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I need to install Windows 11 on an older PC that doesn't support TPM and SecureBoot.

According to this article, it's possible by creating DWORDs with the names BypassTPMCheck and BypassSecureBoot (both set to 1) in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Setup\LabConfig. Unfortunately, that didn't work for me, as the Windows installer still says the hardware does not meet minimum system requirements, so I can't start installing.

I saw some comments that this technique doesn't work anymore, but the other described in the article (with using Rufus) does.

But instead of preparing a USB stick I just unpacked the .iso files to an internal SSD and booted up from it, as written here. As Rufus doesn't support and enlist internal disks (even after Ctrl-Alt-F), using Rufus in not an option.

Is there another way of disabling the checks during setup process or by modifying the .iso files manually?

Shtole
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2 Answers2

3

You might be able to skip the setup process entirely and use dism to directly unpack Install.wim into a prepared empty C:\ volume.

  1. Minimize the "Setup" window, hit ShiftF10 to open a Command Prompt window.

  2. Use diskpart to partition the disk, roughly following the official Microsoft instructions (in particular the linked CreatePartitions-UEFI.txt script):

    DISKPART> sel disk 0
DISKPART> clean
DISKPART> conv gpt
DISKPART> create part efi size=100
DISKPART> format quick fs=fat32
DISKPART> assign letter=S
DISKPART> create part msr size=16
DISKPART> create part primary 
DISKPART> format quick fs=ntfs
DISKPART> assign letter=W

  3. Use dism to extract Windows:

    X:\> dism /get-imageinfo /imagefile:X:\Sources\install.wim

    Find the index of your desired Windows edition, fill it in /index: below:

    X:\> dism /apply-image /imagefile:X:\Sources\install.wim /index:1 /applydir:W:\

  4. Use bcdboot to install the bootloader:

    X:\> bcdboot W:\Windows /f UEFI /s S:

  5. Reboot:

    X:\> wpeutil reboot

(I don't bother with the recovery partition. A later Windows upgrade will end up creating one anyway.)

grawity
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-1

Rufus is exactly what you need.

If you don't have or don't want to use a USB key, you might use a Windows Virtual Machine to emulate a USB drive, let Rufus do it's thing in said drive, then use that emulated drive as a primary IDE/SATA one so you can boot from, and finally inject your physical hard drive as a raw disk inside the Virtual Machine as a secondary one.

Once you've done installing, simply remove the drive from the Virtual Machine then put it in your PC.

Remember, if your PC is BIOS, then so does your "virtual Windows 11" installation.

 

Do note that Microsoft is trying hard to nag people to use Windows 11, by allowing people to get hooked on it by "allowing" BIOS installs and Secure-Boot or TPM less installs for a while, then as Microsoft said, "do not guarantee that these ways will work in the future" (let's put it frankly, will close the gates (and they have huge record of forcing things down peoples throat and not listening to users who paid Windows. It's now an "Industry Standard" for last few years now) like removing the ways for bypassing such scamish, people disowning and landfill-happy requirements.

 

Also, Microsoft will very likely prevent Rufus to allow such scam-less Windows 11 installation later, or even let you boot from such PC without "Secure" Boot or TPM. The upcoming Windows 12 (from 2024 at the earliest) should probably definitely forbid anyone who doesn't obey to Microsoft to be used. That, and because they'll probably enforce the Pluton chip, which may not be possibbly emulated by Virtual Machines since very little is known about it.

Your best bet to future proof your PC is definitely by using Windows 11 inside a Virtual Machine (with 3D/Hardawre acceleration enabled and 128MB of VRAM at the very least) that can emulates "Secure" Boot and TPM, such as VitualBox 7, under a Linux (which doesn't hogs CPU, RAM, GPU and disks as long as you're using XFCE for a usable lightweight GUI) host.

That, or trying to use Linux as much as you can, and resort to virtual machines if Windows is really needed if you want to still own your hardware.

X.LINK
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