Apparently, you can officially install Windows 11 24H2 on unsupported CPU, with a catch

Shortly after we published a story about Microsoft highlighting the importance of TPM 2.0 for Windows 11 and calling it a "non-negotiable standard," a Neowin reader, Adam, reached out and shared their experience of installing Windows 11 version 24H2 on officially unsupported machines with Intel's sixth and fifth-generation processors.

The experiment was conducted using an unmodified Windows 11 24H2 image downloaded and flashed using Microsoft's official Media Creation Tool app. All tested PCs with several unsupported CPUs had Trusted Platform Module 2.0 enabled. Note that TPM 2.0 was introduced in 2014, long before Windows 11 and its supported processors, so it is possible to have, say, a Skylake-based laptop with TPM 2.0. The installation process went through without any issues or blocking, and it connected and downloaded available updates without problems.

However, the PC Health Check app reported that the computer was still not compatible with the operating system. Also, turning off TPM 2.0 would immediately block the installation wizard with a message that the system in question is not compatible with Windows 11. The same picture was observed with Windows 11 version 23H2.

Interestingly, a similar discovery was made at the beginning of this year with Windows 11 version 23H2 Enterprise, but this time, Adam used the standard Windows 11 version 24H2 Home SKU.

So, there you have a sort of a PSA: if you have an old computer that you do not mind updating to Windows 11, you might try Microsoft's unmodified Windows 11 images. Of course, as long as the non-negotiable TPM requirement is met. If not, you can still use the old-reliable methods from our separate guide describing how to install Windows 11 version 24H2 on unsupported hardware.

Finally, another thing worth mentioning is that earlier this year, Microsoft lowered the hardware requirements for Windows 11 IoT and LTSC. They now mention TPM 2.0, UEFI, and SecureBoot as optional, which raises the question of what is actually going on with Windows 11's controversial hardware requirements and "non-negotiable standards." We asked Microsoft about the situation, and we will post an update once we have a word from the company.