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ZDNET’s key takeaways
- Most PCs from the previous 15 years can run Home windows 11.
- PCs bought with Home windows 10 can normally improve after a registry edit.
- On older or unusually configured PCs, a third-party utility can work.
Are you the designated PC knowledgeable for your loved ones and mates? The subsequent time you get a name asking for assist with a Home windows PC, examine to see which model it is working. If the System > About web page says Home windows 10, then they actually need your assist.
On Oct. 14, 2025, Microsoft formally ended help for Home windows 10. That outdated PC not receives safety updates except you’ve got enrolled it within the Prolonged Safety Updates program, which pushes the expiration date out till October 2026. For anybody nonetheless working Home windows 10 who has ignored Microsoft’s more and more strident warnings, they’re already a number of months behind, having missed the essential month-to-month safety updates beginning in November 2025.
Belief me — you actually do not need to be doing something on a PC that is lacking months of safety updates. So, it is time to improve, proper? Sadly, that is not a straightforward project.
When you attempt to improve to Home windows 11 on a PC that is greater than 5 – 6 years outdated, you will in all probability encounter an error message telling you — in no unsure phrases — that that outdated PC would not qualify as a result of its CPU is not on the official listing of suitable processors. Additionally, you will hit roadblocks if the PC would not have a Trusted Platform Module (TPM) model 2.0, or if the TPM shouldn’t be enabled.
That is perhaps the official coverage, however — as with every part Home windows-related — it pays to learn the advantageous print. If that PC is lower than 10 years outdated and has ample reminiscence and storage, then it is in all probability value retaining, and also you can improve it.
These pesky restrictions stop you from mechanically upgrading to Home windows 11 utilizing Home windows Replace or the Home windows 11 Set up Assistant. But, as lots of of ZDNET readers have reported simply within the final yr, there are documented workarounds for many PCs that have been initially constructed for Home windows 10.
Over the previous few years, Microsoft has performed a cat-and-mouse sport with lovers, including occasional velocity bumps that make it tougher to bypass these compatibility checks. There are strategies that help you bypass these restrictions on most trendy PCs, however some older units, particularly these constructed utilizing AMD processors, is perhaps out of luck.
The directions on this article take all these developments under consideration.
These directions additionally assume that you’ve got a PC with an x64 CPU (not ARM and never 32-bit), working a retail or OEM version of Home windows 10 (Residence or Professional), and that you’re signed in as an administrator on the PC you need to improve.
You additionally want ample free area in your system drive. The official necessities specify that you simply want 64GB of free area, however an improve ought to work with a minimal of 25-30GB free. If you do not have that area free, you will must uninstall apps or take away information to achieve the minimal.
Which possibility do you have to select?
Please do not skip over this part.
This text describes two improve choices. To benefit from the workaround described in possibility 1 under, your laptop should meet all the opposite necessities for Home windows 11.
- It have to be configured to start out up utilizing UEFI, not a legacy BIOS configuration.
- Safe Boot have to be supported, though it doesn’t have to be enabled. (However critically, people, you must allow Safe Boot.)
- A TPM have to be enabled; model 1.2 is OK, however a system with none TPM or with the TPM disabled will fail. Any PC that was initially designed for Home windows 10 ought to embrace a TPM 2.0.
To examine these particulars on a PC you are contemplating upgrading, run the System Data utility, Msinfo32.exe, and have a look at the System Abstract web page. Pay particular consideration to the BIOS Mode worth. If it says “Legacy,” you will must reconfigure your system to UEFI mode (and convert your system disk from MBR to GPT partitioning) earlier than you may set up Home windows 11 as a standard improve.
To see whether or not your PC has a TPM enabled, run the Trusted Platform Module Administration device, Tpm.msc.
In case your laptop features a TPM and it is turned on, this app will show details about it. Below the TPM Producer Data heading, examine the specification model to substantiate that it’s 2.0. If there is no TPM, or if the TPM is disabled in firmware settings, you will see a message that claims “Suitable TPM can’t be discovered.”
When you’re unable (or unwilling) to alter from Legacy BIOS to UEFI, or when you have an older PC that does not have a TPM possibility in any respect, you will want to make use of the second possibility, which takes benefit of an undocumented hack that permits you to bypass the compatibility checks and full the improve. Skip to the Possibility 2 part of this submit for particulars on methods to use the free Rufus utility to carry out this improve.
Lastly, be aware that Microsoft added a brand new set of restrictions starting with the Home windows 11 model 24H2 replace. These modifications require a CPU that helps particular directions — SSE4.2 and PopCnt. Most PCs with Intel CPUs from 2009 or later will meet this customary. AMD CPUs from 2013 or later must also meet these necessities.
