Apologies - I know this is a Linux forum but this Win 10 thread has been
meandering like the Mississippi 😗

I hope this post is helpful to those who are pondering Windows 11 upgrade
on older hardware and are not sure how to go about it.

On Sat, May 10, 2025 at 12:59 PM David Schwartz via PLUG-discuss <
plug-discuss@lists.phxlinux.org> wrote:

> AFAIK, if you have Win 10 installed, there has always been a way to go in
> and have it upgrade your machine to Win 11 once it was released at no cost.
>
> I think that started after they had so much trouble getting people to move
> off of Win7.
>
> The problem is that Win 11 requires something in the hardware that tells
> Win 11 it can run. I’ve got two machines running Win 10 that refuse to
> upgrade to Win 11. Paying for it won’t help.
>

Not necessarily. You don't need the TPM hardware nor do you need to pay
(see notes)


> You CAN buy an upgrade if you want. I’m sure they’ll happily take your
> money.
>

To my knowledge, the upgrade is free if you have a lic. copy of Win 7, 8.x,
10

<my story>

I have a 10 year old Dell Inspiron laptop; it does not meet the min. Win 11
hardware requirement.
It has dual boot Linux Mint (c 2021) and a minimalist Windows 7 Home OEM
(upgraded to Win 10 Pro)
Hardware profile - Intel Core i7-5500U, 8GB RAM, WDC 1TB HDD, Intel WiFi
DualBand AC 7265, FHD Touch Screen, NO TPM 2.0

I decided to donate it to someone who needs it more than I do.
Even though the Linux desktop is easy to navigate, the person is familiar
with Windows and knows its software update process.
I don't want to hand him a laptop with a soon to be EOL OS.

So I tried a fresh install of Windows 11 on it before donating it.

Last Friday (5/9), I installed a fresh copy of Windows 11 (AMD64) [notes]
Surprisingly, I did not have to search/install any device drivers. Every
device worked "out of the box" at first boot! Yay 🙌
Looks like Windows 11 installation media had all the drivers for this
laptop because the hardware is so old 😁

Now the laptop is ready for the next owner 🖖

Conclusion: it is *possible* to install Win 11 on older hardware.

</my story>

[notes]

   1. Win 10 licenses are eligible for free upgrade to Win 11.  Make sure
   you have the Product Key/Digital Lic (see below) prior to the install
   process.
   2. Download Win 11 ISO from here
   <https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows11>
   3. Windows Product Key instructions here
   <https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/find-your-windows-product-key-aaa2bf69-7b2b-9f13-f581-a806abf0a886>
   4. A blank 8GB USB pen drive.
   5. Visit Rufus website <https://rufus.ie/en/> and follow the
   instructions on how to create Win 11 installation media from the ISO
   (disabling the TPM hardware check).
   Don't want to use Rufus - use this Registry hack
   <https://www.tomshardware.com/how-to/bypass-windows-11-tpm-requirement>
   to bypass Hardware checks during the install process.
   6. Create the USB installation media
   7. Boot your computer from the above USB media
   8. Do NOT connect it to your network (WiFi or LAN)
   9. Follow the on screen instructions to complete the installation. It
   may nag you for a Microsoft account, choose 'local.'  It took about 40
   mins. for the installation to complete.  YMMV depending on your hardware
   vintage.
   10. The Win 11 installation is minimal (35GB), it creates a default
   'admin' user; it will prompt you to set the password at first login.
   In my case it detected the original Win 7 Home lic. and defaulted the
   install to Win 11 Home but I could upgrade it to Win 11 Pro with my Win 10
   Digital Licw.

--
Arun Khan