New OS vs New Computer
In a recent article I read by our own Jim Hiller, The Truth Behind Windows 11, he asks a compelling question about Windows 11 and asks readers for their thoughts. In reading some of the comments it reminded me of the dozens and dozens of articles I recently read, many containing the negativity surrounding the release of Windows 11.
A long time ago Bill Gates and the team of Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak were working on similar projects. To make a long story short, Apple decided to make and sell computers that contained their operating systems. Microsoft on the other hand decided to make and sell an operating system that was designed to fit in computers built by others.
Two Big Differences
Difference One
Creating an operating system vs a computer plus an operating system was a big difference. Microsoft was not constrained by computer or hardware designs or improvements. They only had to worry about building and improving their OS. Another part of this difference was Microsoft traditionally charged users for newer updates to their OS. So, if you purchased Win 98, XP, or subsequent versions like Vista, Win 7, and Win 8, you paid a price. Over the last 36 years, Microsoft has only released nine major versions of its software prior to Windows 11. All but the 8.1 release and Windows 10 cost consumers money to upgrade.
Difference Two
Longevity — Windows 10 was first released as a test version in 2014 and it was touted as the “last upgrade” you would need to buy. Many of us thought (because we were told) that it was also the last version that would be released and only updates would be added for free. It seemed like a great deal then and remains one now. If you consider that Win 7 was rightfully one of the most loved versions of Windows and was released in 2007 discounting the horrible mistake of version 8, Microsoft has not charged for a new OS since 2007 and with support for Win 10 not ending until 2025 that effectively makes at least 16 years of free support.
I personally don’t see where that is a lot to complain about. In contrast, Apple’s releases include:
This list of course does not cover the impressive iPad series of tablets. Nor is it in any way a comparison of Apple and Microsoft systems. But every one of these releases included the purchase of a computer and donating or throwing the old one away.
What To Do If You Don’t Want Windows 11
Next, I would investigate the almost endless possibilities of switching your OS to something else. As I mentioned before, excluding Surface, MS only sells Operating Systems, removes the MS OS, and installs another system. It really is that simple. There are over 400 working distros of Linux operating systems. Not interested? Switch to an Android OS or Google OS.
Summary
Did Microsoft pull a “bait and switch”? NO, they did not. If they made you pay for Win 10, then yes but they gave it away free. They are also giving you Win 11 free, and I have not heard of any upcoming charges after that.
If you do install a new OS, you might have to relearn some new commands in Linux, Google, or Android but probably not, you most likely have an iPhone, and the latter two closely resemble them. Linux, on the other hand, has several systems that mimic the Windows OS including Win 7 and 10 and without a doubt a soon-to-be Win 11 look alike. There really are no negatives here — only possibilities.
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I have Windows 11 installed on an Alienware X51R2 from 2013, that is, it is not compatible due to several requirements, and it works better, faster and more fluidly than with Windows 10. It can be installed on any PC skipping the requirements. I also have it installed on a 2007 Dell XPS420 pc with 4 gigs of Ram and it works pretty well.
With apologies to Jim Canfield for jumping in here.
Hey Fran – That’s interesting. Care to share how you managed to install Windows 11 on 2 machines that don’t meet requirements? Assuming, that is, it was not via the Insider program.
If you look on the internet, you find the way, with what Microsoft published and making a few small changes in the registry, the restrictions are bypassed and you can install it without any problem.
Ok, that being said, a lot of things can be found on the internet!!! Care to share what you have found!!!
Here I leave the link with the steps I took to install it on my PC. The link is in Spanish, but I guess you can translate it with Google translate. Hope this can help you. All the best.
https://www.malavida.com/es/soft/windows-11/q/como-instalar-windows-11-en-un-pc-no-compatible.html
Hi again Fran, like Jim H, could you tell me what processor you are running. I think while it may not meet the requirements of MS. It might be a CPU that is close.
Sad to say I will have to run W10 until whenever!!! My PC would run W11 very easily, but
the silly system requirements forces me to a complete rebuild. Will not go that route, and
will not go the Insider way. So I guess I am just screwed, along with several million others!!!
Well, I guess I can say I have W11 running!!! The registry hack did not work
but another way did. It took me back to the day when one could hack the W8 ISO and make it install W8.1. MS and Intel are lying about what
hardware W11 will and will not run on.
I have it installed on the same ssd as Windows 10 and I can boot with one or the other operating system. I still haven’t said goodbye to Windows 10, waiting to see how Windows 11 evolves and improves.
Fran, there is indeed workarounds to install Windows 11 on an unapproved system. I plan on installing it on mine. I have 7 HD’s 3 of them SSDs I have Win 7, Linux, and Android plus Windows 10 and Windows 10 insider, and want to give it a shot. I would not, however, install it over my main Windows 10 system. I will probably use one of the drives I have dedicated to an Insider Build and put it there.
The reason for my hesitation is that Microsoft initially said that they would not offer updates for unsupported systems. However, they did release the first update in Oct. 2021 to unsupported devices but there is no guarantee that it will continue to do so. They also stated that an unsupported user may see more compatibility issues and software bugs.
I will however perform the install and see how it goes.
In that you can be calm, in my Windows 11 at the moment the Microsoft updates are being installed without problem. As I said before, I have it installed on the same SSD where I have Windows 10 and I boot with one or the other operating system. Although I use Windows 11 more now, so I encourage you to give it a try. I also have backups made in case there was a problem with Microsoft updates and I couldn’t continue with Windows 11.