However it’s not possible to improve to a supported model of Home windows 11 on a PC that was inbuilt 2008 or earlier. For particulars, see “Microsoft blocked your Home windows 11 improve? This trusty device can (in all probability) repair that.”
When you plan to carry out a clear set up of Home windows 11, you may boot from set up media and run Home windows Setup. That possibility skips the CPU compatibility examine fully (however nonetheless requires a TPM and Safe Boot help). After the set up completes, you will must reinstall all of your apps, restore your knowledge information, and tweak settings to personalize your system preferences.
Wish to keep away from all that problem? Select the choice that is acceptable on your {hardware}.
Possibility 1: Use this easy registry edit
With this registry edit, you may bypass CPU checks and settle for any TPM model. Please bear in mind that this selection requires that you simply run the Setup program from inside your present Home windows set up. You may’t boot from a USB flash drive and improve to Home windows 11 this fashion.
This course of requires 4 steps.
You want to make one small change to the Home windows registry.
For greater than three years, this modification was documented at Microsoft’s help web site, however the firm eliminated these directions in December 2024. (This is an archived model of that help article.) This variation tells the Home windows 11 Setup program to skip the examine for suitable CPUs and to permit set up on a PC with an older TPM (model 1.2). The standard warnings apply when working with the registry; I like to recommend you make a whole backup earlier than continuing.
Open Registry Editor (Regedit.exe) and navigate to the next key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMSetupMoSetup
If the MoSetup key would not exist, it’s essential to create it. Proper-click the node for HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMSetup within the left-hand navigation pane, then select New > Key. Identify it MoSetup and press Enter.
Choose the MoSetup key after which right-click in any empty area within the pane on the proper. Select the choice to create a brand new DWORD worth. (Do not select the QWORD possibility!)
Change the default identify for that worth by typing the textual content AllowUpgradesWithUnsupportedTPMOrCPU, after which press Enter. Then double-click the brand new worth and alter the “Worth knowledge” field to 1. The end result ought to appear to be this:
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Test for errors earlier than continuing — Home windows is frustratingly literal in regards to the contents of the registry, and should you misspell the important thing or worth identify, or should you create the required worth within the fallacious location, your improve will fail. Click on OK to avoid wasting your modifications, after which restart your PC.
On the PC you need to improve, go to the Home windows 11 Obtain web page (aka.ms/DownloadWindows11) and select the choice on the backside of the web page, “Obtain Home windows 11 Disk Picture (ISO) for x64 units.” Save the ISO file in your Downloads folder.
Be aware that this can be a massive file. Relying on the velocity of your web connection, the obtain may take some time.
For these working Home windows with a non-US language, you may run into issues throughout the set up course of.
The default obtain is English (United States), however you even have the choice to decide on English (Worldwide) when prompted for a product language. A number of readers with Home windows 10 PCs configured to make use of different languages, together with English (UK), have reported that selecting the fallacious language leads to an improve that didn’t enable them to maintain put in apps and knowledge information. If that occurs to you, again out of the improve, obtain the opposite language possibility, and check out once more.
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After the obtain completes, open File Explorer and double-click the ISO file you downloaded within the earlier step. Doing so mounts the file as a digital DVD drive in its personal folder, with its personal drive letter.
When you’ve put in another file compression app like 7-Zip, you may get an error message complaining that the file ‘Autorun.dll’ can’t be loaded. When you see that error, right-click the ISO file and select Open With > Home windows Explorer.
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In File Explorer, discover the Setup.exe file within the digital drive you opened within the earlier step and double-click it to start the improve. You will see a dialog warning you in scary language about compatibility points and the chance that performing an improve will imply you aren’t entitled to future updates.
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You may safely click on Settle for to acknowledge that you simply learn this message and proceed the improve. (For particulars on what that warning message actually means, see Is Microsoft actually going to chop off safety updates on your ‘unsupported’ Home windows 11 PC? Spoiler: They aren’t going to chop off safety updates.) After you click on OK on that dialog, your improve ought to proceed with none critical points.
When you’re upgrading from the identical version (Residence or Professional), you will have three choices: You may maintain your apps, settings, and information (Full Improve); maintain your knowledge information however begin recent with apps and settings (Maintain Knowledge Solely); or begin fully recent (Clear Set up). When you do not see the Full Improve possibility, see the be aware in Step 2 about language choice. Obtain the Home windows 11 ISO once more, selecting the proper language, and check out once more.
One final piece of recommendation: Watch fastidiously at the start of Setup for an possibility labeled “Change how setup downloads updates.” To extend your probabilities of a profitable improve, click on that hyperlink and select the “Not proper now” possibility. That ought to enable Home windows Setup to complete quicker — you will have an opportunity to obtain these updates after the improve is full.
