Microsoft Ignores Angry Users with Windows PCs That Won’t Run Windows 11
Microsoft has no plans to lower the system requirements for Windows 11.
Those with computers built before October 2017 have already found out that their less-than-four-year-old computers won’t run Windows 11 because, among other things, Windows 11 requires an eighth-generation Intell processor (Coffee Lake) or newer, or a second-generation AMD Ryzen processor or newer.
Also, Microsoft is not backing down on the requirement that PCs have a TPM chip (Trusted Platform Module) on the motherboard and that it be turned on. Currently, most motherboards with TPM chips are automatically disabled. So, users whose computers do have the TPM chip may have to dig into the BIOS to turn it on.
According to this article in “Express”…
“…Microsoft isn’t going to make any changes to its requirements anytime soon. Microsoft Program Manager Aria Carley recently addressed the issue during an Ask Me Anything webcast. When asked about the controversy, Carley said: “Group policy will not enable you to get around the hardware enforcement for Windows 11. We’re still going to block you from upgrading your device to an unsupported state since we really want to make sure that your devices stay supported and secure.”
Yikes. Well, that about sums up it.
Microsoft will check the specifications of your machine before you download Windows 11 via its Windows Update app. If you don’t meet the minimum requirements, the US technology firm won’t let you even download the installer. So, at least you’ll know before committing to a huge download…”
And we’re warning our readers not to download Windows 11 installers from unreliable sources (there’s a whole lot of unauthorized Windows 11 downloads full of malware out there). We’re also warning readers not to attempt to install Windows 11 using the workarounds which are being published on the internet. If you do use a workaround to install Windows 11 on a computer that otherwise does not meet the minimum requirements to run it, there’s a good chance you’ll lose data on that computer when Windows 11 is finally released later on this year or early next year.
And one more important note:
Windows 10 will be supported and updated until October 14, 2025. Windows 10 users won’t be forced to upgrade to Windows 11 – at least not for a long time.
My desktop downstairs will be fine with Windows 10 as well my old laptop. In 2025 I may try a new operating system on that desktop.
On my new computer, I can run Windows 11, but I’m not crazy about that taskbar and a few other things. I want to wait to see if third-party programs can fix those things once they catch up or Microsoft does some changes. Hopefully, there will be enough complaints.
Someone said 95% of Windows 11 was Windows 10, and 5 % was the change. I guess we will see the more it comes out.
No one knows what Windows 11 will actually be when it’s released. I know from playing around it’s not ready for primetime. Taskbar search, which has been one of our favorite features of Windows 10 – is gone in Windows 11. It’s now start menu search and does not work correctly (yet).
Don’t forget that Windows 11 was going to be Windows 10 21H2 (SUN VALLEY) and MS got the brilliant idea to be even more “Apple-ish”. Kind of funny… new computers and tablets with Windows 11 on them will be out in stores in October – just in time for Christmas shopping. I have no doubt that Microsoft, trying to lift a sagging PC/Laptop market and trying to spark sales. By eliminating 80% of the existing PCs, they are creating a whole new market. Good luck with that. If not for the business we’re in, I’d stick with Windows 10 until 2025 and let the techies and geeks play around with Windows 7. It’s nothing like going from Windows 95 or Windows 98 to Windows XP. Or even from Windows 7 to Windows 10.
Windows 11 is a lot more like Windows 10 than Windows 10 is like Windows 7.
I use a translator so sorry for mistakes. My computer is NEW and supports TPM and has a powerful multi-core processor. But I can’t install Windows 11. The manufacturer had been led to believe that their processors could run Windows 11. That was also clear with the device at the points of sale: Windows 11 ready, not so. Furthermore, that support for Windows 10 remains, first see and then believe. In addition, there are suddenly many withdrawals from the Windows 10 Store. The only thing going on here is the abuse of the non-existent consequences of Covid19, a pandemic is being exploited on everything from energy to food, housing, employment … Microsoft is yet another vulgar pickpocket in a row. You don’t have to look for more than that. The cash register must be full.
Well what I want to know is every time Microsoft wants to create a new windows platform is everyone supposed to go out and buy new computers to be able to run it? When your computer is not that old! I think this stinks to high heaven on their part and its very unfair to people.
I can see a lot of computer disasters ahead when seniors on fixed incomes continue using them unsupported. Most seniors on a fixed income can’t afford to go buy a new computer.
Come on Microsoft, you can do much better than that !
I get that Windows has become a decreasingly unimportant item in your income stream. But to force users to junk their relatively recent hardware because it won’t run Windows 11 (a replacement for the “last” Windows 10) is environmentally irresponsible and a financial burden on users. As if electronic waste wasn’t enough of a problem.
Disappointing.
Fortunately, most of the “older” hardware runs just fine with recent Linux distributions. In fact, I recently set up a 90 year-old neighbor with Linux Mint and she has no problems with it since it is as easy to use as Windows 7.
If you are able to install Windows; you can install Linux. It also supports most printers.
Disclaimer: I am a Windows 10 user which works just fine. After 2025 ….. we’ll see.
In essence, Windows 11 is a security update. Some of the new security features require the latest hardware (Intel generations 8, 9, 10, & 11 and AMD’s latest generation of processors). If you have older hardware, you can use Windows 10 until 2025.
Yes, kind of sort of… if you believe that anything with computers, networking, and/or Windows can be “secure”. Still got those human users that Microsoft can’t fix!
You may find this interesting. I pulled this from “Wired”.
“There aren’t that many new features you can come up with that allow you to say: ‘Hey, this is a brand-new version of Windows!’” says Tyrsina. “If you have a car that’s already fast and solid, what more can you do? You can’t really transform it into a plane.”
Of course, it’s more complicated than that. “Every incremental operating system upgrade has millions of lines of code, and flaws are found after the fact,” says John McPeake, senior research analyst at Rosenblatt Securities. McPeake can just about find a justifiable argument as to why Windows may have convened the world’s media for its Windows 11 release: Microsoft is trying to respond to the success of Apple’s M1 chip. The chip improves performance while also reducing draw on battery life. However, Microsoft’s own version of lightweight, low-battery computing, the cut-down Windows 10X web-first OS, was cancelled last month, specifically because the company thought its features needed to be accessible to a broader user base. Some of its features, including layout, appear to have made their way into leaked versions of Windows 11 – suggesting the company decided at some point that a 10-point-something release should be renamed 11.
“Microsoft tends to like to release new versions of Windows when they feel like they have a new critical problem to solve,” says Linn Huang, research vice president at market analysts IDC. Windows 10 sought to address cybersecurity issues in a mobile-first world. Huang also thinks Windows 11 a response to the problems with tech that have been raised through the pandemic that are “both urgent and pretty tall orders for Microsoft to tackle in just a regular update to Windows 10”. The pandemic quickly changed the mobile and PC markets. Global shipments of PCs in the first three months of 2021 increased 55 per cent over the previous year, according to data compiled by IDC.
Aside from being a response to Apple’s M1 chip, the surprise launch of Windows 11 is also a response to Apple steadily eating into Microsoft’s market share. “I believe that they decided to go with a new brand name because of the slight decrease in sales,” says Tyrsina. Earlier this year, Windows’s market share in laptops dropped below 80 per cent for the first time ever, hit by the rise in Chromebooks and Macs. “They’re trying to prepare for a world where our kids are going to use Windows,” he says. And part of that is by branding Windows 11 as a shiny new release that people will want to use in a post-pandemic, hybrid working world – even if the reality isn’t the same.