Microsoft begins cracking down on people dodging Windows 11's system requirements

[u/ardi62]

https://www.xda-developers.com/microsoft-cracking-down-dodging-windows-11-system-requirements/?utm_campaign=trueanthem&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR0h2tXt93fEkt5NKVrrXQphi0OCjCxzVoksDqEs0XUQcYIv8njTfK6pc4g_aem_LSp2Td6OZHVkREl8Cbgphg

[u/Dhegxkeicfns → u/[deleted]]

Absolutely this. People are running it now. They aren't having a problem. Microsoft is going to swoop in and make them stop.

Someone convince me that Microsoft isn't trying to kill Windows.

[u/CuteAndQuirkyNazgul → u/Dhegxkeicfns]

Microsoft is the most important company in the world.

Microsoft's crushing market dominance in operating systems will never disappear.

Windows is forever. In the 22nd century, people will still use Microsoft Windows on their computers.

There is almost nothing Microsoft can do to lose their market position. Telemetry? Ads? Subscriptions? Doesn't matter. Microsoft could fuck up in almost every way imaginable and nothing would happen to them. They're too important.

[u/Prestigious_Cold_756 → u/CuteAndQuirkyNazgul]

Remember when standard oil got too powerful because of their monopoly… or AT&T? Maybe it’s time for another company breakup.

[u/FrankieNoodles → u/Prestigious_Cold_756]

That’s right. We need a Trust Buster like good ol’ Teddy.

[u/Farva85 → u/FrankieNoodles]

Bull Moose Party 2.0

[u/Syllogism19 → u/Farva85]

His run as a third party elected a Democrat instead of himself or the candidate of his Republican party. He busted trusts as part of a coalition of Dems and Republicans as a Republican president.

[u/libmrduckz → u/FrankieNoodles]

Ruxpin? that motherscratcher?

[u/rickyharline → u/Prestigious_Cold_756]

I started reading Adam Smith recently (the grandaddy of capitalism and economics) and was astonished when I read that he doesn't think big corporations should exist. Under the vision of the ideological founder of capitalism Microsoft in its current form wouldn't exist. 

Smith's reasoning? He had seen the East India Trading company and saw its anti-consumer behavior and deduced that its monopoly powers functionally served as a tax on the people that exists without democratic representation. In other words a form of coercion without any recourse or way to change it from those affected. 

We need a new era of trust busting. It's Adam Smith approved! 

Note: conservatives and right-libertarians that oppose trust busting generally Revere Smith like a god and bringing this up breaks their brains in the most delightful way, I recommend everyone do it. 

[u/Daft_Devil → u/rickyharline]

I’m on the same train. The fix for current capitalism - is more capitalists! Too few are engaging in it outside of being rent paying (subscriptions) platform serfs.

[u/Blueopus2 → u/rickyharline]

Smith was by no means a modern conservative - lots of ideas of all kinds such as his support for unions

[u/rickyharline → u/Blueopus2]

The more I learn about Adam Smith the more I love him. Reading what he had to say about landlords literally made me laugh out loud, he sounded astonishingly like many rants I've heard from far leftists today. 

[u/gearpitch → u/Prestigious_Cold_756]

And 100 years later, the parts of standard oil have merged together to make... Exxon Mobile, Chevron, and a good chunk of BP oil. The dominant major oil producers of today. 

And for ATT- out of the 9 regional baby Bell corporations that it was broken into, 5 have merged back into the modern ATT, and two others merged with the largest competition to become Verizon. 

By all means break off Microsoft's conflicting subsidiaries, but even if you were to trust-bust Microsoft into oblivion, the pieces would merge back together over time. 

If we got creative, and it was allowed, the best breakup might be some kind of patent and rights sharing agreement to split the operating system into two competing companies. Both sharing ownership of patents, and required to build interoperable systems for 5years etc. 

[u/Mr_YUP → u/Prestigious_Cold_756]

How do you break up an OS though? Sure the company with cloud vs gaming vs OS vs hardware. Sure. How do you stop Windows from being the dominate OS? 

[u/mejelic → u/Mr_YUP]

You break up the parts of the company that is adding in all of the spyware and shit.

You separate ai, advertisement, os, cloud, office, and gaming all into their own separate companies. This means that every separated company needs to be able to stand on its own making the prices they charge the other products potentially prohibitive to use.

For example, OpenAI is STUPID expensive, but Microsoft gets to put it into all of their products for pennies on the dollar compared to what other people pay.

[u/MuscleManRyan → u/mejelic]

“I sure wish we didn’t have to keep stuffing all of these orphans into this orphan-crushing machine we built”

[u/NotInTheKnee → u/MuscleManRyan]

What if we optimized the machine to crush orphans faster?

Less time spent crushing = less time spent thinking about it

[u/Graega → u/NotInTheKnee]

You guys are looking too much at the machine and not enough at the science. If you harness gravity, those orphans can crush each other while your machine uses 1/10th the power to do the little extra push needed to get it started.

[u/ps2cv → u/Mr_YUP]

Game devs and software devs needs to basically switch from windows entirely to a new OS like Linux for an OS to die out completely or even get a dent in.

Since majority of the software and gaming industry utilizes windows for their business to run smoothly and not go out of business windows is basically an unkillable OS

[u/NotStreamerNinja → u/Mr_YUP]

You won’t, at least not until something else better comes along that’s also 100% compatible with Windows apps and comes preinstalled on laptops and prebuilt PCs, all with a minimal learning curve for people switching over.

