Upgrading to Windows 11 on Unsupported Hardware

In this article, we’ll look at how to update a computer running Windows 10 to Windows 11 25H2 on unsupported hardware (without a TPM chip, UEFI, or with an old CPU). Microsoft’s minimum requirements for installing Windows 11 include the presence of a hardware TPM chip, UEFI, and a modern CPU released after 2017. If your PC doesn’t meet Windows 11’s minimum system requirements, it will be marked as incompatible and will not receive an upgrade offer through Windows Update

This post explains how to manually upgrade a computer that doesn’t meet the minimum requirements from Windows 10 to Windows 11 25H2 (an in-place upgrade). With this method, you can upgrade to Windows 11 without performing a clean reinstallation of the operating system or losing any data or installed apps.

Prepare for the Upgrade from Windows 10 to Windows 11

To update your computer, you need the official Windows 11 25H2 ISO image, which can be downloaded directly from the Microsoft website or created using the Media Creation Tool (https://www.microsoft.com/software-download/windows11).

The latest version of Windows 10 is 22H2. Make sure your computer is running this version:

1. Press Win+R
2. Run the command: winver
3. This will show you which version of Windows is installed.

Mount the ISO file that contains the Windows 11 25H2 installation image. A virtual DVD drive will appear and be assigned the drive letter D:\ (by default).

To manually upgrade an old computer from Windows 10, 22H2 to Windows 11, run the setup.exe file from a mounted ISO image containing build 25H2. If your computer’s hardware doesn’t meet the minimum requirements, the following message will appear:

To check if your computer’s hardware is compatible with Windows 11 25H2, open a command prompt and navigate to the virtual DVD drive:

cd d:\

Run the command:

./setup.exe /auto upgrade /noreboot /DynamicUpdate disable /Compat ScanOnly

In this mode, Windows Setup runs a compatibility check without performing an upgrade.

Bypass Compatibility Checks When Upgrading to Windows 11

To prevent the Windows 11 setup program from checking your computer’s hardware compatibility, you need to make changes to the registry.

According to Microsoft’s official documentation, there is an official way to bypass the hardware requirement by adding the AllowUpgradesWithUnsupportedTPMOrCPU registry parameter (link). This option allows you to skip the TPM 2.0 chip and CPU checks when upgrading the OS.

Run the following command to create this registry parameter:

reg add HKLM\SYSTEM\Setup\MoSetup /f /v AllowUpgradesWithUnsupportedTPMorCPU /d 1 /t reg_dword

The AllowUpgradesWithUnsupportedTPMOrCPU registry parameter allows the old CPU and the presence of a TPM 2.0 chip to be ignored, but a TPM 1.2 chip is still required. You will not be able to update in this way if the TPM is missing.

The following PowerShell command checks for the presence of a TPM chip on a computer:

Get-TPM

If the TPM chip is missing (TpmPresent=False), there are workarounds to upgrade to Windows 11 without checking hardware compatibility.

Run the following commands in an elevated command prompt:

reg delete "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\CompatMarkers" /f
reg delete "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\Shared" /f
reg delete "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\TargetVersionUpgradeExperienceIndicators" /f
reg add "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\HwReqChk" /v "HwReqChkVars" /t REG_MULTI_SZ /s "," /d "SQ_SecureBootCapable=TRUE,SQ_SecureBootEnabled=TRUE,SQ_TpmVersion=2,SQ_RamMB=8192" /f
reg add "HKLM\SYSTEM\Setup\MoSetup" /v "AllowUpgradesWithUnsupportedTPMOrCPU" /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f

• The first three commands remove registry entries containing data about previous upgrade attempts and failed hardware requirements checks.
• Then, the HwReqChk registry parameter is added to make it seem like the computer passed the minimum requirements compatibility check (TPM, CPU, RAM, etc.).

Once these changes have been implemented, run the setup.exe file from the Windows 11 installation media. You can now perform an in-place upgrade of Windows 10, ignoring hardware checks while keeping your installed programs and files (check the Keep personal files and apps option).

Upgrade Windows 10 to Windows 11 with /Product Server Option

Another way to upgrade to Windows 11 is to run setup.exe with the argument indicating that you are installing a Windows Server edition, which bypasses the CPU and TPM chip verification checks.

Open a command prompt and run the Windows 11 update wizard in special mode:

./setup.exe /product server

Or:

D:\sourcs\setupprep.exe /product server

During the upgrade, select the option to keep your installed files, settings, and programs.

Even though you specified the Windows Server installation options, the desktop (client) Windows edition remains the same.

After the upgrade is complete, check the Windows 11 version and build using the command:

Get-ItemProperty -Path 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion ' | select ProductName, DisplayVersion, CurrentBuild

As you can see, the upgrade to Windows 11 Pro was completed successfully.

A previous bypass method of upgrading to Windows 11 on unsupported hardware involved modifying the appraiserres.dll file on the installation media.

1. Copy the Windows 11 installation ISO image files to your local drive (or burn the ISO image to a USB stick)
2. Clear the contents of the appraiserres.dll file in the sources folder:Clear-Content C:\Win11_ISO\sources\appraiserres.dll -Force
3. Then run the setup.exe file and continue with the Windows 11 upgrade.

To silently upgrade your computer to Windows 11, you can use the setup.exe command-line options:

start /wait d:\setup.exe /Auto Upgrade /Quiet /DynamicUpdate disable /showoobe None /Telemetry Disable /compat IgnoreWarning /NoReboot

Update from October 2025. You can also use the Flyby11 third-party tool to upgrade a computer that doesn’t meet the Windows 11 system requirements. I prefer avoiding third-party tools on my production systems, especially since system requirement checks can be easily bypassed using only built-in tools.