The Windows 11 Watermark Isn’t New

After Microsoft launched Windows 11, it warned users in mid-2022 that running the system on unsupported hardware would see a watermark on the desktop. I even included a workaround for this issue in the initial version of the Windows 11 Field Guide. But Microsoft never followed through on this threat, and so I later removed the tip from the book (though I left the note explaining the possibility.)

But this past week, various news outlets began reporting that Microsoft had instituted a new threat to display a watermark on the desktop of unsupported PCs running Windows 11.

“When Windows 11 is installed on a [PC] that doesn’t meet the minimum system requirements, a watermark is added to the Windows 11 desktop,” a Microsoft Support document explains. “[A] notification might also be displayed in Settings to advise that the requirements aren’t met.”

This threat isn’t new. Yes, this support document has been edited recently, as hinted at by the typo noted above. But it’s just been reworded. It previously read:

“When Windows 11 is installed on a device that does not meet the minimum system requirements, we’ll notify you using a watermark on your Windows 11 desktop. You might also see a notification in Settings to let you know the requirements are not met.”

You can see this note over time using the Way Back Machine. For example, in February 2023. And November 2022. The earliest version I found in this exact document is from July 2022, over 18 months ago.

“Microsoft displays a watermark text overlay on the desktop when you use Windows 11 on an unsupported PC,” I wrote in the original version of the Windows 11 Field Guide. That version of the book includes the tip for removing it, which is a basic Registry change.