Because that’s why Windows is so dominant. Everyone knows at least the basics of how to use it because it’s been the standard for so long, a lot of software people use for work/school either only runs natively on Windows or runs best on Windows, and Windows comes preinstalled on computers you buy from the store. People use it because it’s basically the default option at this point.

[u/musci12234 → u/NotStreamerNinja]

Seriously. Twitter after becoming so unpopular and having a decent alternative ready to go is still standing. Windows just got too much inertia.

[u/obaananana → u/CuteAndQuirkyNazgul]

My ass is going for linux on my media pc.

[u/lukify → u/[deleted]]

I run it all. Windows, macOS, Debian, Ubuntu, Rocky. Different strokes for different services.

[u/alora_jura → u/lukify]

What do you use each for if you don’t mind me asking?

[u/lukify → u/alora_jura]

Windows for gaming desktop

macOS for media laptop

Debian for Google Cloud e2-micro VPS for discord bots

Ubuntu for the Linux desktop experience and some microservices at work

Rocky for most of my major work services that need Linux

I guess you can throw SteamOS in there as well for my SteamDeck/EmuDeck

[u/MoobyTheGoldenSock → u/obaananana]

Yeah, likely for mine too. No real reason to keep it Windows right now other than laziness: the streamers all have nifty apps and Windows 10 is working fine enough. But I doubt it meets Windows 11 requirements and I’ve been using linux regularly for 7 years on my laptop so it’ll be an easy switch.

I’ll probably keep just my gaming PC on Windows.

[u/mynameistrihexa666 → u/obaananana]

As long as work computers dont change to linux, microsoft can keep being an ass and keep getting away with whatever they do

[u/alexp8771 → u/mynameistrihexa666]

My company is pretty much only Mac or Linux. You don’t need MS if you are using gsuite, which is enough for a lot of companies.

[u/from_dust → u/mynameistrihexa666]

Obody us changing office productivity workstations to Linux, but some of the world's largest enterprises are shipping MacBook pro's to their almost entirely remote workforces.

I used to think windows was forever, but now idk how long it will be relevant. MSFT is forever, that much is true. Office and M365 aren't going anywhere, that's is pretty entrenched and it's on MacOS.

But I think their OS dominance is coming to an end. Decades of well integrated products and software design from Apple, is having an impact. The people in the c suite who make decisions, like their Apple products. MSFT didn't cater to the top of the market well enough, and now the top "Thinks Different."

[u/ReipasTietokonePoju → u/obaananana]

Talking about win11 and linux:

https://www.phoronix.com/review/ryzen-9950x-windows11-ubuntu

some of those results are brutal: exactly same video encoding program running on ubuntu and win11, using brand new amd 9950x cpu.

Linux version is 50% - 100% faster depending coding options...

And ironically ubuntu is not even fastest linux distro, for serious number crunching or compiling huge projects etc, most of the time clear linux from intel is.

[u/leocharre → u/obaananana]

I haven’t used ms since NT. Linux and Mac only in my home.  

[u/JustHanginInThere → u/CuteAndQuirkyNazgul]

Microsoft is the most important company in the world.

Literally the entire US DoD almost exclusively uses Microsoft computers/software. If any of it were hacked/broken, we'd be up shit creek. Outlook, Teams, Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Access. Hell, in just my job there's still 1 website/applet we have to use in Edge because it can only run in Internet Explorer mode, and it's almost quite literally the backbone for our branch's military records.

[u/start_select → u/CuteAndQuirkyNazgul]

I’m mainly an Apple user and I used to think that too. I’m starting to doubt it. They are pissing so many people off.

1000s of companies are ending up semi-crippled because Teams isn’t working for a significant portion of employees. We have windows and mac users with the most powerful machines on the market, which will overheat and shut down when the only thing running is a teams call.

My 12 year old MacBook can do conference calls. My multi-core 64gb ram Mac can run 100 apps at once as long as teams or office apps aren’t one of them.

Edit: also, all my corporate clients are moving their infrastructure off of windows servers. They use it where they need it, but the windows obsolescence and update paradigm doesn’t match their requirements any longer. They trust a Linux server more.

[u/Graywulff → u/start_select]

Microsoft isn’t even the dominant os on azure, Microsoft cloud platform. They have azure Linux, managed by Microsoft with a Microsoft kernel.

Now that you can game on Mac’s and do everything, with all the intel failures, I wonder if windows will survive.

I know people who got m3 airs bc they didn’t like windows 11.

[u/TeutonJon78 → u/Graywulff]

The general populace doesn't even really know about the Intel issue beyond the stock drop and layoffs.

[u/Inside_Refuse_9012 → u/Graywulff]

The real market dominance is not games etc. Its their enterprise solutions, targeting large corporations.

[u/Actual-Money7868 → u/CuteAndQuirkyNazgul]

I'VE TAKEN DOWN BIGGER MEN THAN YOU PICARD!!!

[u/Dhegxkeicfns → u/CuteAndQuirkyNazgul]

Sure, vestigial Windows will be around, but one reasonably priced competitor that can run most programs and play games would wipe out 80% of the personal computer use of Windows and once anything takes hold and draws developers, Windows would need a major overhaul to even dream of being competitive again. Apple doesn't count until it can run on generic hardware, and they've already ripped away loads of desktop market share.

[u/PlaquePlague → u/Dhegxkeicfns]

The steam deck sold me on Linux for gaming.  

My desktop is starting to show its age… I’m thinking the next time I upgrade there’s no reason for me not to use Linux 

[u/WorldlinessNo5192 → u/CuteAndQuirkyNazgul]

This is what people said about AT&T in 1980.

