What a weekend it's been for Windows 11. Microsoft announced that some Intel 7th-Gen chips will support the new operating system and unveiled an updated PC Health Check app. But perhaps the biggest news about the OS is the fact that people will be able to install it on unsupported systems.
The Windows 11 minimum requirements caused a stir from the day they were announced. Some scoured the web to see if their devices support TPM 2.0 and if they'd be able to upgrade to the new operating system. While PCs will still need to meet the minimum requirements for official support, Microsoft revealed that it won't block people from manually upgrading to Windows 11.
If people would like to, they will be able to use the Media Creation Tool or an official ISO from Microsoft to upgrade PCs that don't meet the minimum requirements of Windows 11. As long as a PC has TPM 1.2 enabled, 64GB or more of storage, at least 4GB of RAM, and a dual-core or higher CPU, people will be able to force it to run Windows 11. While these still set a bar, it's a significantly lower one than the official minimum requirements.
The question is, will people want to do this? After all, there's a reason that Microsoft set the minimum requirements where it did. Even upon further review, the company only added a set of Intel 7th-Gen chips. Microsoft didn't add any additional AMD processors to its list of supported CPUs.
According to Microsoft, PCs that don't meet the minimum requirements of Windows 11 have 52% more kernel mode crashes. In contrast, PCs that do meet the specs are 99.8% crash-free, according to Microsoft.
That may be the case, but many expressed a desire to run Windows 11 on their PCs regardless of what Microsoft recommends. At least in relation to unofficial support, this takes the onus out of the hands of Microsoft and lets people do what they want with their PCs.
This setup could be a compromise that many are happy with. Only people with PCs that meet the minimum requirements will see a prompt to upgrade, while tech-savvy people can force the operating system onto just about any computer that they'd like.
If your PC doesn't meet the minimum requirements of Windows 11, will you still upgrade it to the new OS? Let us know in the poll above and explain your thoughts in the comments below.
