Windows 11 preview blocks trick for installation on old hardware
Windows 11 could also be installed on old hardware with a trick at the command prompt. The current preview blocks it.
Screw the Windows settings.
(Image: Bild erstellt mit KI in Bing Designer durch heise online / dmk)
Microsoft not only included improvements in the Windows 11 preview version in the "Canary" Insider channel last Thursday, but also removed an option to install the operating system on old, officially unsupported hardware. This was first noticed by a user on X, formerly Twitter.
A trick had been circulating since October 2023, according to which Windows 11 could be installed on hardware that was actually unsuitable by calling setup.exe /product server at the command prompt. X user Bob Pony noticed early on that bypassing the system requirements check in this way no longer works.
Bypassing the TPM 2.0 requirement is no longer possible
Many people used this trick to install Windows 11 on hardware that did not have a TPM 2.0 chip, for example, but was otherwise powerful enough for the Microsoft operating system. However, more complicated measures such as registry hacks should not be affected by this, but are also much more prone to errors - and could also be prevented in the future. Microsoft does not mention this change in the announcement of Windows 11 build 27686.
It is also doubtful whether Windows installed in this way can be used in the long term. Function updates usually check the system requirements again and therefore probably cannot be installed automatically at the very least. However, the current preview version of Windows 11 24H2 still allows setup with the "Product Server" parameter, so an upgrade may still be possible.
The preview version of Windows caused a stir last Thursday with its improved support for the FAT32 file system, for example. This means that partitions up to 2 Tbyte in size can now be formatted with the file system without having to use third-party tools. The Windows Sandbox Client has also been given a makeover.
Microsoft is gradually removing several popular ways of circumventing Windows 11 specifications. In June, for example, the company blocked a popular workaround that allowed Windows 11 to be installed using only a local account. Microsoft's hardware requirements for Windows 11 have long been the subject of criticism. Many devices with sufficiently fast hardware will become electronic waste after support for Windows 10 ends - completely unnecessarily.
(dmk)