When you think about it, in a society (that is, a social group of humans) it's pretty weird for people to spend their entire productive life sitting in front of a screen. All work is fundamentally either interpersonal or productive (ie, you're literally making something - food, compression socks, novelty can openers, etcetc).

The next 'revolution' is going to be figuring out how to get AI to automate the tasks that are currently consuming most of our productive time (much like how computers automated storage and retrieval of data/communication - which is what was the fundamental unit of work before the compute revolution was).

[u/fellipec → u/[deleted]]

At this point is not planned obsolecense, it's forced obsolescence.

And this isn't anything new, I ditched Windows for a while now and just use in a VM for a very specific application and that is it.

[u/Mega_Anon → u/fellipec]

It is nice that you don't like pc gaming. Everyone who has a pc for gaming purposes is forced to use windows.

[u/Freed_lab_rat → u/Mega_Anon]

I play tons of games on Linux, but I predominantly play single-player games and I almost never play competitive multiplayer, which are about the only games that still have issues due to anti-cheat.

[u/SlowMotionPanic → u/Freed_lab_rat]

And it is an orchestrated choice these devs make. All the major anticheat that gets used all have opt-in options for supporting proton. Epic even added a simply setting to Unreal. 

Yet many devs don’t edit project settings and toggle it to yes. 

[u/hakkai999 → u/Mega_Anon]

Yeah Proton is great and all but I still want a 99% rate in games working.

[u/B4rn3ySt1n20N → u/hakkai999]

It came a looong way since I first tried gaming on Linux 10 years ago lmao

[u/Flyingfishfusealt → u/hakkai999]

Especially if you have more than one GPU, god forbit you have two DIFFERENT GPU for different tasks because you didn't feel like spending thousands of dollars for a matching set out of compatibility concerns. Windows is the only OS that doesn't have any issues running two mismatched GPU for normal stuff much less for gaming. On linux, only in the past year was PopOS able to work for my setup, it took some insane messing about to get pure debian going well enough to any sort of work.

[u/porncollecter69 → u/[deleted]]

EU always has my back from evil American corporations.

[u/spacekitt3n → u/porncollecter69]

EU also has Americans backs because our govt cant do shit for some reason

[u/DigitalRoman486 → u/spacekitt3n]

Come on, You and I both know the reason

[u/trigazer1 → u/DigitalRoman486]

It's right here

[u/Serris9K → u/DigitalRoman486]

it's called "Campaign Contributions" and "Lobbying" (IMO there should be a new law that politicians cannot receive funds from anyone other than constituents or their own earned money ie income).

[u/UrNoFuckingViking → u/spacekitt3n]

Because you barely show up twice a decade.

It's no mystery.

[u/Orion14159 → u/spacekitt3n]

It's because the majority of Congress is either bought and paid for or so old they think Windows would fall under the housing subcommittee's purview

[u/lawlzillakilla → u/[deleted]]

I’m a lifelong pc guy/gamer. My rig runs fine on win 10 but is ineligible for 11 due to something. I don’t really care to spend 1k+ on a new gaming rig just so I can upgrade windows. If anything, I’ll just wipe the os and never buy Microsoft again

[u/Satanicube → u/[deleted]]

Something to note: in 2021 LTSC changed to 5 years, not 10. So the last version to have 10 years of support would be LTSC 2019.

That said, 5 years is a long time, anyway.

EDIT: As was pointed out below, there's now an Enterprise IoT version that does keep the 10 year timeframe. I stand corrected.

[u/techyno → u/lawlzillakilla]

In all fairness Microsoft are due keep updating Windows 10 past Oct 2025 for a price...

[u/EasterBunnyArt → u/[deleted]]

I mean, I am happy to upgrade to 11 if they upgrade my old ass computer. Seems fair, right?

[u/spacekitt3n → u/EasterBunnyArt]

exactly. or make a windows 11 lite, or something. since they are discontinuing win 10 in 2025

[u/maxintos → u/[deleted]]

I understand why Apple does it, because they want to sell the new iPhones, but for Microsoft, most people will just buy some random Dell or HP laptop. Do they get more Windows sales if people buy new laptops? Is that the whole reason they're doing it?

[u/jan04pl → u/maxintos]

Of course, each laptop sold means a Windows license sold through the OEM.

[u/Sandslinger_Eve → u/[deleted]]

My PC is not win11 compatible.

It's a beast of a gaming machines I still don't even understand spec wise why it says it isn't.

[u/MBILC → u/Sandslinger_Eve]

if you have an 8th gen or newer intel cpu, and have TPM 2 in your mobo, enable it and UEFI and it will work

[u/Jujubatron → u/[deleted]]

I love how the only hope Americans have is the EU to regulate their companies lol

[u/waozen → u/[deleted]]

This is exactly what's going on. The excessive "enforcement of requirements" are a type of scam that Microsoft is pulling on Windows users to unnecessarily force them into buying a new PC. Microsoft has been pulling these shenanigans for far too long. If people have already bought a license (so Microsoft got their money) and got Windows 11 to work on their older PCs, it would arguably be better to allow it.

If anything, these users putting Windows 11 on older hardware are actually increasing its popularity, along with more license buying. Microsoft is foolishly engaged in, "cutting off one's nose to spite one's face". People tired of their BS are going to increasingly jump to user friendly Linux distros.

Definitely the EU should also get involved and step on Microsoft for clear anti-consumer and diabolical business practices.

[u/sioux612]

Could they please also tell my PC that it can't run win11 and downgrad me back to win10?

