Microsoft in a recent blog post clarified in detail the need of having minimum requirements for installing Windows 11 officially on a Windows 10 PC. But it seems that Microsoft will allow anyone with a Windows 10 PC to be able to install Windows 11 using Media creation tool and ISO images though these PCs will be in a “unsupported state”.
Microsoft is well-known for leaving loopholes open that have big impacts on Windows upgrade eligibility. It still allows people with valid Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 copies to upgrade to Windows 10 for free. It now seems that a similar loophole allowing anyone with a Windows 10 PC to upgrade to Windows 11 will remain open.
Microsoft spokespersons have confirmed that those interested in getting Windows 11 should be able to install it using Media creation tool or ISO images when available publicly. They also mentioned that such PCs if they don’t meet the official Windows 11 requirements will remain in “unsupported state”. There is no clarity so far as to what this unsupported state means.
Microsoft has also clarified that manual installation of Windows 11 will only check whether requirements of “TPM 1.2 enabled, 64GB minimum storage, 4GB RAM, and a dual-core CPU” are met. The processor requirement will be done away with while checking for manual installation. This should allow most of Windows 10 PCs existing today to be able to run Windows 11, if installed manually using Media creation tool or an ISO image.
Windows 11 release date and new features/changes:
For those interested, Windows 11 update release will be known as Windows 11 October 2021 update or Windows 10 version 21H2 and is targeted at a October 2021 release. Windows 11 brings lots of UI/UX changes and new features over Windows 10.
You can read all the new features and changes that Windows 11 brings over Windows 10 in our massive collated changelog.
