Update October 21: As it later turned out, the old command still works.
A few days ago, a new report emerged about Windows 11 having slightly more than 400 million monthly active devices. Although it is significantly lower than what Windows 10 had achieved after its first two years, the result beat Microsoft's humble expectations. According to leaked data, Microsoft lowered its forecast primarily due to Windows 11's high CPU requirements and the need for a hardware or firmware Trusted Platform Module.
Steep hardware requirements cannot stop a true enthusiast from installing Windows 11 on an unsupported PC, but it looks like the list of available bypasses just lost one option.
Users recently discovered a new command that lets you skip the TPM requirement by "pretending" you are using a server edition. Windows 11 "thinks" you are about to set up a server edition, skips hardware checks, and proceeds to install your Home or Professional edition without limitations.
In Windows 11 build 25977, released in the Canary this week, the setup.exe / product server command no longer works. An attempt to use it results in Windows 11 showing a command parsing error. However, you can still execute the command to perform an in-place upgrade to the latest stable version. As for build 25977, Deskmodder reports that the setupprep /product server can do the trick instead of the old, now-broken command.
Luckily, there is no shortage of other methods to install Windows 11 on unsupported hardware. Rufus, a popular utility for making bootable media, can remove CPU and TPM requirements before creating an install drive using official Windows 11 images. The recently updated tiny11 version 23H2 is another option, which, in addition to removed requirements, gives you a much lighter and debloated installation. There are also plenty of other hacks, scripts, registry tweaks, and slightly more technical methods that can get your unsupported PC to Windows 11.
36 Comments - Add comment