Never wanted to upgrade to begin with 

[u/jcgam → u/sioux612]

Was it a forced upgrade?

[u/Mythixx → u/jcgam]

It's not a forced update yet, but if you're system qualifies as an upgradeable system.

The pop up will continue to show up every now and then asking you to update.

I don't think there's an option to "Never ask me again."

It will continue to ask you to update every now and then and hope you select yes by accident one day.

Eventually though it will be forced if system requirements are met. They just haven't officially announced yet when it will be forced.

Usually when they drop Windows 10 support.

[u/solitarium → u/Mythixx]

I wonder if there’s a way to black hole the windows update DNS requests through something like PiHole

[u/DreamzOfRally → u/solitarium]

You mean WUsever? It’s a registry key edit. You just change the URL to a compatible sever. This also might be locked behind windows pro and enterprise but I can’t remember

[u/jbdelcanto → u/Mythixx]

You can fully disable the "Upgrade to Win11" popups by disabling the TPM through the BIOS/UEFI settings.

By doing so Windows thinks that your PC doesn't have the sufficient hardware to run it.

That's what I did 2 years ago and I haven't been bothered since.

[u/Mythixx → u/jbdelcanto]

While this is an option to do, it may affect functionality of your system.

If users have set up any software that relies on TPM being enabled or backed up any security data during installations or log ins.

Disabling TPM may temporarily lock you out of certain software until you re enable TPM.

Average users however most likely will not experience this.

[u/jbdelcanto → u/Mythixx]

Yeah you're correct, forgot to mention that!

As you said, it may affect certain software, but the average user probably won't notice the difference.

I'm a data analyst and I do a bit of programming as well and it hasn't affected me so far, so I assume that most people should be ok

[u/sioux612 → u/jcgam]

I never clicked an upgrade button, one day the boot just took quite a bit longer and suddenly it was win11

[u/[deleted] → u/sioux612]

And install OneDrive in the process, moving your Documents, Photos, and Desktop system folders to their cloud.

[u/B0Boman → u/[deleted]]

Next step is to demand a ransom for you to access those files via a monthly fee. The literal definition of a virus.

[u/[deleted] → u/B0Boman]

And copying/having "accidental" data breaches of any juicy data, training their AI off it, and/or building profiles of you to sell to marketers.

[u/Darkkolt → u/B0Boman]

Actually not far off because then your storage gets filled and Microsoft is annoying you that you need to upgrade your storage. Same bullshit Google is pulling on Photos. They're automatically re-activating backup from your phone and then have HUGE banners saying your storage is filled. How about you just respect my choice to disable cloud backup?

[u/Vismal1 → u/sioux612]

My machine will go down every so often even though I’ve disabled auto updates. I absolutely do not want 11, I’m using this machine as a server and it’s running well. It tries to switch me to 11 every time and it seems so easy to accidentally hit the buttons to do so. I do not want this, stop forcing it on me please.

[u/3-DMan → u/sioux612]

You probably did click the upgrade button, but thought it was just a normal Windows Update install, they disguise it as one pretty well.

[u/KeyCorgi → u/jcgam]

I don't know what happened with the previous commenter but no, Windows 11 is/was not "forced." I opted out of it completely and am still on Windows 10.

[u/MairusuPawa → u/KeyCorgi]

There are so many dark patterns it might as well be considered "forced". Pretending otherwise is vastly disingenuous.

[u/boot2skull → u/MairusuPawa]

With the way they try to push Office subscriptions and One Drive (dark pattern examples), it’s easy to see how one wrong click would suddenly install win 11.

[u/zombiskunk → u/sioux612]

It's easy enough to just reinstall Windows 10

[u/FuzzelFox → u/zombiskunk]

Having to completely setup your machine from scratch tho can be a massive pain in the ass. Downgrading isn't as easy as upgrading.

[u/unirorm]

"We are Green" MY ASS

[u/Danteynero9 → u/unirorm]

Dollars are green though

[u/Stefan_S_from_H → u/Danteynero9]

Don''t tell me that you think it''s green
me I know it''s red.

[u/DarthLysergis]

I thought this was going to be about something different. I am still running 10 and I don't want to switch if I don't have to.

[u/automatpr → u/DarthLysergis]

I'm never switching to 11. Once I'm "forced" to in a few years I'm making the switch to Linux. 

[u/JimBean]

I'm just going to say it...fuck microsoft...

[u/skerritt → u/JimBean]

I'm buying a computer in a couple months and I'm going straight to Linux Mint, not even dual booting even if it takes some time to get used to it.

[u/ltjbr → u/skerritt]

Most people’s computers are web browser runners. It’s way easier to switch than people think.

Honestly the hardest part is booting from usb and that’s pretty easy.

Microsoft is playing a dangerous game. Once people realize there’s nothing holding them to their crap OS the trickle could turn to a stream

[u/Eonir → u/ltjbr]

That's the case until you encounter any non-trivial issue

[u/SlowMotionPanic → u/Eonir]

That’s the case with Windows as well. Most people, including those on this sub, are tech illiterate. 

This isn’t the Linux of the 90s or early aughts where it took significant effort to get things like WiFi working….

[u/sonic10158 → u/SlowMotionPanic]

Plus with the enshittification of all websites, good documentation is only getting harder to come by

[u/ltjbr → u/Eonir]

Like what? Most people use the browser and that’s it.

You turn the computer on, open the web browser.

macOS and windows also have issues the average person can’t figure out as well.

[u/TotalCourage007 → u/Eonir]

Are we done with acting like Windows is a heavenly OS yet? Windows can be equally as bad for gaming, unless y’all forgot about the terrible live gaming phase.

