The Windows 11 system requirements have always been a bone of contention among enthusiasts and users alike as Microsoft deemed relatively new processors (at that time), like Intel"s 7th gen (Kaby Lake) and AMD"s first-gen Ryzen, as incompatible. These were fairly capable CPUs and would have easily been able to run Windows 11. However, these chips, and anything older, did not possess certain security features that the Redmond giant felt were crucial.
Aside from CPUs, TPM version 2.0 was also made mandatory. Again, Microsoft reasoned that such were the strict security characteristics Windows 11 brought.
Regardless, people have continued to use bypasses so as to install Windows 11 on unsupported hardware. Highly popular third-party utilities also started providing the service. First, it was Rufus which added the bypass as early as October of 2021 itself when the OS became generally available. Later on, it was expanded to include in-place upgrades as well, and even more soon after that.
After this, Ventoy joined in too as added options to bypass requirements. Although not as popular as these two, WinToUSB also added bypass support earlier this year. Interestingly, Microsoft too, made a registry bypass official, though with a fair amount of warning.
Users have since discovered other ways too and one of them was posted by X (Twitter) user Bob Pony earlier this week and also confirmed that the trick worked on the latest Canary build.
HUGE GROUND BREAKING DISCOVERY! 🤯
— Bob Pony (@TheBobPony) October 8, 2023
To ALL users that don"t meet the artificial requirements for Windows 11, I GOT SOME GREAT NEWS TO SHARE!
When adding "/product server" switch to setup.exe in the Windows 11 setup directory, it BYPASSES the Windows 11 hardware requirement checks. pic.twitter.com/Ig5FtQhOID
Interestingly, this was discovered by a Vietnamese user back in August of 2022 but we were not aware of its existence at that time.
First discovered by a Vietnamese user over a year ago pic.twitter.com/SOXLNXs62K
— Tomy Kwong 𝕏 (@tomy_mrtumi) October 8, 2023
In related news, in case you missed it, currently the upcoming Windows 11 23H2"s system requirements is in the certification and compliance phase.