How to Install Windows 11 on Any PC

Windows 11’s system requirements are completely arbitrary. This fact is backed up, by installing the October 5th release on a 4th Generation i5 Dell Inspiron, with absolutely no problems at all.

Here is how to do it.

First

Download and create a Windows 10 and 11 installation on two USB keys, from the official Microsoft Media Creation Tool

Then

Once the two USB keys are finished. On the Windows 10 USB key, go to the “Sources” folder, and delete or backup “install.esd”. It should be about 3GB in size

Next

Copy over the Windows 11 “Install.esd” file on the Windows 11 USB key from “Sources”, to the Window 10 USB key, in “Sources”. This should be about 3GB in size as well..

After this, just remove the Windows 11 key and reboot. You will see the purple Windows 10 install splash screen. Go through the process of deleting and creating new partitions and install.

After rebooting again, you’ll be greeted by the Windows 11 set up screen.

Alas, you’ll have Windows 11, despite Microsoft threatening, no entitled updates, or your PC will spontaneously combust.

It is unknown, how long Microsoft will allow this. This process does work perfectly and Windows 11 functions.

Conversation 22 comments

  • hidp123

    08 October, 2021 - 10:04 am

    <p>Can you upgrade this way, or is a clean install the only option? </p>

    • polloloco51

      08 October, 2021 - 11:35 am

      <p>I did a clean install. I haven’t tried an in place upgrade yet.</p><p><br></p><p>I was surprised, how well the install went!</p><p><br></p><p>Windows 11 did not complain about, not having TPM enabled, or give any error messages. </p><p><br></p><p>It installed exactly like Windows 10, which is quite revealing. </p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p><br></p>

      • epguy40

        08 October, 2021 - 12:56 pm

        <p>"I did a clean install. I haven’t tried an in place upgrade yet."</p><p><br></p><p>well I did the in-place upgrade way using your method on a Toshiba Satellite C55t-A laptop with an AMD A6-5200 APU and it works. upgraded from Win10 21H1 home to Win11 home</p><p><br></p><p>so it works for both clean installs and upgrade installs</p>

        • epguy40

          11 October, 2021 - 12:37 pm

          <p>while I was able to install Win11 on some of my unsupported systems like the Toshiba Satellite C55t-A laptop, my happiness with Win11 was short-lived as I now REGRET ever putting the new OS on those systems due to some of the current issues/problems I am having (some of my apps are not fully compatible with Win11 yet or just don’t work right). well that’s the risk in installing Win11 on unsupported hardware and I crapped out &amp; it feels like a half-finished OS</p><p><br></p><p>no wonder why Mr. Thurrott says that Win11 in its current state is "incomplete" as he noted here:</p><p>www.thurrott.com/windows/windows-11/257678/windows-11-review-fresh-familiar-incomplete </p><p><br></p><p>and here are the 8 issues for Windows 11 noted by MS from this recent BleepingComputer article: </p><p>www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/microsoft/windows-11-microsoft-is-investigating-these-eight-problems/</p><p><br></p><p>so I have recently scrubbed / evicted Win11 off those systems and reverting those machines back to Win7 &amp; Win10</p>

  • dougkinzinger

    08 October, 2021 - 12:26 pm

    <p>Yes, this method (for clean installs) along with the Microsoft registry key (for in-place upgrades) basically means anyone can run Windows 11 on most any Windows 10-level PC.</p>

  • sherlockholmes

    Premium Member
    08 October, 2021 - 7:34 pm

    <p>That doesnt solve the problem that Microsoft can stopp to ship Updates to an unsupported PC. So not recommanded. </p>

    • jimchamplin

      Premium Member
      08 October, 2021 - 8:06 pm

      <p>Windows Vista and 7 both still theoretically receive all available updates. Both are unsupported and they’ve not taken the Windows Update services for them offline.</p><p><br></p><p>They <em>can </em>stop the updates. They probably <em>won’t</em>.</p>

      • innitrichie

        08 October, 2021 - 8:42 pm

        <p>The main issue in my mind is what happens when an update breaks an unsupported system.</p><p><br></p><p>Will Microsoft fix the issue? Probably not. You are unsupported, so tough luck.</p><p>How do you work around this moving forwards? Maybe you try to block a specific update from being installed. But what if the broken system issue keeps coming back in subsequent security fixes/updates? Too much potential hassle for me, I wouldn’t advise installing Windows 11 on unsupported hardware. You’re just asking for trouble.</p>