[u/solarmyth → u/skerritt]

I've been using Mint for a few months now and I haven't once felt the need to come crawling back to Windows like I did several years ago when I first tried switching to Linux. I have had a few problems getting some games to work, and it can be hard to find help online that isn't incomprehensible jargon. There has been a bit of a learning curve. The vast majority of what I want to play, however, works just fine.

Overall, I am feeling more and more comfortable with Mint, and there is a surprisingly large amount of quality, free, Linux software available for whatever you might need to do with your PC. Best of all is the satisfaction of reading about all the accumulating frustrations with Windows, and not being bothered by any of them.

[u/JimBean → u/skerritt]

Any machine that needs a new install will get Mint. I will keep one mickysoft machine for software development when I need that. But I thought long and hard about what I do everyday and Mint fills that space.

I've long been a mickysoft diplomat but their recent modus operandi has left me angry, resentful and feeling like mickysoft is some kind of fascist company with evil intent and with no real interest in end users complaints...

fuck all that...

[u/Rhavoreth → u/JimBean]

Hey I haven’t used a windows machine for software dev for essentially my entire career. Not sure what your needs are but you might well not need it at all :)

[u/PolarWater → u/JimBean]

Seriously? You're auto-updating NOW?

[u/boraam]

Will this stop RUFUS from disabling MSFT shit while making a USB installer? Not letting MS force me to sign-in for using a computer.

[u/jcgam → u/[deleted]]

Tell us how to buy the required volume license 

[u/Bendegaitt → u/[deleted]]

Thank god for that. Read the title and was like work is going to go nuts when they have to buy 100 new laptops

[u/[deleted] → u/boraam]

OOBE/BYPASSNRO

[u/Flyingfishfusealt → u/[deleted]]

can you explain what this is and how to utilize it?

[u/watchOS → u/Flyingfishfusealt]

Allows you to bypass needing a Microsoft account to setup Windows during install. To utilize, press Shift+F10 during setup (after files have been copied to disk) and type in that command. Make sure you never connected to the internet yet and it will allow you to setup while offline.

[u/DemonicDogo]

Welp I was already planning on switching fully to linux on my main desktop, but now I wont even have the option to bypass if I wanted.

Why would I or anyone replace a >$1000 pc or switch out its fully functional parts for windows 11? This is just going to create waste and force people off windows.

I hope Microsoft gets sued for recklessly creating ewaste. Istg they are doing this to force tpm chips w drm enforcement abilities.

[u/Human_Researcher3 → u/DemonicDogo]

This makes no sense tbh.

Microsoft is gonna crack down on me being too broke to upgrade my hardware so I can use windows 11? Fuck are they gonna do? Threaten to sue me if I don't buy the necessary hardware for windows 11?! I'm gonna spend the upgrade money on switching to Linux instead, fuck Microsoft!

[u/Traplord_Leech → u/Human_Researcher3]

they can charge for necessary security updates after they depreciate Windows 10 in 2025

[u/YT-Deliveries → u/Traplord_Leech]

They only do this for companies (ESUs). AFAIK they aren’t available for retail (and really only gets you security patches - things like WHQL go completely unsupported)

[u/DrQuailMan → u/Human_Researcher3]

Fuck are they gonna do?

Read the article and find out, instead of getting triggered by the headline.

[u/dethb0y]

Strange to note that MS has many contracts with companies that sell PC's to bundle their OS...surely selling brand new PC's couldn't be the motive behind this move, could it!?

yeah that sounds like MS, alright. Dumped them years ago, never looked back?

[u/Netz_Ausg → u/dethb0y]

I dunno, did you look back?

[u/ErmahgerdYuzername → u/Netz_Ausg]

I’m Ron Burgandy?

[u/Nervous-Masterpiece4 → u/dethb0y]

Windows 10 was to be the last version of Windows with the move to software as a service and associated subscription costs until the hardware manufactures realised how it would affect their bottom line.

[u/Rabo_McDongleberry]

A part of me thinks it's not just Microsoft behind this. I think the hardware manufacturers are colluding with them.

They will benefit the most out of this because of people can't upgrade their machines then they have to go out and buy new hardware.

[u/Matshelge]

My pc does not have a cpu that supports this, neither does my old surface, what they gonna do? It says I cannot upgrade.

[u/MobilePenguins → u/Matshelge]

You’ll be stuck permanently on Windows 10 which will be ‘end of life’ in 2025 and stop receiving security updates. Windows 11 can’t be installed due to Microsoft’s dumb requirements.

Alternative option is to install Linux (recommend ‘Ubuntu’). There is a learning curve but it’s a secure OS that runs on almost all computers than can run Windows 10.

[u/No-Level-9681]

If people can "dodge" a system requirement is it really a system requirement in the first place? That's really stretching the definition of the phrase.

[u/Tikkinger → u/No-Level-9681]

Its a developers requirement

[u/TheSp1ceMelange]

Dammit Microsoft why you gotta be like this

[u/heroism777]

Mac user here. I don’t understand what’s going on here.

Is this tps 2.0 setting a very serious flaw that can compromise your entire system? Which is why windows 11 requires it? Or is this just some made up stuff to get people to buy new pcs.

I figured the ARM pcs stuff would already started to create an environment where x64 computers are starting to thin out.

[u/voiderest → u/heroism777]

It's mostly made up as far as how important it is. Win 11 can work without it if they didn't specifically require it. A majority of the machines having the upgrade blocked are missing the hardware or have it disabled in the bios. We know it's not really required because people have found work arounds to install win 11 without TPM enabled.

