Microsoft REALLY Doesn't want you running Windows 11 24H2 on Unsupported Hardware 

I really don't want to run windows 11 either.

Microsoft most likely changed the compiler flags for system files. When the Hackintosh community was facing the same situation, an SSE4.2 emulator was created and injected into the macOS to keep backwards compat with SSE4.1-only CPUs.

"Microsoft REALLY Doesn't want you"

I really don't want to run Windows 11. All my stupid computers kept pestering me until I disabled the TPM modules.

"Microsoft REALLY Doesn't want me to continue using Windows." There. Fixed it.

They want you to buy new hardware when your computer is entirely capable. I WONDER WHY.

The first Gen Core i5 and i7 released in 2008 should still be able to work.

This is actually a reasonable requirement, only affecting very old CPUs from before 2008 like the Core 2. I actually had a PC running a Core 2 with Windows 10 and that was already unbearable. This is far more reasonable than not allowing 7'th gen Intel processors, or the other arbitrary requirements.

It's very hard or impossible to mimic the SSE4.2, since it's a hardware based feature and required CPU firmware modification to work. So no bypass for old processors especially who released before 2008. Edit: Sandy Bridge processors and newer (SSE4.1, SSE4.2 and POPCNT supported, include Pentium and Celeron)

You can always install it on compatible hardware, generalize it, capture the image and apply the image on the computer that doesn't meet the requirements. Setup completely bypassed. However, if Win 11 code is compiled for SSE 4.2, it'll probably crash at some point

I love windows 10. 11 is such a hassle they move things/settings all over the place but it has rounded corners.

Forcing it to not run when people want it to, and forcing to install itself when people dont want it to, is Microsoft trying to be a pain in the ass?

-They want you to run ChromeOS Flex.- Wait I think that is what google wants lol

Understandable move. Instructions like POPCNT are in the same league as instructions like BSWAP or LZCNT - taking a common bit operation and turning it into a single instruction - and it's very reasonable for software to want to depend on them. Windows 11 only has a 64-bit version available, and the list of 64-bit processors that don't have SSE4/SSE4a is quite old, small and wouldn't run Windows 11 very well anyway - just put GNU/Linux on it instead.

1- UEFI and secureboot: Microsoft don't want you to install any other OS on your PC so it will make it more difficult. 2-TMP2.0: Microsoft wants to control all your passwords 3-Microsoft account login: after you are identified it is easier for microsoft to harvest your data. 4-bitlocker: if something goes wrong all your data will be encrypted and impossible to get it back. 5-W11 smart app control: microsoft will rule what and what not you can install in your PC maybe only possible to install apps from the store. 6-AI embedded in the system: you will have a cyber Nanny to check if you behave. 7-Automatic Updates (since windows 10): disruptive situation on which you are not in control to do your job because microsoft decides when and how and if something goes wrong your system is damaged. 8-Bloatware: Your fresh copy of windows comes to the brim with the latest pile of junk software that you not asked for and you will not use with a lot of telemetry that use your PC resources reducing the performance of your hardware and internet speed. You will own nothing but I doubt you'll be happy.

Why the F!@##K does Microsoft gets to decide what hardware is unsupported, when it was running Win11 23h2 just fine. This is utter BS.

And I really think they should be fined well above their annual budget, because causing needless obsolescence is bad for every living creature on this planet. A lot of other software and hardware makers should find hefty penalties for that reason as well.

it's only cpu's that a are 15 years old and that's really old so i do not see the problem

microsoft can do whatever they want with their product "windows". nothing in this world forces me to use it.

Why would anyone want to? If you try to run an OS that needs more resources than you have.. you have nothing but trouble. If you have an old PC, stick with an older OS… Really, what is the problem?

Well looks like I won’t be upgrading to windows 11 haha. I don’t want it anyways.

I wouldn't want to run Windows on such old slow systems.

One of my Windows installations is running as a virtual machine on a QNAP TVS-h874. Although the VM is Windows 11, I just ran the PC Health Check app and it says that "This PC doesn't currently meet Windows 11 system requirements." It also says that TPM 2.0 must be supported and enable but is not detected. No problems so far but I wonder what the future will bring.

Does it really matter when these are 15+ year old cpus? I would think they can barely handle Windows 11 anyway. It'd be horrible to try to run on them. Windows 7 is perfectly fine for them even if it's not being supported by Microsoft any more. I know a lot of people want security updates but it just seems ridiculous for Microsoft to support cpus that are so old.

