SOLVED: Does Installing Windows 11 on Unsupported Hardware Cause Problems with Security Updates and Cumulative Patches?

Recently we provided THIS video explaining how to install Windows 11 on a hardware that does not meet the minimum requirements.  This naturally lead one of our viewers, Rahul Nema, to ask:

“…(After installing Win11 on unsupported hardware), will future Windows security updates and cumulative updates working without any problem?

Officially, Microsoft says it is a bad idea and two days ago put out this statement:

“…Your device might malfunction due to these compatibility or other issues. Devices that do not meet these system requirements will no longer be guaranteed to receive updates, including but not limited to security updates  SOURCE

However, we expect Windows 11 running on hardware that does not meet the minimum requirements will be supported with the vast majority of future security and feature patches.

Obviously if a feature requires hardware you don’t have (i.e. a Bitlocker feature that really needs TPM 2.0), that feature will not be available on your Win 11 PC.

While there are no guarantees it is a very good sign that Microsoft has intentionally opened up the registry doors we demonstrated to allow such installs.  In fact, we ran Windows 11 on other unsupported hardware through the Windows 11 beta process and found Microsoft provided updates and many new builds that have automatically installed without any problems.

In the same statement about hardware that does meet the minimum requirements for Windows 11, Microsoft also pointed out that you are at very low risk with Windows 11 support, because if it all goes dark, you can just roll back to Windows 10:

“…If you’re experiencing issues after upgrading to Windows 11 and your device does not meet the minimum system requirements, we recommend you go back to Windows 10. Select Start > Settings > System > Recovery > Go back. SOURCE

Further, the Win11 feedback forums are suggesting that Microsoft will start off with this hard line on what is not supported but MAY (some say, very likely) drop things like TMP 2.0 as many corporate systems in smaller businesses will not have a TPM, and Microsoft definitely wants those customers to upgrade.

They will do what they can to avoid the Windows XP nightmare scenario – millions of machines being stuck on an old dangerous platform. XP still gives Microsoft executives and public relations staff nightmares.

Microsoft wants to support just one modern operating system which is why Nadella and friends pushed so very hard to get EVERYONE on Win10 (scrapping XP, Vista, 7, 8 and 8.1 as fast as they could).

 

---