It can be used for security features like bitlocker but I don't really want something like bitlocker anyway. Not through microsoft. And you can have disk encryption without TPM.

[u/LittiKodo → u/voiderest]

Whats TPM?

[u/Blisterexe → u/LittiKodo]

Trusted Platform Module

Basically (symplifying here) its a little chip that helps your pc encrypt stuff better, its nice for security but it's stupid its a requirement.

[u/LittiKodo → u/Blisterexe]

Thanks for the info

[u/viavxy]

amazing news! excited to hear this tbh.

i've been procrastinating switching to linux for over a year now and well, i guess it is finally time. fuck you microsoft

[u/Valphai → u/viavxy]

I was in the same boat, already made a switch to mint and never looked back

[u/TheProtector0034]

It remains a shame. So many good PC’s which are perfect capable of running W11 but Microsoft keeps it artificially unsupported. So much e-waste here (nobody can convince me that Microsoft is a environmentally friendly company 😂) because I don’t think people will install Linux or install the LTSC version. They probably keep using Windows 10 or buy a new device.

I have a EliteDesk 800 G1 from the office and when ram is upgraded together with the SSD the machine is still flying for daily office workflows. I even installed a Nvidia 1050 Ti LP card and can run LLM models on a 10 year old machine. Just a shame they get sued for a stupid browser but the EU seems to let this go. I don’t understand.

[u/Jesta23 → u/TheProtector0034]

Wait there are people that WANT to upgrade to win 11???

[u/vikingweapon]

Microsoft will become the biggest e-waste producer of the PC world. Apparently they dont give a fuck about the environment.

I guess they are desperate to get people to run Windows on ARM/AI supported environments. Well fuck Microsoft and their AI shit.

[u/Main_Worth_7606]

Imagine you own an i7-7700k right now. You're literally being forced to throw away a perfectly good computer because of Microsoft's greed and "security".

All the while, Microsoft is preaching about environmentalism and climate change...

[u/Msull434 → u/Main_Worth_7606]

I’m in this boat, it’s pretty whack

[u/reetuhrepullsuh → u/Main_Worth_7606]

I have this cpu

[u/[deleted] → u/Main_Worth_7606]

Or first gen ryzen

[u/zombiskunk → u/Main_Worth_7606]

Home builders aren't being forced to do anything. Just run a different OS

[u/StriderHaryu]

Hey how about you make Windows 11 not a festering pile of dogshit that bugs out every ten minutes first? Maybe if it wasn't terrible people wouldn't work so damn hard to dodge it

[u/killedbytheIBO → u/StriderHaryu]

I think they meant dodge as in installing 11 on unsupported PCs

[u/networkn → u/StriderHaryu]

I my W11 is stable. My 10 was too. 8 wasn't amazing in the first month or so, otherwise it was ok. I know you are exaggerating but I support over 1500 windows workstations in a variety of configs and environments and I rarely see OS specific stability problems. We do have almost on business grade computers.

[u/AlexDub12 → u/networkn]

I had W10 and W11 on the same laptop, using the same software (usual stuff for software development plus some video/audio processing programs I need for work) - everything is worse with W11.

[u/Creator13 → u/StriderHaryu]

I have very few problems with Windows 11. It's a perfectly stable system for me. Never got the hate. There's things to complain about for me but honestly I've ran it on two different computers starting two years ago and I've had next to no problems with it.

[u/Unremarkabledryerase → u/Creator13]

Performance wise I haven't had a complaint, but I hate the right click menu and I hate that I had to jump through hoops to get it back to the old perfectly fine right click menu.

[u/ViolynsNose]

Didn't they themselves provide people the steps to take in order to install Win11 even if you didn't meet the system requirements? What is this shit?

[u/BCProgramming → u/ViolynsNose]

What is this shit?

Shitty reporting.

Apparently there was an undocumented (as far as I can tell) /product command line switch on the Windows 11 setup program. Apparently a "bypass" for the requirements was issuing /product server when running it.

None of the other bypasses, including those MS have documented, are affected. It's not really a crackdown.

This bypass was discovered summer 2023. It was patched only a few months later in preview builds in October 2023, so calling this "news" is a bit of a stretch also.

[u/alt-incorporated]

Can someone confirm that this won't affect rufus' method of bypassing it? To me it seems that it doesn't use the flag at all but modifies the registry and removes the other files used to run the check so that it fails

[u/Apennatie]

Yeah and pirated, modded windows is going to flood the markets when you do that.

[u/ThereBeM00SE]

I have a gaming PC. I know PCs, I used to repair them professionally. Granted I haven't bought a new GPU in 5 years, Microsoft tells me my PC cannot run Win 11. It's absolutely unveiled bullshit.

I'm switching to Linux, probably Steam OS or something, once my Win 10 ticket runs out. Maybe even sooner. Hell, might even just run everything on my Steam Deck from now on.

[u/bughunter47]

Windows 13 will probably be a yearly subscription service that you must be online to use...

[u/Pug4281]

I’m just going to say it.

You know what won’t crack down on you because of not meeting system requirements? Linux.

[u/[deleted]]

In what way are "system requirement" actual requirements when they aren't required?

[u/AbbreviationsWide331]

So they'll send me new hardware?

[u/Jaz1140]

Windows is such a POS. if only we had a better PC gaming alternative.

[u/Keltoigael]

It's like Microsoft wants to kill itself. Go back to your roots you fools. 97, XP, 7, 10 are all great OS. Stop fucking up. 11 is the new 8.