Hey Fran – I’m well aware of all the articles online that how to bypass the requirements and install Windows 11 but I’ve not heard of anyone going this route and ending up with a persistently fully functional operating system. How long ago did you install Windows 11?
Hi again Fran, like Jim H, could you tell me what processor you are running. I think while it may not meet the requirements of MS. It might be a CPU that is close.
Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4770 CPU @ 3.40GHz 3.40 GHz
16,0 GB Ram
Hi Mr Jim….
OK guys, I took the plunge and installed W11 on my main PC, even though no system
requirements are met, after I made two backups of W10, one with the W7 backup to a external drive and one to a internal drive with Easeus Todo Backup.
What I did, after reading several different things on the internet was this.
1 I downloaded a W10 ISO and a W11 ISO
2 I moved the ISO,s to a data drive into a W10 folder and a W11 folder and then used
7zip to extract the ISO’s in their respective folders.
3 I then opened the W10 ISO and the sources folder and navigated and found the
“install.esd” file and deleted the file.
4 I then opened the W11 ISO file and the sources file and navigated to the “install.wim” file and did a copy and paste to the W10 ISO sources file.
5 I then clicked on setup within the W10 extraction folder, do not use the ISO,s,
6 I navigated back to W10 and started the W11 install from the DVD drive.
7 Once the install starts, bypass the first screen, and do not install updates, also click
on the “I do not have a product key” once the install starts, it will say W10, but W11
will be installed. I also opted for the save my files, everything is working the way I
left on W10.
I have even downloaded and installed W11 updates. Hope everything goes well, but if
it doesn’t, then I will reinstall W10.
My PC is fairly fast but it still took about 30 minutes to install W11, on a slower PC it could and most likely will be considerably longer.
Thanks guys for the info. I’ll be trying, the same process as soon as I get over this cold.
Jim, Please read my post below and watch his video. Everything you need for a successful install is included. My “OLD” plaything Laptops specs. are not even close for requirements yet they are both updating and working super fast. At this time I would not try this w/your main PC or Laptop.
Kathleen, in reply to this and subsequent posts I think your approach is exactly the right way of looking at it. Bypassing the requirements to upgrade to win 11 is not like it is ever going to blow up the computer. MS like any major company is covering their but. They have a list of acceptable processors but not a list of unacceptable processors because they don’t really know. I will be using the approach you took and if I can get my 14 year old dual xeon processors running, I’ll be a happy camper. If not it already has several OS running on its 7 drives so no worries. Thanks for a great comment.
Hello Jim, Think I caught your cold via internet! (in bed 3days). Just now had a chance to check this post for reply up-dates. Anyway, I had to respond. When OS 10 arrived I had quite the shock when my (BELOVED) HP xw8600 Workstation would not run it. I ranted for weeks to no avail. It had Dual Intel Zeon X5492 3.4 GHZ 4 cores each (those were some massive heat sinks) for a total of 8. I wish you luck with your rig. and 11. Also, of all the Windows OS possible replacements Zorin is my pick.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hflftPSlaMk
Hello All, This is the link to create a bootable installer using Rufus.
I have it (11) running flawlessly on 2 older Laptops. Asus X541S and XPS M1330, both have 4GB RAM and SSDs.
This is by far the easiest way!
They have both gone through 2 Patch Tuesdays. Time will tell if they keep supporting it.
Hope you are feeling better, afraid mine has progressed and I will be taking a covid test tomorrow. Thanks for the info. I believe I did try zorin early on. I just received 2 laptops (old) that I will try it on again.
You can install it now on unsupported systems and have it run well but I wouldn’t expect that to last long. They have upcoming changes in the works that are mostly security based that will not be supported on older CPU’s and will probably severely degrade performance. I would go so far as to say that those machines will be affected long before the support for Win 10 runs out. I would not recommend installing 11 on an unsupported system.
Agree 100%.
https://davescomputertips.com/should-you-install-windows-11-on-unsupported-pcs/
W11 is not the problem, it runs just fine on older hardware, the problem is
with MS setting system requirements on what a PC will and will not run.
Yes, I have installed W11 on two of my machines, and both are running just
fine, will it las, I have no idea. I know I will not throw perfectly good running
machines away just to please, big brother MS, and so here we are. If W11 goes
belly-up, then I can and I will reinstall W10, or some other Linux OS.
Hi Donald,
I don’t recommend installing it on unsupported systems for your main PC. I had those older laptops I constantly use for experimental purposes. It’s working so far but future updates will be the ultimate test. I like to experiment w/new things and different ideas. I have my main PC and Laptop that narrowly miss processor requirements.
With me, I did it in reverse so to speak. I had Windows 11 from the first insider build swapping back and forth with Windows 10 until I eventually decided that there are too many little niggles with software not working win Win11 that I reinstalled 10 and have no plans of going back to 11 in the forseeable future. Although the niggles were minor and there are always, well nearly always, workarounds I found a happy medium with using a program called Start11 to make the Start menu similar to that of 11, one of things that attracted me to that program was the fact that I can have as many start menu pages as I want without the “Recommended Software” section at the bottom. another thing which was a game changer for me was the taskbar clock, there are a few little apps that allow you to customise the Windows 10 clock but none, that I have yet found, that work with 11. With the clock so small on 11 I needed a pair of binoculars to see it.
Silly how such a small item as the taskbar clock can be a deciding factor, but it is for me 🙂
ALan, I suspect most individuals that bypass the requirements will eventually return but I think a few might have a processor that will prove to not be a problem at all. Like Kathleen’s post mentions, I would not switch out my main system but like you I do plan on switching my insider build to 11. I don’t see a long term use for a win 10 insider build. Thanks for the input.