Windows 11Pro upgrade on older machines?

Me | 4/29/2023 | Paul R.

[Paul R.]

A few related questions for our FReeper computer gurus:

Has anyone tried upgrading a fairly competent* Windows computer with an older processor from Win 10 Pro to Win 11 Pro? Are significant "tricks involved?** Then were there any subsequent problems with following updates (immediately after installation of Win 11 Pro?)

*The 1st computer in question has an i7 6600u processor, 16gb DDR4 RAM, and a 512GB NVME SSD. (Pretty quick machine.) Then my immediate family & I have a few slightly "lesser" Win 10 Pro machines (which run great, and is as my custom I'll likely keep Win 10 Pro on at least one as a "legacy" machine. (I have a good string of those - hahahaha!)

**What I've seen online is that there are some refurbs selling with 6th gen processors and Win 11Pro installed. The sellers (of course) indicate these machines work fine, but I've also seen in brief research that these OS installations require "tricking" the installation software to not look for "compatible" processors: "compatible" processors are said by Microsoft to be 8th gen I-series or equivalent, or better, from what I've read. Subsequent updates are a bit of a question too. I don't particularly want to have to do "tricks" for every update.

[Paul R.]

It looks like I'll be giving my wife my small laptop / netbook for a trip overseas, which merely pushed up my consideration of upgrading to Win 11 Pro on our other machines where practical. The budget is still very tight, with multiple machines involved, so, we need to hold costs down. We've been saving pennies for 3+ years so wifey can go see some of her family! While my old "netbook" should be fine for her travelling, e-mail, etc., I'll need a replacement / upgrade soon enough anyway, hopefully at minimal cost. And then once in that "mode" & having accumulated some Win 11 Pro experience on a machine with an 8th gen processor (I purchased it as a great / & somewhat lucky deal as a "trial"), I accelerated thinking about our other machines too, both business and personal...)

Any thoughts / input?

Thanks!

P.S. Please refrain from making this thread a referendum on Win 11. Maybe someone else can start a dedicated thread on that. (I find it "ok".) Thanks again. :-)

[Paul R.]

Sorry about run on sentences and any typos: I’m trying to get this posted quickly before this day runs me over with “honey do’s” from wifey and lots of springtime chores too...! :-)

[E. Pluribus Unum]

You need to check supported processors.

None of mine were, so I had to buy a couple of new laptops.

https://www.tomsguide.com/news/these-are-all-the-intel-and-amd-cpus-that-can-run-windows-11

[Rurudyne]

From long ago but not far away.....

Nine-tenths of a gig,
Biggest ever seen,
Gosh, this program’s big— MS Word 15!
Comes on ten CDs,
And requires—damn!
Word is fine, but jeez—
60 megs of RAM?!

Oh! Microsoft, Microsoft,
Bloatware all the way!
I’ve sat here installing Word
Since breakfast yesterday!
Oh! Microsoft, Microsoft,
Moderation, please.
Guess you hadn’t noticed:
Four-gig drives don’t grow on trees!

[Bob434]

Maybe buying used, or cheap new with windows 11 already installed would be the way to go? Computers are something you will use all the time for years, so while the initial expense is a bit tough to handle, the bang for the buck in the long run works out well. Maybe get one win 11 computer now, let wife use it, then save for another down the road a bit? Do,you need to upgrade all of them right away? Win 10 will still be usable for a number of years to come perhaps?

[red-dawg]

Windows 11 "requires" a Trusted Platform Module on the mobo before it is installed. Older ones don't have that.
I put requires in quotes because I've seen workarounds for it.

[Melinda in TN]

My older Dell, that isn’t that old, can’t be upgraded.

For Christmas, I bought myself a new Lenovo Ideapad laptop for $200 that has Windows 11-S. It works fine for a home user, but the S version controls what you can download and install. All apps have to be approved from the Windows Store. It came with a 64GB card since it doesn’t have a lot of storage built-in.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BLCG2KQ9/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1

[rarestia]

Intel 6 series procs are VERY old and vulnerable to Spectre/Meltdown. As other FReepers have pointed out, you’ll need a TPM (Trusted Platform Module) as part of the security requirements for Win11.