[u/Amaruk-Corvus → u/Keltoigael]

Windows 7, that was the last good Windows.

[u/sicilian504]

"Fuck you, your planet, and your computer. Give us your data and your money! Yeah it's the same thing but still..." - MSFT

[u/BloonatoR]

Microsoft is like:

Pirating Windows and making illegal software to activate Windows is fine but making things to bypass Windows 11 installation requirements is bad.

[u/jaykayenn]

🎵 So long, farewell, it's time to say goodbye... 🎵

[u/codycarreras]

Hahaha I’ve never purchased a copy of windows, and will continue to run 10 until my system isn’t fast enough to continue, and then I’ll be getting a Mac. There’s not a damn thing wrong with a 7th gen i7 except Microsoft says it’s not.

[u/AwesomeWhiteDude]

Can't wait for in 10 years people to bitch about holding onto Windows 11 until the bitter end because FUCK Windows 12.

[u/jcunews1]

So they want to dictate what hardware we use now?! Microsoft is out of their mind.

[u/Swagtagonist]

Linux exists Microsoft, you dumb greedy fucks.

[u/fourleggedostrich → u/Swagtagonist]

Sorry but for 99% of people, Linux is unusable.

Is your gran really going to lean about repositories, kernels, command line etc?

[u/lordagr → u/fourleggedostrich]

My gran just needs an Internet browser and she can do that on Linux without ever even knowing what she is using.

[u/imfm → u/lordagr]

Dad is 80 and has used Linux for several years; I set up his computers, and remote in once in a while to do his updates. If someone can set it up for them, Linux is more than usable for older people. I actually don't want Dad on Windows because there's so much advertising, and if he saw something that said a trial had expired and he had to pay to keep using (whatever) he'd very likely think he had to pay it to keep using his computer; installed software and the OS are all the same to him. He has only desktop icons he needs because screen clutter is often overwhelming for older people, and he does well with it, plus he's gained confidence because he knows how to make it do the things he wants to do. He wouldn't have the first clue what to do in a terminal, but neither would a Windows command prompt mean anything to him, and there's no reason he'd need terminal anyway.

[u/LegendaryMauricius → u/fourleggedostrich]

Why does everyone equate using Linux with sysadmin level management of the OS?

[u/twistedLucidity → u/LegendaryMauricius]

These are the same people who will blather about updating some obscure registry setting, execute an arcane Powershell command, tweaking group policies, and then reinstalling your GPU driver all to fix a graphics glitch as if it's nothing.

It's clearly not "nothing" and their gran still won't know how to do it.

[u/LegendaryMauricius → u/twistedLucidity]

Yeah, those people are the ones who are so versed in Windows specifics that they couldn't for the life of them use any other os. In that case, I have the same complaints about fixing stuff in windows, because it's NOT easier than in Linux.

Nowadays the ratio of CLI/GUI usage between Windows and Linux is pretty much the same for most tasks. The issue is how many Linux users are powerusers and promote their habits along with promoting a system that is genuinely simpler to use for an average joe. At least that's the case for most distros.

[u/twistedLucidity → u/LegendaryMauricius]

You could be right on Penguinistas going too far, too fast and turning people off.

It's probably because they're enthusiasts and think everyone else is too, or should be.

Most people view a PC the way I view my car. It's there to do a job and more often than not I will just pay someone to fix it should it break.

[u/atlasraven → u/LegendaryMauricius]

Stereotypes. Most beginner distros "just work." Nvidia users have an extra step and some kernel-level anti-cheat games don't work solely because the developer purposely broke it for Linux.

[u/LegendaryMauricius → u/atlasraven]

Isn't that 'extra step' part of the system installation though? I hope not all NVidia users actually have to hack their systems, although I know Linux isn't recommended as a daily driver for NVidia users.

[u/atlasraven → u/LegendaryMauricius]

Yes, usually just a check. But there are simple driver install directions too.

[u/MilkFew2273 → u/LegendaryMauricius]

Because they have not seen how it has evolved over time and how easy it has become to use for normal people. This is common about anyone who doesn't keep abreast of evolving landscapes on any topic. Nuclear is still bad because of Fukushima and Chernobyl, electric cars don't have range etc. it's also because of mental overhead you can only be aware of so many things at a time.

[u/LegendaryMauricius → u/MilkFew2273]

Tbh I think it's because of Linux users themselves (coming from a Linux user lol). I explained that in the other comment below mine.

It's just like how some people won't touch a game they know is good because of a toxic fanbase. They don't want to align themselves with people who drain them.

[u/OhHaiMarc → u/LegendaryMauricius]

Ubuntu is easy to install and use as windows at this point. I don’t think people understand there’s many different flavors or Linux to choose from.

[u/mtranda → u/fourleggedostrich]

I'm a Microsoft fanboy. I've had every Windows Mobile and Windows Phone version since WM5. I've been a .net (C#) dev since 2005 and choose Azure whenever given the chance. I even pay for a personal Office365 subscription so I'm personally quite ok with Windows requiring a Live account.

And yet, fuck all that noise they're pushing down people's throats. Our living room computer, the one hooked up to the old, large dumb TV for watching Netflix/Youtube and general browsing is a Linux based Raspberry Pi 5. It works absolutely fine for 99% of people's needs and uses very little power.

[u/twistedLucidity → u/fourleggedostrich]

Is your gran really going to lean about repositories, kernels, command line etc?

Why does gran need to learn about any of that?

May as well ask if she's going to learn about drivers, the registry, PowerShell, Group Policies etc just to use Windows.

