Is my laptop really not compatible with Windows 11 upgrade?

[NaePasaran]

As this is what the Windows Health Checker is currently telling me...

16 GB RAM, 256 SSD, AMD Ryzen 3 Pro 2300u (Radeon vega mobile GFX).

There's nothing really wrong with W10, just thought with some extra time during the summer a fresh install and OS upgrade would do some good (especially seeing as before I used to torrent etc but don't bother now).

[krisdelta]

Highly likely that the chipset can't (or wont) be patched fully by Win11 for vulnerabilities - also a great way of getting people to trade-up their machines as Win10 drops out of support in a couple of years.

[arcturus]

Microsoft decided not to support the Ryzen3 2200U (full AMD list here)

But although you can't install Windows 11 the normal way, you can still install it on upsupported hardware - i have done it myself on a 7th Gen intel NUC. Just Google and you will find instructions on how to do it. Here is one example

[krisdelta]

arcturus said:

Microsoft decided not to support the Ryzen3 2200U (full AMD list here)

But although you can't install Windows 11 the normal way, you can still install it on upsupported hardware - i have done it myself on a 7th Gen intel NUC. Just Google and you will find instructions on how to do it. Here is one example

Every day is a school day - thank you! Super helpful

[Derek Smith]

arcturus said:

Microsoft decided not to support the Ryzen3 2200U (full AMD list here)

But although you can't install Windows 11 the normal way, you can still install it on upsupported hardware - i have done it myself on a 7th Gen intel NUC. Just Google and you will find instructions on how to do it. Here is one example

I've done that on a nephew's old desktop.

Neither of us was sure why he wanted Win11.

[NaePasaran]

Thanks for the replies guys.

Main reason for the upgrade was I believe Windows 11 can support Android APKs (?), and the end of life stuff which will spring up in 18 months or so. Laptop is only used for (mostly) basic browsing and processing, was kinda hoping to get another 5 year out of it. I'll hang fire just now, wait until the EoL date is nearer and upgrade then. No issues with Windows 10 to be honest, best OS since Windows 7 which ain't exactly hard.

[RVB]

As said above: Windows 11 will run on surprisingly old computers.
I ran W11 on a handful of 10-15yr old computers without any issues but my overall experience of W11 on a variety of computers is that it is less stable, less compatible with older programs and often takes a few more clicks or keystrokes to get things done.
I ran W11 for about 18 months but decided W10 was better so I went back to W10 and none of my household's computers now have W11. We'll run W10 as long as possible and hope that W12 is better.

[NaePasaran]

Got bored so decided to upgrade.

All that was needed was two reg tweaks, one to "downgrade" W10 Enterprise to W10 Pro and another to bypass the "Your hardware in not compatible" error message.

Downloaded and ran the 6GB multi-version X64 .iso from Microsoft, ran the setup and off it went. Installed no bother at all without error messages, drivers look ok, activation key from Windows 10 looks fine in W11 and all updates applied. No idea why Microsoft kick up a fuss about saying a 5-6 year old laptop isn't compatible with Windows 11 when it clearly is (well for the time being anyway).

Performance wise feels ok. Always tweak the "Adjust performance settings" to "best for performance" (Except the font options) and feels snappy. Might take a while getting used to but the OS doesn't seem as bad as some people make out to be. Certainly isn't anything like going from the Windows 7 to Windows 8 "upgrade".

One thing that always baffles me is why a company the size of Microsoft make it so hard to find My Computer or This PC as it now is. This should be the first thing thats pinned to the start menu and task bar, couldn't even locate File Explorer at first.

It's not a bad upgrade, nothing spectacular either, a bit "meh", but should keep the trusty old laptop going for hopefully another few years yet

Edit: its not all good, the centrally aligned task menu is hideous, but a quick change to left alignment sorts that out.

[richhead]

ive not gone for win 11, win 10 does what i need, is it worth the hassle of changing, is it better?
when i do win updates, it says my computer can take win 11, but tbh im happy with the way things are.
To me win 10 is about ideal for daily use.

[.:ian:.]

It's the start menu that gives the immediate feeling of revulsion!

Be careful with bypassing the tpm requirement, the newest insider builds have removed one method of bypassing the requirement.

https://www.tomshardware.com/software/operating-sy...

It's not clear if this will get patched in and what the outcome will be if there is no tpm module.

[xeny]

My experience of 11 on unsupported hardware is I get monthly security updates, but not the annual feature updates, so the feature update version I originally installed goes end of life after 18 months or so.

What is the experience of other posters with this?

[dan98]

richhead said:

ive not gone for win 11, win 10 does what i need, is it worth the hassle of changing, is it better?
when i do win updates, it says my computer can take win 11, but tbh im happy with the way things are.
To me win 10 is about ideal for daily use.

Good plan. I've downgraded a brand new machine from W11 to W10 - it runs more smoothly / snappily and I find it more efficient to get things done.