The latest updates for many commonly used Microsoft Store Apps also requires SSE 4.2 now for Windows 10 as well as Windows 11. Was running Windows 11 just fine for everyday use on a Q9650. Then one morning in January Microsoft Store Apps like the Calculator and Photos suddenly stopped working, yet continued to work just fine on my 4790K. Downgraded the Q9650 to 10, same result. Then I found out why.

Everyone is just over reacting about this. Microsoft or really any other company should have no business supporting 15 year old devices and that also a new OS when old is available.

No worries, someone always find a backdoor. It may take some time but eventually will happen. I am not sure, but I think there is a play around in the Bios.

My processor has the POPCNT variable. It’s old. The POPCNT hasn’t been a problem since the i3, i5, and i7 version 3xx, 5xx and 7xx. To put things into perspective, I have an Intel core i5-6200U.

what Microsoft has never explained is WHY? Why it excludes many PCs that are perfectly capable of running Windows 11. Microsoft is failing its customers.

Why do they care what computer I run it on? It's my computer not theirs. I hate Microsoft just like I hate my cable company.

Good. Its a shame we have all these fancy instructions to make things faster and more efficient, but we cant take advantage of that because somehow we need to have compatibility with 15 year old architectures. Leaving those behind will benefit the majority of users, even if just a little

I am confused. With windows 11 requiring TPM, are there even any mainboards in which one could socket and run a CPU which has TPM, but the CPU doesn't have these instructions? People complaining about this new added requirement are actually sort of annoying me, since they're trying to stop the advancement of processor architectures by making software require to not ever use any instructions used after the initial x86 instruction set for eternal backwards compatibility. I would be shocked if any of the processors not supported would even run windows 11 in a halfway acceptable manner. Are you really using pre-2008 hardware? It is good that microsoft detects this in the setup phase instead of just letting the computer crash randomly during runtime in an impossible to diagnose manner.

The unsupported Intel processors are actually the non-Core nor Xeon processors or the processors before Sandy Bridge

I don't get why this is making headlines. CPUs from the pre-POPCNT era won't have TPM2.0 modules anyways, so did they _ever_ work with Windows 11?

in my Desktop PC Windows 11 24H2 obviously very fast and snappy in my Intel Celeron Quad Core but the WEBGL is not working in any browsers

I don't have a beef with not supporting older hardware if we're talking about truly ancient hardware like this. The theory being they develop new functionality that requires certain items. I would have more respect for Windows 11 if it kept to those lines instead of just blanket saying 95% of all active hardware is not compatible despite having no problems running it.

this is nothing to do with hardware capabilities and more to do with surveillance.

I never really wanted Microsoft or Apple for that matter, and that solved everything

This is a non-issue, since why would you even want to run Windows 11 if your hardware is that old. Even if the processor was supported, it's the least of your problems.

Thank god I stayed at Windows 10 (and I will keep using it for as long as I can). Later, depending on what windows 12 will be, I will either use Win12, or move to SteamOS.

Just checked with that same version of CPU-Z on my 13900ks and it doesn't show PopCnt in the instructions box either

What happens if you use Rufus to make a Windows-To-Go install on an a drive in a USB cradle then plug it into the machine?

There are not that many CPUs that don't support POPCNT. All core i CPUs do that since Nahalem (first gen core i) which means 2009. Other Intel lines have that since 2013. The chip in this example is from before Nahalem and was done for a Windows 7 desktop. It will be very slow even for basic usage.

just install an older version, then let it update when finished. still working for now.

So basically saying I perfectly 100% usable i9 7900X 7th gen can not run run windows 11 and people thought android updates where bad

i will be sticking with windows 10 as long as possible.as long as they don't require windows 10 for steam or epic game store games i will stay with my current os.

My pc is officially unsupported, but only tpm2.0 is not there

The fix would be to patch the assembler of all binaries eventually as per usual.

They've played this game for decades. Why do people still think they have to play?

I don't see the point. Why even consider Win11 on an old system? If you can't effort an new CPU the other components in the system are probably of the same age. We can buy new CPUs with new instructions every year, not to mention other features, but we have always to wait 10 years before an OS is supporting it. That' s not exclusive to Windows, the Linux kernel team had the same discussions lately. The OS could be so much smaller if we could rid of all the old stuff. The most OS have a lifetime of 10 years including all servicepacks, feature updates and security updates. This is be enough in my opinion.

I7 4790 has the sse4.1 and sse4.2 can it run with bypass???

the tpm one well... cpus older than 8th gen of intel or 2nd gen of Ryzen can run it no issue, but i think this one is reasonable, you gotta have a +12 year old cpu to have this issue, and i dont think there is lots of people with hardware that old.

