Windows 11 suddenly available on my previously incompatible PC

[Ant42]

I have a PC that is around 7 years old, running Windows 10 Pro 64bit 22H2. Ever since Windows 11 came out, Windows Update has been saying my PC doesn't meet the requirements for Windows 11. I looked into it a while back and decided it was my processor that was the problem, so I had resigned myself to remaining on Windows 10 until I got a new PC at some point in the future.

Now suddenly, on the evening of the 23rd of February 2023, Windows Update has announced that Windows 11 22H2 is ready to install. I have the option of downloading and installing it or staying on Windows 10 for now.

But running PC health check to test Windows 11 compatibility still shows:

This PC doesn't currently meet
Windows 11 system requirements

! This PC must support Secure Boot.
! TPM 2.0 must be supported and enabled on this PC.
TPM: TPM not detected
X The processor isn't currently supported for Windows 11.
Processor: Intel Core i7-4790K CPU @ 4.00GHz

And as far as I can see my processor, an Intel Core i7-4790K, isn't on the list of supported processors shown here:

Windows processor requirements Windows 11, version 22H2 supported Intel processors

Have the requirements for Windows 11 changed recently? I'm worried about installing it in case this is a mistake and my PC isn't actually compatible. Am I safe to upgrade or not?

My PC's specs:

Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4790K CPU @ 4.00GHz
16GB RAM
Samsung 1TB 850 Evo Solid State Drive
Nvidia GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB video card
Asus ROG Maximus VII Formula motherboard

Thanks in advance for any advice!

 

[Mike]

This is quite an interesting development. Did you run any kind of software or regedit that might allow you to bypass the requirements? Nothing has changed in terms of the requirements as far as I know.

 

[Jimbo22]

Check your updates for any recent chipset drivers. MS is known to update with out your knowledge.

 

[ussnorway]

they just force the update out as a blanket one side fits all

and no your system is not compatible... the likely outcome is that the update fails at the end and then rolls back
the other option is that it installs then runs at 80% until it fails later, which is how most Windows 7 and 8 users got tricked into installing Windows 10 years ago

 

[Mike]

Typically this is what you will see when you don't meet the TPM or CPU requirements for Windows 11 and are already on Windows 10. It is not going to offer you Windows 11. Maybe if it is being pushed out by an organization in the wrong way using AD, or there is some kind of targeting error with this configuration and Microsoft's servers. I'd like to see a screenshot of what is going on before I make any judgement about it. Also, its very likely Windows 11 could run on that hardware with the TPM and CPU requirements disabled -- it just would not be supported. Before they brought in the TPM requirement and the min-CPU req for security reasons, it was capable of running on all sorts of legacy hardware.

Ahem.. How to Bypass Windows 11's TPM, CPU and RAM Requirements

 

[Ant42]

Thanks for all your replies.

I'm really not sure what's going on. I haven't installed any new software recently. I haven't made any registry changes. There have been no recent chipset or driver updates. Other than a security intelligence update for Microsoft Defender yesterday, the most recent updates were the cumulative updates on the 15th.

The only thing out of the ordinary I did yesterday was try out a USB floppy drive I had just bought, but that didn't require any driver or software installation, it was supported natively and just worked straight away when plugged in.

The screenshot in Mike's post above is what I always used to see in Windows Update, but now I see this:

And on the first reboot it tried to install Windows 11, but I declined. And PC Health Check still disagrees:

If I hear anything official in the future about a change in requirements I may give it a go. But for now I'm happy with Windows 10 and everything is running perfectly at the moment, so I've decided not to update. I'm sure my PC isn't really ready for Windows 11 and don't want to risk breaking anything.

 

[Ant42]

Quick update. I selected "Stay on Windows 10 for now" and Windows Update immediately changed to show:

Back to normal again!

 

[Ant42]

This appears to be what I experienced:

Microsoft confusingly tries to update unsupported PCs to Windows 11 with full-screen prompts

I saw those same two screens when I rebooted, with the initial choice of "get it" or "schedule it" and the recommendation to update when I initially rejected it. It sounds as though the update would have failed if I'd chosen to do it.

 

[Mike]

You are not the only one having this issue:

Windows 10 users are being offered a Windows 11 upgrade despite not meeting the requirements

Microsoft seems to be accidentally offering a Windows 11 upgrade to PCs that don't meet the system requirements, but installing the update fails.

www.xda-developers.com

 

[lmnca]

I have a very similar configuration: same processor, MOBO is Asus Maximus VII HERO, and, probably not relevant, graphics card is NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER.
Based on the above, I assume it's hardware update time if I want to move to Windows 11. Can I get away with updating just the proc, or will I need to change the MOBO as well?

 

[lmnca]

After some research, it seems I cannot avoid changing the MOBO. The Maximus VII HERO is based on socket LGA1150 and Windows 11 requires at least socket LGA1151. See there.

 

[Neemobeer]

Typically a CPU socket is good for 1 or 2 generations of CPUs so research, as you did, is your best bet to tell which socket is required. Also note that there is a good chance your existing RAM won't be compatible with a new mobo usually. Again you'll need to research for that answer.