True that they'll stop supporting it at some point, but usually by then MS have released the next OS which is actually an improvement on the previous one.

[richhead]

dan98 said:

richhead said:

ive not gone for win 11, win 10 does what i need, is it worth the hassle of changing, is it better?
when i do win updates, it says my computer can take win 11, but tbh im happy with the way things are.
To me win 10 is about ideal for daily use.

Good plan. I've downgraded a brand new machine from W11 to W10 - it runs more smoothly / snappily and I find it more efficient to get things done.

True that they'll stop supporting it at some point, but usually by then MS have released the next OS which is actually an improvement on the previous one.

Is them not supporting an operating system even a problem for a normal user. I mean has anyone still running win 7 for instance had problems, or is it scare tactics to make you upgrade?

[otolith]

Win10 goes out of support next autumn. Bit miffed that my perfectly good work laptop’s processor won’t support it so will need to be replaced. Doesn’t seem to affect most of our hardware though.

[dan98]

richhead said:

Is them not supporting an operating system even a problem for a normal user. I mean has anyone still running win 7 for instance had problems, or is it scare tactics to make you upgrade?

I guess it depends what you mean by 'normal user'.
For work usage, even working from home, security is important - which means using the latest patches / browser updates etc.

If it's just for home use then no doubt XP/7 will still often work OK but I'd be wary of keeping an offline and online backup if there was anything you didn't want to lose.
And even then be aware that if the system is attacked or infected, this can also spread to the backup (and your local network) rendering it useless.

[richhead]

dan98 said:

richhead said:

Is them not supporting an operating system even a problem for a normal user. I mean has anyone still running win 7 for instance had problems, or is it scare tactics to make you upgrade?

I guess it depends what you mean by 'normal user'.
For work usage, even working from home, security is important - which means using the latest patches / browser updates etc.

If it's just for home use then no doubt XP/7 will still often work OK but I'd be wary of keeping an offline and online backup if there was anything you didn't want to lose.
And even then be aware that if the system is attacked or infected, this can also spread to the backup (and your local network) rendering it useless.

Thats kind of what i thought, be interesting to know if its ever happened in the real world tho.
I only use mine for browsing and emails, personal ones only, so nothing that anyone wants to see, and online banking, but no passwords stored on the computer and always use a tx authorization.
So i would probably be ok, i could do a clean win install and it wouldnt be a problem.i even log onto my emails everytime by putting in my address and password.
As my computer still works, and does everything i need, i wont worry about support being stopped.
I am very cynical, and always think that its mainly about selling new machines and software.

Que me posting tomorrow that ive been hacked and my bank emptied and living in a shed, my life ruined lol

[xeny]

richhead said:

Is them not supporting an operating system even a problem for a normal user. I mean has anyone still running win 7 for instance had problems, or is it scare tactics to make you upgrade?

Would depend what I was using it for.

For most people, web browsing and email is a common use, and at some point Chrome and FF are no longer updated on end of life operating systems.

You're going to be very unhappy if your web browser is compromised, which means web based email is taken over, then a saving or investment account gets a password reset sent to it, which means you're down several thousand £++.

Not worth the risk IMO.

[richhead]

xeny said:

Would depend what I was using it for.

For most people, web browsing and email is a common use, and at some point Chrome and FF are no longer updated on end of life operating systems.

You're going to be very unhappy if your web browser is compromised, which means web based email is taken over, then a saving or investment account gets a password reset sent to it, which means you're down several thousand £++.

Not worth the risk IMO.

that would only work if they have my phone aswell.
but i do get your point, but it does seem to me that most recent big tech cock ups have been caused by updates rather than hackers.
In a year i will probably just fancy a new machine anyway, so its a moot point, i was just wondering what the real world dangers really are to a person like me.

[NaePasaran]

xeny said:

My experience of 11 on unsupported hardware is I get monthly security updates, but not the annual feature updates, so the feature update version I originally installed goes end of life after 18 months or so.

What is the experience of other posters with this?

My fresh install of Windows 11 on unsupported hardware is fully updated to 23H2 (Build 22631) which is the latest version. However as you say its end of life for this is 11/11/2025, a whopping 4 weeks after Windows 10 end of life.

24H2 should be released later this year which should be supported until 2026 so will be interesting to see if i can upgrade to it when its released. Fingers crossed, will buy a couple of more years out the laptop.

[NaePasaran]

richhead said:

Is them not supporting an operating system even a problem for a normal user. I mean has anyone still running win 7 for instance had problems, or is it scare tactics to make you upgrade?

I think end of life is definitely a ploy to sell more hardware. Next year I could have to upgrade a perfectly working Pixel 6 and my HP laptop as Google and Microsoft pull the plug on updates those Android and Windows versions - good job we are not in an environmental crisis!

If it is a scare tactic it'll work for me. I'll continue using them for a few months after end of support but considering how much personal information is on both, I wouldn't be using them a long time after the last security updates.