Microsoft doesn't want you running Windows 11 why is it shoving it down my throat everyday oh it's time to upgrade

I understand that Microsoft is obsessed at blocking older hardware, and more... they are threatening to end-of-life them with no more security patches, which will probably trigger a wave of hacking of home computers which can then be used as DDOS and other hacking jump points (because let's face it, many people will simply be unable to afford the upgrades). But there are a couple things I totally don't understand: 1) WHY is Microsoft obsessed with blocking all computers? Are they doing it as a scheme to force the purchase of new licenses as people buy replacement hardware? If so, isn't that an illegal practice in most countries? 2) Why aren't countries concerned and taking action? Even forgetting consumer protection, if Microsoft is allowed to force the hardware dependency for Win 11 and sunsets Win 10... The existence of millions of Win 10 computers remaining unpatched could have major national security implications, as Russia, China, North Korea, Iran and others would rush to exploit the vunerabilities. 3) Why aren't the companies and open source groups making VMs releasing an extremely thin VM to get past this problem? One that only needs to virtualize a single instance of Windows with high performance throughput. Then the hardware dependency issue would disappear. In the end I am not concerned for myself. Worst case scenario I setup a thin Linux host and virtualize Windows on it.

Why would you even want to run Windows 11 on unsupported hardware anyway? Why not Linux?

I don't dislike Windows 11 but honestly I wouldn't botter installing it on older hardware when W7/10 or a Linux distro would definitely run better 🤔

I tried to Windows 11 for a few days and then i decided didnt like it and some features were missing from Windows 10. So I had no other option than to remove Win11 and install Windows 10 on my desktop gaming pc, mini gaming pc and gaming laptop.

Do you even want to run Windows 11 on such an old CPU? I imagine it must be painfully slow.

I had some problems with installing win11 a few yrs ago, recently I got stuck again with 22h2 being unable to get 23h2 no automatically no in the manual manner. It all happened to my good old core i7 3770K which was the top-notch CPU back in 2013. Now I have Xeon 2650v4 and Co-Pilot says both of them support POPCNT instruction. PS I had the Core2Quad Q6600 as soon as it arrived on my local market, and it was really hot but good CPU for that time. You might want just upgrade it to some Xeon, I bought 2 pcs of mine (for Dual MB) recently for just below $8! I believe that they are faster than Q9650 in about 10-15 times!

This can never be bypassed, as it is an instruction.

So what happens when you update through window update will it become unbootable

A lot of the CPUs that Microsoft stopped supporting wouldn't give you a great experience on a modern Linux platform either. Pretty much everyone wants to use a web browser on their computer and less than 4 cores for that isn't a good experience.

My laptop has a quad-core A6-5200 Jaguar based CPU with 16GB of RAM, a 2TB SSD and a 2TB HDD in place of the DVD drive. The CPU supports all of the stupid Win11 requirements except for one. The only thing holding me back from upgrading to windows 11 seems to be the unnecessary TPM2.0 requirement. I could backdoor Win11 but there is no guarantee that there won't be some other requirement down the road that bricks my laptop. Windows 11 does not seem worth the hassle. Linux has already started doing the same thing as MS. Linux distros have mostly started to move to what is called x86-64-v2 instruction support and will later move to x86-64-v3 instruction support and completely stop support for older CPUs by dropping support for 32-bit distros and x86-64-v1 based distros. There will likely be barely supported projects for older systems but the big Linux distros will likely be moving towards only supporting newer CPUs with a wider instruction feature set.

My oldest CPU running Windows 11 is a Haswell. It has SSE 4.2 so it should be fine.

i aint even gonna put it on intel 8/9th gen where 7 8.1 and 10 run perfectly well.

I love how they call it a critical feature - which is total BS. This is a really BAD move for Microsoft, as it's just another reason to go back to Windows 10, stick with it if your still running Windows 10, or just keep Windows 11 23H2 and get no further updates. In all cases Microsoft looses.

Oh dear, my 15+ year-old long-unsupported, hacked hardware won’t be supported. Evil MS improving their software and not supporting every CPU ever.

Not sure why people hate the idea of running with more secure and efficient hardware.

is SSE4.2 the same thing as Popcnt? ... i have sse4.2 and see4a, but not tpm module. so i assume i can run it but still might have to bypass TPM?

Will be bad for pre-8th gen systems owners if MS will seriously disable 2nd to 7th gen CPU. i5-3570 (not to mention i7-7700) is still quite a capable CPU available dirt cheap, one can buy fully assembled system with 240G SSD and 8G RAM for 50$ because they are massively written off by companies. And compatible Win10 will be killed in 2025 with dropping support for browsers in 2026 or 2027. Ironically, Celeron G4900 is "compatible" while i7-7700 is "obsolete". I think artificial CPU limitations mean aggressive corporate greed and huge irresponsibility, because millions of good PCs will go to scrap. I'm not talking about P4s or Core 2, because they are really too old. I remember maxed out Q9650 being quite sluggish under latest Win10. But many pre-8th gen of Core systems are still capable for most home tasks, why not let them die naturally?

