB or 512GB) for Windows and installed programs only. "All" data stored on a separate large capacity "D" drive. Then there's no concern for any data that might be left on the system drive.

Billiam29 said:

So with these particular circumstances, I pretty much feel like “Why not?” when it comes to attempting an unsupported Win 10>11 in-place upgrade. If the Windows OS dies on the machine, then it dies. I'd still have access to any user data I might discover I need from the Linux side. Same basic attitude if the upgrade to 24H2 works, then I get roadblocked at 25H2 on the unsupported hardware whenever Microsoft cuts off support for 24H2. It wouldn't be a big deal in my use case.

Click to expand...

Indeed. Many users have upgraded non compliant PCs to Win11 using Rufus or other means. Most of those "upgrades" were done before MS announced the ESU option for Win10. Now it's a personal choice.

I've upgraded a few Win10 to Win11, including unsupported ones, and haven't run into any easily unresovable issues.

One thing you should be aware of is that if you're using grub for dual booting then the upgrade might overwrite your boot files and you'll have to repair that. Not hard to fix.

Billiam29 said:

I really simply don't want to take the time to go through every single folder on this old machine prior to the October deadline for the relatively small chance there's something I overlooked.

Click to expand...

You can still get the files off in the future if it is still running Windows 10, so is there really a reason to upgrade if you don't use the computer?

I finally got around to performing the in-place upgrade and just wanted to provide a report in case it benefits others.

TLDR:
It worked. However, the resulting Win 11 installation is more or less “vanilla” in terms of all the bloat that would come along with a fresh install.

Computer:
DIY build with Z270 motherboard, i5 6600K, GTX1070
Windows boot drive is a SATA m.2 SSD. There is a mechanical drive with multiple partitions for mass storage. There is also an nvme SSD (connected via the chipset) that is dedicated entirely to Linux Mint. Boot choice between Windows and Linux is...and always has been...done via the BIOS.

I downloaded the Windows 11 iso directly from Microsoft earlier last week when I had time.

On my upgrade day, Windows Update applied the August Windows 10 monthly patches after the machine had been on for a bit. I let the machine sit idle for 30+ minutes after the reboot to be sure everything had quieted down.

I used Rufus 4.9p to create the installation/upgrade media based off the previously downloaded iso. I chose to use all six options Rufus provides in its Windows User Experience/Customize Windows Installation dialog box.

I made all five of the registry changes from the Elevenforum article BobKnDP posted in the first reply to this thread [LINK]. I did this by manually running the individual reg.exe commands shown in “option 3” of the article. I thought it reasonable that the registry changes probably needed to be applied or “loaded into” the running Windows OS so I rebooted after running the reg.exe commands.

I manually ran regedit.exe and looked to verify the manual deletes and additions from the reg.exe commands remained. In other words, check to be sure nothing was automatically put back. All remained as intended.

While interactively logged into Windows 10 with my admin account, I simply ran setup.exe off the Rufus-created installation media and chose the appropriate options for a full in-place upgrade. Interestingly, the setup threw the warning dialog box shown below. So even with the Rufus provisions and the manual registry changes, it still detects unsupported hardware but allows you to continue.



Of note, the Win 11 setup process appeared to go out and obtain updates like it normally would.

I wasn't explicitly timing things but I want to say it took about 30-35 minutes to complete the process and be presented with the first Win 11 login prompt. Reminder, the computer is somewhat slow by current standards and I may have also used a slower USB thumb drive for the Win 11 installation media.

The first interactive login into Window 11 (my admin account) took a long time before I finally saw the desktop. I was shown all the usual user profile messages “Getting things ready…” “Almost there…” and so forth. It just took well over 10 minutes to get through them all and finally see the desktop. When I subsequently logged in with the two other local user accounts I have on the machine, the same user profile screens went by at a much faster pace pretty much in line with what I would expect. I have no idea why the first login took so long.

The only outright error I saw was that there was a driver Windows 11 considered vulnerable and blocked from being loaded (iqvw64e.sys). It's an Intel networking-related driver but not for the actual NICs in the machine. Those appear to be functioning fine. Search results on the driver indicated it was some sort of diagnostic driver included with old Intel Network Connections software. I simply uninstalled that software and the driver error went away with the NICs in the machine continuing to run fine.

A manual check of Windows update showed the system being fully up to date including the August monthly patch for Windows 11.

I've launched a handful of random applications just to see if things seemed OK. I didn't do anything with these other than launch them and close them when everything seemed OK. The exception being Firefox which I browsed in searching on the driver error above.
Notepad
Firefox
Microsoft Word (from Office 2010 nonetheless!)
Notepad++
VLC Media Player

That was all the good news.

The bad news is that the Win 11 installation I wound up with what seems to be 80% or more the same user experience as a brand new Win 11 install. That being all the usual settings and needless pointers to Microsoft and third party apps you don't want are all there: Teams, Whatsapp, etc… Copilot is there within Notepad. The Start Menu is showing search results from the Internet, etc… All that annoying stuff and personalization you've already dealt with on other Win 11 systems, you may have to do over again with a Win 10 to Win 11 in-place upgrade.

Lastly, I can confirm that this 10>11 in-place upgrade did not appear to touch the Linux SSD in the system. That OS continues to boot and run just as it always has when I select it via the BIOS.

Thanks for the update. I think it would have been less work with FlyOOBE, especially with the new expanded selection options. I used the older version of FlyBy11, and it was super simple. It will even download the ISO for you if you don't already have it, which barely takes any time on fast Internet.