In October 2021, Microsoft released a technical support document explaining how to bypass the hardware requirements of Windows 11 by modifying the registry. Things that can be bypassed through the registry include but are not limited to CPU, TPM, secure boot, etc. Now Microsoft is always urging users to buy new computers instead of upgrading or installing Windows 11 systems on existing computers that do not meet the hardware requirements. Windows 10 will end support in October 2025.
Recently, Microsoft quietly deleted this technical support document for bypassing hardware requirements. The document originally provided the AllowUpgradesWithUnsupportedTPMOrCPU registry option for bypassing. As for the reason for deletion, it is obvious that Microsoft still wants to urge users to buy new devices.
For now, although Microsoft has deleted the support document, these registry options are still valid, that is, they can still be used as a strategy to bypass hardware requirements, but deletion also means that this is no longer an officially supported method by Microsoft, so in a subsequent version Microsoft may prohibit users from modifying the registry to bypass hardware requirements.
There were early rumors that Microsoft was relaxing the hardware requirements for Windows 11, but this news was quickly proven to be a deliberate act by the headline party. Microsoft has never relaxed the hardware requirements. For example, currently there is no other way to use Windows 11 unless users modify the registry or purchase new devices that meet the requirements.
But buying new devices costs money after all, and existing devices can run Windows 11 well by modifying the registry to bypass Windows 11 requirements. Therefore, most users either stay on Windows 10 or choose to bypass the requirements and upgrade to Windows 11 instead of buying new devices.
Considering that after Microsoft stopped supporting Windows 10 in October, at least tens of millions of devices around the world are still running the system, which may cause serious security problems. I wonder if Microsoft has any better solutions besides ESU.