When you encounter any difficulties or if the improve fails, examine this text for detailed recommendation on what to do to search out and repair the issue: Home windows 11 improve not working? Strive my 5 favourite troubleshooting tips.
Possibility 2: Use the free Rufus utility
On older PCs with out a TPM and on PCs that do not help Safe Boot and UEFI, you will want to make use of an undocumented hack to bypass the compatibility checker. It’s technically attainable to do that manually by changing the Appraiserres.dll file (within the Sources subfolder on the Home windows 11 installer drive) with a zero-byte model after which making a sequence of registry edits. Nevertheless it’s less complicated to make use of the free, open-source Rufus utility to create set up media (on a USB flash drive) that features these tweaks mechanically.
To get began, obtain the newest model of Rufus. Variations sooner than 4.6 will not work, due to modifications Microsoft made in October 2024 to its compatibility checking instruments. For particulars of how the newer variations work, see Microsoft blocked your Home windows 11 improve? This trusty device can (in all probability) repair that.
As well as, bear in mind that utilizing Rufus is not going to help you bypass the restrictions on very outdated PCs that have been launched with Home windows 11 model 24H2. When you have a PC with a CPU that lacks help for SSE4.2 and PopCnt directions, not even Rufus might help. (After all, any PC that fails that take a look at might be 15-20 years outdated and deserves to be retired.)
To get began, you will must obtain the Home windows 11 ISO from aka.ms/DownloadWindows11. Select the choice on the backside of the web page, “Obtain Home windows 11 Disk Picture (ISO) for x64 units.” (Though Rufus presents an choice to obtain the ISO file, I like to recommend that you simply get it instantly from this official web page as a substitute.)
Save the ISO file within the Downloads folder of your Home windows system drive so you could find it simply. You will additionally want a USB flash drive of a minimum of 16GB in measurement. You’ll reformat this drive as a part of the method, so again up any knowledge on that drive first — and don’t retailer the Home windows 11 ISO right here!
- Obtain Rufus from the developer’s website or from the Microsoft Retailer and run the app.
- In Rufus, select your USB drive after which select the “Disk or ISO picture” possibility.
- Click on the Choose button and select the Home windows 11 ISO you downloaded earlier (trace: it is in your Downloads folder). After you make that choice, affirm that the Partition Scheme and Goal System choices match the system you propose to improve. That is particularly essential should you’re upgrading an outdated system with a Legacy BIOS reasonably than UEFI. (For many PCs inbuilt 2015 or later, the default settings shall be right.)
- Click on Begin.
- Within the Home windows Person Expertise dialog, choose the primary checkbox to take away {hardware} necessities, as proven within the screenshot under. (When you see an error message a couple of revoked UEFI bootloader, obtain a recent ISO file and begin over.) Alter some other settings as you like.
- Click on OK to just accept these modifications after which click on Begin to start creating the bootable set up drive.
After Rufus efficiently creates your installer, open that USB drive in File Explorer, and double-click Setup. Don’t attempt to improve by booting from that USB drive and performing a clear set up; it will not work.
As is the case with the opposite possibility, you will see a warning about compatibility points, with the heading “What wants your consideration.” It is a scare tactic. (For particulars on what the language in that warning message really means, see Is Microsoft actually going to chop off safety updates on your ‘unsupported’ Home windows 11 PC?) After you click on Settle for on that dialog field, your improve ought to proceed with none critical points.
A number of readers have reported that Setup failed prematurely and displayed an error message (“An unsupported operation was tried”) when run from media created utilizing Home windows 11 model 24H2 and the newest model of Rufus. The repair? Watch fastidiously at the start of Setup for an possibility labeled “Change how setup downloads updates.” Click on that hyperlink and select the “Not proper now” possibility, as proven right here. That ought to enable Setup to proceed with out interruption.
My ZDNET colleague Lance Whitney has extra particulars on the opposite choices out there with Rufus in set up Home windows 11 your manner (and keep away from Microsoft’s restrictions).
When you encounter any difficulties or if the improve fails, examine this text for detailed recommendation on what to do to search out and repair the issue: Home windows 11 improve not working? Strive my 4 favourite troubleshooting tips.
Did your improve work?
When you’ve tried this improve, I need to hear about your expertise. If it labored, please share the main points. When you run into snags, ship me an e mail so we will work out what is going on fallacious. I’ve arrange a particular inbox only for this suggestions: Win11Upgrade [at] realworldwindows [dot] com.
Make sure to embrace particulars — the make and mannequin of your PC and screenshots of any error messages. When you’re capable of create a report utilizing the SetupDiag utility, please embrace that as nicely — you will discover detailed directions in my Home windows 11 improve troubleshooting information.
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