Easiest way to install Windows 11 on Unsupported hardware

[trs96]

Britec09 shows you how to make a USB installer of Windows 11 that lets you install on most any 64 bit capable PC hardware. He also shows how you can create a local account the easy way too. Best video I've seen yet on this topic.

 

[Jamesbond007]

Britec09 shows you how to make a USB installer of Windows 11 that lets you install on most any 64 bit capable PC hardware. He also shows how you can create a local account the easy way too. Best video I've seen yet on this topic.

As expected it uses Rufus to create a bootable USB from the Microsoft issued Windows 11 ISO file that skips the checks and install Windows 11 on unsupported hardware. It certainly is useful in this context.

I would rather wait until the author of the Universal MediaCreationTool updates his script to support Windows 11 22H2. I will then use the resulting Enterprise ISO to upgrade my previous unsupported Windows 11 virtual machine. I have no interest of installing Windows 11 on any physical machine natively so this method is not useful for me.

 

[trs96]

I will then use the resulting Enterprise ISO

Why the Enterprise edition ? What does that do for you that the Pro version cannot ?

I have a dedicated Windows 10 PC that I won't upgrade to 11 until about 2025. Really not a fan of what MS has done with 11. Most of the GUI changes are a step in the wrong directions. While they've still left code from Windows 7 and 10 in the "new" OS. Below is a screenshot from Control Panel in Win11.

 

[Jamesbond007]

Why the Enterprise edition ? What does that do for you that the Pro version cannot ?

I have a dedicated Windows 10 PC that I won't upgrade to 11 until about 2025. Really not a fan of what MS has done with 11. Most of the GUI changes are a step in the wrong directions. While they've still left code from Windows 7 and 10 in the "new" OS. Below is a screenshot from Control Panel in Win11.

View attachment 555767

The Enterprise ISO generated by MediaCreationTool contains the Pro / Education / Enterprise editions (at least it works for Windows 11 21H2), which I can then use to install Windows 11, upgrade Windows 11 or upgrade to Windows 11 from Windows 10 on my unsupported VMware virtual machines.

For me, the Enterprise edition allows some group policy changes which was not available in or taken away from the Pro edition years ago in Windows 10. For example, it allows me to completely disable the Windows Store via group policy, which I consider useful as I don't want or need the Windows Store in Windows 10 or 11. It also allows me to "completely disable" the telemetry (or so Microsoft said, we all know that is not true) via group policy which greatly reduces the amount of information sent to Microsoft.

And of course, the Enterprise edition is supported for longer than the Pro Edition, which is useful.

These things may not be important to you and others, but it is important to me.

This is all for testing at the moment. I am still running Windows 7 / Windows 8.1 on my Windows systems.

I have no intention of running Windows 11 on any physical machine as I really hate the visual changes Microsoft brought. My main Windows system, which is based on hardware from 2016, is unsupported anyway, haha.