More than 800 million Microsoft users are buckling up for a rollercoaster ride, as they get ever nearer the Windows-maker ending their critical security updates in October. We’re talking Windows 11 and the painful process of pushing Windows 10 users to switch. Despite years of trying, Microsoft has yet to convince most of them to move.
What’s now clear is that this huge group splits broadly in half — those that won’t update and those that can’t. For the first half, the enticement is a free upgrade to a more secure and feature-rich OS. Albeit that has not yet done the trick. For the other half, those without PCs recent enough to meet the Windows 11 security hurdle, Microsoft’s recommendation is to buy a new PC. Ideally a Copilot PC with all the AI trimmings.
All 800 million can kick the can down the road another year with extended support — longer if they’re doing so as part of an enterprise or school account. And on this, the company has started to publish more formal pricing and buying guidance. And while we can assume most users with PCs capable of a jump to Windows 11 will do so rather than pay a fee, the other 400 million users have a harder choice. And chances are this is the group least likely to pay extra and therefore most likely to fall off support.
The bad news for that group, as spotted by Neowin, is that “Microsoft [has]
quietly deleted official Windows 11 CPU/TPM bypass for unsupported PCs,” explaining that “when Microsoft made the original Windows 11, version 21H2, generally available, the company, perhaps unimaginably, had also provided a workaround that bypassed the system requirements which would allow users on unsupported PCs to upgrade too.”
Not any more. The support document “which hosted this information has been edited since and the above workaround has been deleted. The change was made sometime recently after the release of Windows 11 24H2.” As Neowin points out, “the company is not a fan of those updating to 11 on unsupported devices, which is likely why it no longer wants to inform users about the Registry workaround.”
For the record, this is the advice that was:
”Microsoft recommends against installing Windows 11 on a device that does not meet the Windows 11 minimum system requirements. If you choose to install Windows 11 on a device that does not meet these requirements, and you acknowledge and understand the risks, you can create the following registry key values and bypass the check for TPM 2.0 (at least TPM 1.2 is required) and the CPU family and model.
Registry Key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Setup\MoSetup
Name: AllowUpgradesWithUnsupportedTPMOrCPU
Type: REG_DWORD
Value: 1
Note: Serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly by using Registry Editor or by using another method. These problems might require that you reinstall the operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that these problems can be solved. Modify the registry at your own risk.”
The workaround in question did need some tech savvy, albeit those easy-fo-follow instructions. That said, not all users would be comfortable tweaking Registry keys even if doing so has a seal of approval from Microsoft. The tweak bypassed the TPM hardware check, and let the upgrade fly. Even so, it would likely be a patchy experience running Windows 11 in those circumstances.
So take this as a further warning not to upgrade to Windows 11 on the wrong hardware, at least as far as Microsoft is concerned. Prior warnings have included loss of hardware and software support, as well as a loss of support for office apps. And now this.
The good news is that we saw an uptick in Windows 11 upgrades in January. But there’s a long way yet to go. I have asked Microsoft for any comments on the change.