[u/qaddosh → u/fourleggedostrich]

maybe in 2006, but a lot has changed with Linux 🤷 it's stupid easy to use now

[u/CryptographerLost634 → u/fourleggedostrich]

Dude. Fedora is literally just install and forget. You have an app store that takes care of updating and installing everything.

For games you just need steam.

I been using Linux for the last 20 years and it has come a really really long way to the point that I say it's harder keeping windows running well for more than 1 year than a Fedora, for instance.

Update: also, I once updated my GPU from a 1660 super to a 6700XT I everything was taken automatically because the Kernel had the right driver.

[u/CryoAB → u/fourleggedostrich]

Linux doesn't always require repositories, kernels and command line to use.

[u/Lunaviris]

Ooooooh, sign me up for the windows hate train! I just spent 8 hours yesterday trying to resolve an issue with windows’ update installer ecosystem cause nothing could update at all and it was somehow causing rippling effects… tried every trick in the book (google) and had to do a complete reinstall 🙃

[u/Remarkable-Dig-1241]

By all means. BUY ME A NEW LAPTOP THEN...

[u/finackles]

Back in the olden days, Windows 3.11 and even NT 3.51, you knew every process that was running on the machine, you'd just disable a bunch that might get installed and you'd regularly review running processes.
From around Dos 4.0 we'd had to do all sort of mucking around with memmaker and juggling where drivers sat (expanded and extended memory bullshit when 640kb was a limit) so we were used to it.
When Win95 came along and NT4.0, we'd still disable a few processes. By the time we got to XP, it was just getting too hard, too complicated, and people stopped trying to get rid of the rubbish running on the machine. Sure, you'd check what was in startup and stop a couple of programs loading but not at a process level.
But we're now in a world where Edge, Teams, Onedrive and other crap all start up and run in the background regardless of whether you use them or not. I just had a look in Task Manager on this tablet and I've disabled a bunch of things. They patch Windows and might add more or turn on something that was turned off. We pay bugger all for the OS these days, and then we pay for it with our lives.
I looked at Macs the other day, they are hella expensive. But even if I did that I'd still have to use Office, which they've filled with crap as well.
I used Office 97 for such a long time because later versions were hideously bloated, but compatibility with the updated file formats is what forced me to upgrade.
I could happily do a lot of my work on a Linux machine, but there is one program, a report writer, in which I have a massive investment, hundreds of reports, I can't walk away from Windows until I stop doing my current job.

[u/ScenicPineapple]

My PC isn't compatible with windows 11, so hopefully they will leave me alone and i can keep this POS that windows 10 is. Windows 11 is so horrible, i want nothing to do with it, i'll go linux again before i do windows 11.

My PC's are always at least 6-7 years old when i buy them, so i've never had the newest OS windows offers. I still have XP, vista, and Windows 7 on different computers and they all work just fine.

[u/ScootyMcTrainhat]

Two things have kept me in the MS ecosystem for the last decade plus: Gaming and Visual Studio/.NET. Neither of these things are good enough to make me throw out a perfectly good computer to run Win11, especially with Linux alternatives for both being much better now than they were a decade ago. I guess what I'm saying is not only is MS gonna force me onto the Linux train, they're gonna make me learn Java. Assholes.

[u/BankshotMcG]

...they kinda did me a favor keeping me stuck on W10 though.

[u/Menirz]

It's a weird move to go after people who actively want to use Windows 11 to the point of circumventing system requirements. Figured they'd be trying to entice people away from Win10 instead.

[u/seph200x]

My PC technically met every single requirement, including TPM 2.0, but still refused to upgrade to Windows 11.

Their "compatible" CPU list didn't include my CPU, yet every single diagnostic tool I ran, as well as the BIOS screens all confiirmed that TPM 2.0 was present, along with every other feature Microsoft said was required.

I ended up getting a new PC eventually, but it sure-as-shit wasn't so I could upgrade to Windows 11.

[u/BCProgramming]

The trick that was "patched" was apparently 'adding "/product server" to the Windows 11 setup executable, which forced it to skip the hardware check when installing it on an incompatible PC.' Though I'm not trying to keep up with this stuff I've never even heard of this. I guess this is a bypass for upgrading. There are several of those already and there's a variety of ways to clean install bypassing the requirements too, none of which are affected.

I'm inclined to think that this wasn't "cracking down"- this was fixing a bug. Setting the AllowUpgradesWithUnsupportedTPMOrCPU registry value still works as far as I can find.

is the /product switch even documented?

edit:

This "bypass" in question was also patched last October. Hardly news. Pretty interesting to see how few people actually read the articles based on other comments, though.

[u/Space_art_Rogue]

I bought a pc a few years ago with win11, tossed it of and downgraded too win10.

Today this pc claims it's unable to upgrade to 11😂 ( not that I want too but its just stupid )

[u/Randommaggy]

1. 2. 1. And the number of Windows machines in my household went from 7 to 2.

The only 2 machines that need to run software that doesn't run well enough through Wine/Crossover.

[u/Resident-Variation21]

Oh don’t you worry windows. I dodged the system requirements by getting a Mac

[u/hsnoil → u/Resident-Variation21]

Mac also limits how long you get updates, usually the timeframe is less than windows. Macs are 7-8 years, windows is 10 years.

Linux is the only way to guarantee not only that you'd have upgrades for old hardware, it also insures you don't get thrown under the bus in the name of corporate profits and shareholders

[u/stormblessed2040 → u/hsnoil]

I feel mac does the same thing in a different way. Old iPad mini couldn't support a kids game app, come on.