People will still be able to install Windows 11 24H2 on their unsupported hardware. But if they lack POPCNT, they won’t be able to boot into Windows. Installer checks can still be by passed. The change at the kernel level won’t be by passed and at some point Windows requirements will become so steep its not simply a matter of installing Windows on PCs that have POPCNT. Windows of the future and advances in AI technology will require you to run Windows on a new chip. That’s going to be enforced beginning with Windows 12.

Couldn't you just install an older version of Win 11 and then upgrade it from within via Update?

also ryzen 2400g is not compatible

Using very old PCs is not worth running Windows 11 on anyway.

cant we just put install.wim file in windows 10 setup folder?

They still have me locked on 22h2 I can't even update.

knew it was only a matter of time.

Actually I love Windows 10 and I can't leave it seriously

Hackers gonna hack.

How can anyone find out about what computer processor their computer is working on? Then your computer says it is only 2 years old and launched around 2023 will it have that processor even if it had an upgrade to Windows 11 Home and Home only not the Pro version? And will this processor problem be affecting Windows 11 Home or is it basically all versions of Windows 11 updates? Some unbelievable changes in Microsoft's thinking as a consequence of security issues and not telling anyone who uses Windows OS that update, and possibly processor need to be updated long before anyone buys a laptop and PC. Questionnaire before buying alongside prices and specifications in stores and online that we can put to PC manufacturing companies and Microsoft themselves and networking companies too? I guess these things are quite possibly the mainstream. But we as owners should get more information before buying a laptop or Computer information yearly as customers of those developer's companies. The processor on anyone's laptop and PC should have it on the box telling me or anyone else what it does and use labels and possibly a barcode to scan for further information. Details etc.

I moved to Linux a year ago, I don't miss Windows at all.

So, all these African schools that gets our "e-waste" computers can't update to the newest windows, even if they want to, because microsoft wants them to buy a new computer . . . 1 word: GREED!

CPU that are 15 years old struggle to run current Linux Ubuntu lol

I have an Intel Core i5 4590, but CPU-Z says, it has SSE4.2 in the instructions. Will 24H2 run on it?

at some point u people need to upgrade... its the same as if someone would want to run windows XP on a cpu from the 1980s...

hi i have processor include ( SSE4.2) but when windows install update the laptop stayed hanging, can i install windows 26058 directly? thanks for you.

I have an intel core i5-3470 processor and when I want to install it, it tells me your pc doesn't meet the minimum requirements because the processor is weak, my processor supports POPCNT :/

the worst part is that these core 2 quad usually don't run new Linux distros either. A lot of LGA775 doesn't support UEFI. So this is just stucking these computers on Windows 10, which is going to die. Nice thing to put all over the OS how Microsoft supports the environment but does everything they can to create e-waste

So an opposite question, I have a machine, after a fresh install, it was heavily rebooted, pretty much all uwp apps removed. Microsoft store was reinstalled using the Xbox app and will install windows apps fine. It then updated to get copilot but didn't, likely due to the debloat. Is there any thoughts on getting copilot without a re-install, as it will likely be lost in the debloat again.

Hear what you saying, CPU's over 15 years old... these CPU's were designed for Windows XP and at most Windows Vista. Be glad you don't have a Mac. Everything older then 6 years also don't run the latest MacOS anymore.

actually, Microsoft , intel and other hardware companies should be put in jail.

Good. More potential Linux users.

Ditch Windows and install an open source OS such as some Linux distro, FreeBSD etc. BTW, Jorma is going to try Haiku OS on his 32-bit Thinkpad!

Is the Q9650 your daily driver system?

I don't see a problem with this

the new requirments only knock out the oldest of Processors even gen 4s most will be good to go as they have the instructions the new requirements looking for most I5 and i7s for sure gen 4 and up

I have an i7 990X processor (First generation) and my PC still works but indeed, with each cold start, 1 time out of 2, the PC freezes after displaying the Windows logo as you mentioned. On the second cold boot, Windows starts correctly. Am I lucky or is it a matter of time before it stops working on the next update ? I don't know.

why the f* would somebody run a Socket 775 LGA in 2024??? genuine question!

Does this mean my CPU (I5 6500) has SSE4.2, so I can run Windows 11 officially? However, the current Windows 11 version does not support it.

And who want windows 11 anyway? 😂😂