Personally, I would recommend waiting until the upgrade to Windows 11 is offered via Windows Update. However, for those who simply cannot wait, Microsoft has provided measures to install Windows 11 immediately.
Upgrade To Windows 11 Now
Visit the following official Microsoft page: Download Windows 11 (microsoft.com) and you’ll see three options to download Windows 11:
- Windows 11 Installation Assistant
- Create Windows 11 Installation Media
- Download Windows 11 ISO (Disk Image)
Click the “Before you begin” option associated with each method to view details of requirements and how to proceed. The first option — Windows 11 Installation Assistant — is recommended to upgrade from an existing Windows 10 installation. The next two options are more suited for a clean install. Interestingly, both these options include the following in the expanded “Before you begin” details:
WARNING: Installing Windows 11 media on a PC that does not meet the Windows 11 minimum system requirements is not recommended and may result in compatibility issues. If you proceed with installing Windows 11 on a PC that does not meet the requirements, that PC will no longer be supported and won’t be entitled to receive updates. Damages to the PC due to lack of compatibility aren’t covered under the manufacturer warranty.
There have been many hints that Microsoft would not be providing updates for Windows 11 running on PCs that don’t meet requirements but this is the first time I’ve seen it confirmed in an official Microsoft document.
There are already a number of workarounds available to circumvent requirement checks but, according to user reports, they appear to be very much hit and miss. Besides, I doubt it will be long before Microsoft catches up with these types of workarounds and beefs up its checking methodology. We may well see yet another game of cat and mouse develop.
NOTE: Please do not attempt to install Windows 11 on a machine that does not meet requirements if it is your main machine. By all means give it a go on a spare or secondary machine where, if things do go wrong, it won’t be disastrous.
You should also be aware that Microsoft has now provided a method whereby Windows 11 can be installed on PCs running older CPUs:
Totally agree with you, Jim. Best to allow those who like to test, and have a computer for that purpose. While they locate the bugs that Microsoft failed to find, thus providing the rest of us with a more solid version, Mindblower!