Unlike Windows 11, Microsoft’s new minimum system requirement
is pretty bad.
Following the announcement of the next-gen operating system,
there’s been a lot of excitement and confusion. Users are
confused about the minimum hardware requirements for installing
Windows 11 and Microsoft has been trying to clarify the
situation by updating its documentation.
Microsoft has removed the “soft” and “hard” floor requirement
that initially suggested all devices with TPM 1.2 and older PCs
will be supported officially. Microsoft has also quietly
updated its Windows compatibility support documentation
confirming that
TPM 2.0 is a minimum hardware requirement alongside
newer CPUs.
In addition to documents, Microsoft officials have also
independently confirmed a TPM chip version 2.0 is required for
installing Windows 11 on existing Windows 10 hardware.
Whether you don’t have version 2.0 of TPM or you don’t have the
TPM chip at all, we have a solution. By making changes to
Windows Registry or installation media, you can bypass any TPM
restrictions and unblock Windows 11, basically allowing anyone
to upgrade their existing machine to the new operating system.
In addition to TPM, you can also bypass the SecureBoot
restriction.
Method 1: Modify Registry
The first method involves simply editing Windows Registry
during the installation process of the new operating system. On
unsupported devices, if you try to install the new OS, a
message will appear on your screen stating that the computer
isn’t compatible.
At that screen, you need to press Shift+F10 to open Command
Prompt window and modify the registry. In Command Prompt, you
need to run regedit.exe and create a new key “LabConfig” under
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMSetup. In the “LabConfig” key, create
two new entries:
- BypassTPMCheck=dword:00000001
- BypassSecureBootCheck=dword:00000001
Save the changes and compatibility errors will disappear.
Otherwise, you can also create a .reg file with the following
line of code:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMSetupLabConfig]
“BypassTPMCheck”=dword:00000001
“BypassSecureBootCheck”=dword:00000001
Save this (.reg) file in a USB drive and perform a clean
installation of Windows 11 when it is officially released.
During the installation process, press Shift + F10 and type
notepad and hit enter.
In Notepad, open the file menu and locate and apply the reg
file. This will bypass the TPM+SecureBoot requirements.
Method 2: Create your own installation media
The second method involves modifying the ISO file.
If you want to upgrade the operating system by running the
setup.exe directly from Windows 11 media image, there’s another
simple workaround.
You need to replace the appraiserres.dll in the sources folder
on your installation media with the version of that file from a
Windows 10 ISO. Once done, you need to recreate the ISO image
using a third-party tool like Rufus or AnyBurn, and run the
setup file again.
If you want to deploy the new OS on multiple machines for a
clean installation, you can always use Windows
ADK to automate the process and create your own ISO.
It’s also worth noting that these workarounds have been tested
with the leaked build of Windows and they may or may not work
when the OS is released later this year or early next year. For
now, it looks like it would be possible to bypass these
restrictions by making changes to the default installation
process.
It’s also pretty obvious that TPM is not something that is
fundamentally needed for Windows 11.
