Installing Windows 11 on incompatible PCs

Older PCs that do not have TPM 2.0 chip on their motherboard and Secure Boot in the BIOS cannot run Windows 11. However, there is a way for you to bypass the Secure Boot and TPM 2.0 requirements by fusing the more permissible requirements of Windows 10 installation with the core of Windows 11. It's like putting a wolf in sheep clothing where the computer hardware thinks Windows 10 is being installed into it, but in reality, it is Windows 11. With that said, because this trick sidestep the preliminary hardware check done by the tru Windows 11 installer, the Windows 11 drivers that come with the core Windows 11 may not be compatible with one or more components of the PC. Moreover, the unsanctioned Windows 11 installation may be unstable. Basically, while this workaround may let you breath new life into older computers, it is not recommended that you use this on your mission-critical or daily-driver machines.  

First, make sure you have the following things:

• Windows 11 ISO file, downloaded from Microsoft website
• Windows 10 bootable USB drive of at least 8GB. This is the USB that will install "Windows 10" into the computer where the core Windows 11 payload is encapsulated by the preflight Windows 10 installer.
• Computer running Windows 10 to use to put the core Windows 11 (the wolf) into the Windows 10 (sheep clothing)

1. Navigate to the Windows 11 ISO file on the Windows 10 machine.
2. Right click on it and choose Mount.
3. Open the mounted ISO image and open the sources folder inside.
4. Look for the install.wim file, select it, and press Ctrl + C.
5. Connect the bootable Windows 10 USB drive to PC and open it.
6. Also, find and open the sources folder inside.
7. Press Ctrl + V to paste the install.wim file you’ve copied.
8. Click Replace the file in the destination in the pop-up dialog window.
9. Reboot your computer into BIOS and enter the boot menu.
10. Change the boot device order: adjust your bootable USB drive to be the first option.
11. Exit BIOS and save changes.
12. Your computer will restart and you’ll be asked to select and install a Windows 11 version. Remember, the installer from the USB drive thinks it is installing Windows 10, but it is actually installing Windows 11 because the source wim file is Windows 11.

There are two potentially two problems with the preparation. The first is the installer USB drive created by the Microsoft Media Creation tool for Windows 10 may format the drive FAT32. The install.wim file for Windows 11 is over 4GB which cannot be stored in a FAT32 drive. The solution is to create the Windows 10 installer USB drive using Rufus where you tell Rufus to format the USB drive as NTFS. 

The second problem is the installer.wim file in the Windows 10 installer may be in the .esd format. You can delete this file and in its place put in the install.wim file from the Windows 11 iso. The installer routine seems to accept both .wim and .esd format.

During this special Windows 11 installation, the initial process looks like you are installing Windows 10, but after the first restart, it will look like the expected Windows 11 installation. 

The same trick can be used to upgrade an existing Windows 10 incompatible machine to Windows 11 by swapping the WIM file.