        • jmwoods301

          08 October, 2021 - 9:45 pm

          <p>Restore from a current disk image.</p><p><br></p>

        • jimchamplin

          Premium Member
          09 October, 2021 - 10:28 am

          <p>You fix it the same way you fix it on a supported box.</p><p><br></p><p><em>Guile</em>.</p>

  • StevenLayton

    09 October, 2021 - 5:51 am

    <p>Community – "Hah, Microsoft, I laugh at your minimum specs. Think you’re going to stop me? Watch this…."</p><p>Microsoft – "Thats so cute" – with their finger poised over the kill button.</p>

  • StevenLayton

    09 October, 2021 - 11:19 am

    <p>Microsoft- "This is the line. Windows 11 is not supported on hardware older than that"</p><p>Community – "Hold my beer"</p>

  • lvthunder

    Premium Member
    10 October, 2021 - 12:20 am

    <p>The system requirements aren’t arbitrary. Just because you can install Windows 11 on older machines today doesn’t mean the next feature update will be able to. You don’t know the Windows 11 roadmap. Even all the features they announced aren’t in this version of Windows 11.</p>

  • jimchamplin

    Premium Member
    10 October, 2021 - 1:58 am

    <p>We can be pretty sure that the major system won’t change until probably 2025.</p><p><br></p><p>10 and 11 are clearly the same core OS with different feature packs. The fact that Server 2022 uses the Windows 10 UI really speaks volumes about this. </p><p><br></p><p>Operating system and UX have been separated. That means systems can be completely arbitrary.</p>

  • STEVEBME

    11 October, 2021 - 4:52 pm

    <p>With regards to Windows 11 I would be interested in understading why Microsoft choose to not allow windows 11 upgrades to Intel Core i7-7700HQ @2.80GHz? Thanks</p><p><br></p>

  • compuser

    11 October, 2021 - 8:17 pm

    <p>Thank you for this. I have an old Dell Inspiron 7720 laptop with a Gen-3 i7 and a Samsung Series 7 Slate tablet with a Gen-2 or 3 i5 processor that are still my everyday use computers, and of course that failed the Windows 11 test. Your instructions were easy to follow, the installations completed successfully, and both devices are now running Windows 11 with no issues (so far). I’ve even received some updates on both. I always thought Microsoft’s Windows 11 requirements seemed arbritary, and maybe this kind of proves it. An interesting thing is that I ran Belarc Advisor on both, and it says they’re running Windows 10. Again, thanks.</p>

  • martinusv2

    Premium Member
    11 October, 2021 - 8:39 pm

    <p>Steve Gibson @SGgrc said this today on his tweet:</p><p><br></p><p><span style="color: rgb(15, 20, 25);">OFFICIAL Win10 registry key to allow Win11 upgrading without TPM 2.0 =OR= CPU requirements:</span></p><p><span style="color: rgb(15, 20, 25);">“AllowUpgradesWithUnsupportedTPMOrCPU”</span></p><p><br></p><p><span style="color: rgb(15, 20, 25);">At: "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Setup\MoSetup" create a REG_DWORD value with that name above. Set it to ‘1’.</span></p><p><br></p><p><span style="color: rgb(15, 20, 25);">Voila! Win11 setup will upgrade!!</span></p><p><br></p>

    • jmwoods301

      12 October, 2021 - 9:03 pm

      <p>Mentioned in the BleepingComputer article above.</p><p><br></p><p>There is also a script called "Skip TPM Check on Dynamic Update" that needs to be run if there is no TPM support at all.</p><p><br></p><p>Also mentioned in the article.</p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p><br></p>

    • chirowilk

      13 October, 2021 - 10:44 am

      <p>This registry change does not include<strong> Secure Boot,</strong> hence won’t work for me. :-(</p>

  • Claire Mortins

    24 April, 2023 - 6:26 am

    I downloaded and created a Windows 10 and 11 installation on two USB keys using the official Microsoft Media Creation Tool. Then, I deleted or backed up the “install.esd” file in the “Sources” folder of the Windows 10 USB key, and copied over the Windows 11 “install.esd” file from the “Sources” folder of the Windows 11 USB key. After removing the Windows 11 key and rebooting, I followed the usual installation process and was able to install Windows 11 without any issues.

  • Jack Jow

    10 June, 2023 - 5:37 am

    It’s been a long time but enjoy exploring all the new features of Windows 11 and thanks for sharing the resource!

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