Windows 11 shipped to new devices with greater hardware requirements than its predecessor. While this came as a shock to many users, the decision to increase the OS’s capabilities and performance with these stricter requirements make sense, given Microsoft’s recent increased interest in high-performance gaming. Most notably, the new OS requires at the very least an 8th generation processor in addition to Trusted Platform Module 2.0 (TPM 2.0) to be present in your device.
While there are ways around these stricter requirements, Microsoft has, with perfect clarity, made its position on the use of unsupported hardware known. The next update of Windows 11 is even expected to ship with a watermark alerting users that their hardware doesn’t support the use of Windows 11.
This watermark has featured as an A/B test component in the latest versions of the Windows Insider program and is expected to become a standard feature across Windows 11 devices in the next major update. The watermark is expected to appear above the clock at the bottom right-hand side of the refreshed Windows 11 taskbar and reads ‘System requirements not met. Go to Settings to learn more.’ Should users heed the warning and open their Windows 11 Settings app, they will be greeted by an additional warning under the System banner. The ‘System requirements not met’ notification will repeat here, with a link to ‘learn more.’
The main reason Microsoft doesn’t condone using Windows 11 on an unsupported device is that it simply cannot provide the necessary support for said device. Unsupported devices don’t meet the requirements to run Windows 11; therefore, there are not devices the Microsoft team is likely to roll out support for. There is no wisdom in dedicating resources to developing support structures for devices not designed to run the operating system.
These support structures include safety protocols, antivirus and malware safeguards, and general system updates. Windows 11 also engages in far more information transfers and processes than Windows 10, meaning if your CPU is not up to the task, it could overheat, and you could lose your processor completely.
There are cases in which your system simply isn’t supported but does potentially meet the hardware requirements. In these rare cases, you should be well within your system’s capabilities to run Windows 11 smoothly. Do your research to find out what processor you have and whether it and your GPU and any other critical components can support Windows 11 before you make the choice to follow a guide and bypass both the installation errors and the watermarks.
Windows 11 is an incredibly advanced operating system, and it represents the future of computing integration. If you’re having issues with movement, you can check how to increase cursor speed on Windows 11.