RAM is cheap enough nowadays, as long as you have 8 GB, you’ll be fine. Definitely recommend 16 GB if you’re going to be doing anything other than email and light web browsing.

[dayglored]

Windows 10 -> 11 Update... PING!

You can find all the Windows Ping list threads with FR search: just search on keyword "windowspinglist".

[dayglored]

> Win 10 will still be usable for a number of years to come perhaps?

That depends on your definition of "usable".

Windows 10 is no longer receiving "feature" updates -- last year's 22H2 is the end of the line. So no more changes to the UI, no new capabilities, etc.

Windows 10 will get security updates until its End-of-Life in Octber 2025, at which point it will become wildly insecure to use on the internet. This is because starting with the next Windows 11 security update after Win10 EOL, the Bad Guys will know exactly how to hack your Windows 10 computer because it doesn't have the latest fixes, which will only be available for Win11.

All that aside, just as there are many folks still using Windows 7 and older releases, Windows 10 will remain "usable" until the application software vendors start making their latest versions incompatible with it.

[Poser]

Bring back Wordstar!

[Bob434]

Ah ok, I thought they were still updating- I don’t have windows 10 so I haven’t followed it.

((many folks still using Windows 7))

Me included- offline though-

[BikerJoe]

I’ve done about 10 upgrades on machines that are unsupported, using the tricks. Works fine. The updates don’t check for compatibility, so once you have it installed, you’re good to go.

[Paul R.]

Right, I saw a little info. on workarounds, but am not sure if those are needed each time one does an update? Or does that apply only to the initial OS install?

If nothing else I’m hoping to gleen enough info. here to better ask a refurbisher or two (those who’ll answer questions) a couple simple / pointed questions. Since I’ll be looking for a capable machine with a 12” (approx.) screen anyway, to replace the netbook wifey is making off with. (She’ll be gone well over a month, so, this is a “good time” to get a more capable travel / compact machine for me, if I can hold cost down. Upgrades on our desktops where practical would be great, but only after I establish the practicality of it — possibly messing up machines in use and long optimized is more “risky” in my view.)

[Paul R.]

Well, what I’m seeing online CURRENTLY* from refurbishers and such (more as a guide than expecting to purchase several!) is that said refurbishers are moderately commonly putting Win 11 Pro on, say, machines with 6th gen I-series processors — supposedly not supported, but these sellers are saying “no problem”. One fellow says they also do all current updates B4 shipping. Seller has very good ratings / reviews, so I tend to believe him, but, I don’t know the details / are “tricks”** needed for every update to proceed?

*That “Tom’s” article is old (for the computer world.) (And I should talk about “old” - hahaha, considering I still have a DOS 5 machine that still works - as of last month, anyway.)

**Basically consists of turning off the “Trusted Platform Module” detection, apparently?

[Paul R.]

Thanks! So, basically if I have a machine that is plenty quick on Windows 10 Pro, even under heavy use, post “tricks” and upgrade to Win 11 Pro, it should be fine for most uses, right? (Ie., not bogged down to much if it has 12 GB or 16 GB RAM.)

Any suggestions re which tricks are most straightforward? I am NOT experienced with registry changes — “fear of”, I guess, having messed up a machine trying such, about 20 years ago!

Thanks!

[Opathehagrid]

Ditch Windows.....all versions...you are supporting psycho bill gates....go linux

[Paul R.]

“too much”

[sloanrb]

You can’t upgrade from Windows 10 to 11.

But if you download the Windows 11 update assistant and create a bootable USB, you can install a new copy. A clean install bypasses the OS checks.

Also make sure to update the BIOS and set it to boot from UEFI mode.

I have installed 11 on several unsupported machines this way. And I haven’t had any issues.

[BikerJoe]

Any suggestions re which tricks are most straightforward? I am NOT experienced with registry changes — “fear of”, I guess, having messed up a machine trying such, about 20 years ago!

I've used the registry changes, but have also been using rufus...

https://www.ghacks.net/2022/03/04/rufus-3-18-adds-support-for-windows-11-inplace-upgrade-bypasses/