Fast Guide : Upgrade to Windows 11 for non UEFI capable PCs

nIGHTmAYOR · 28 Oct 2021

** This guide is aimed for those with 8+ older years PCs that were released without UEFI capable Bios (1) where sometimes referred to as secure boot , the previous guide Here relied on Windows Update to do the OS upgrade , this method however might fail in case of no UEFI Bios present **

Basically Microsoft left few back doors to bypass TPM 2.0 check for new installations of non TPM machines to be successful .

Yet if you are like me who have enough registered games and tools to make the process of fresh installation a nightmare here is what you need to do to get there :

*** Disclaimer : Please back up your current installation (2) , in case of failure please be ware that the whole thing is experimental and non official so neither Microsoft are to be held responsible nor humble me on the other hand ***

First you need to download and apply this registry patch below (3) :
Upgrade To Windows 11 Without TPM.reg

Then download the Windows 11 ISO from third option from following page (4) :
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows11

You have the option to either Burn the ISO to a DVD , or Mount the ISO to a Virtual DVD Rom Program (5) , or my special favorite to just extract the ISO to a folder (5) .

By running Setup.exe found at root of the ISO folder and after it does all appropriate checks and updates , you may be faced by the following warning that all you have to do is click "Accept" to which :

Fast Guide : Upgrade to Windows 11 for non UEFI capable PCs-windows-11-unsupported-hardware-waiver.jpg

That's about it .

-F.A.Q-
- Q: Would a future Microsoft Update break my Windows installation ?
- A: No one knows

- Q: The installation failed for whatever reason , can you please find me a fix ?
- A: Nope , ask around , is why I specifically hinted you do a System Backup

Ref :
(1) Of course 32bit Windows 10 upgrade is a no-no as Windows 11 is strictly 64bit . Also usually PCs without UEFI came accompanied by hard drives formatted in MBR file system where you need to convert which to GPT file system first before you continue with the guide , usually that can be done by a couple of clicks using Mintool Partition Wizard Free , just right click the Drive icon displayed in preview window then choose Convert to GPT then Apply button up left .

(2) A very well known tool to do so is : Macrium Software | Reflect Free Edition this is just a recommendation and as the disclaimer instruct you do everything at your own risk .

(3) A restart might be required for changes to be in effect .

(4) For those with localized Windows installations (different languages) search for your appropriate ISO on Microsoft , they have one for every language .

(5) A popular free way to do so is Win CD Emulator found here : WinCDEmu

(6) The popular tool for extraction is of course WinRAR

Ghot · 28 Oct 2021

@nIGHTmAYOR

Much better.

Once I have the ISO, I just do this...

Right click the ISO image and choose: MOUNT
Open File Explorer and you will see a new drive letter. It will look like a DVD optical drive.
Double click the new drive letter to open it.
Find setup.exe and double click it to start the in-place upgrade.

Choose the Keep personal files and apps option.

After it's all done... to UNmount the ISO image, right click the new drive letter and choose: EJECT.

erpster4 · 03 Nov 2021

reg patch only bypasses TPM requirements but not processor/CPU requirements and does not work on all non-uefi based systems

I find replacing the appraiserres.dll file from the sources folder of the win11 install media with a win10 version to be a far more successful method in upgrading a non-uefi PC from Win10 to Win11 than just using this reg hack regardless of tpm or no tpm and cpu hardware

nIGHTmAYOR · 12 Nov 2021

erpster4 said:

reg patch only bypasses TPM requirements but not processor/CPU requirements and does not work on all non-uefi based systems

I find replacing the appraiserres.dll file from the sources folder of the win11 install media with a win10 version to be a far more successful method in upgrading a non-uefi PC from Win10 to Win11 than just using this reg hack regardless of tpm or no tpm and cpu hardware

I have used the OP method to upgrade an 11 year old laptop and it worked , it almost had non of the requirements but the hard drive being GPT just , I do not know if the current "Windows ISO" became more reasonable than the "Insider Build" every body were using to write their guides or is it that the added "Lab Environment Patch" included in these registry tweaks over-ride all security checks (As a reminder the method applied here is for upgrading working Windows 10 installations not a fresh one like all other guides build on) .

So basically I have quoted your method here for people who my guide fail them (Which we haven't had feedback yet of occurrence) may try .

In a nutshell what the poster suggests is that if the OP method fail you you may just head to the Extracted folder of the Windows ISO you downloaded and find a file named appraiserres.dll and replace it by a cracked one found here : TPM 2.0 error fix by Tech X Help.zip - Google Drive

Further Windows Build updates to the discussed method may instruct you use Windows Media Creation tools to download updates manually the replace the very same file from C:\$WINDOWS~BT\Sources or C:\ESD and then proceeding with the update setup .

I personally do not approve methods that may instruct using a crack of unknown origins but I just elaborated on the methods for those that are highly desperate to try such things .

Try3 · 13 Nov 2021

Those with older computers can use the procedure in
Upgrading with the Windows 11 RTM ISO on a well-below spec computer [my post #266] - ElevenForum

All the best,
Denis

cereberus · 13 Nov 2021

Frankly, if hardware is old, updating to W11 is not worth it. MS have categorically stated they cannot guarantee updates will work.

There is just not enough "wow factor" in W11 to make it worth upgrading and taking a risk. There will inevitably be some 3rd party driver conflicts as W11 develops as well, and I doubt these will get fixed. I am leaving my spare pc on W10. By the time w10 is no longer supported, it will be at end of its life.