Windows 11 will soon remind you if your PC does not meet the requirements

[harlan4096]

Microsoft is testing a new feature in its Windows 11 operating system currently that will remind users of the device if system requirements are not met.

Microsoft made a cut when it released the Windows 11 operating system in late 2021. The operating system's requirements were different and a lot stricter than those of the previous version of Windows. Previously, Microsoft tried to keep the system requirements from Windows version to Windows version aligned so that devices could be upgraded to newer versions of the operating system.

This decade-long practice changed with the release of Windows 11. The most impactful changes restrict the supported processor and require TPM support. PCs that do not meet one of the minimum requirements set by Microsoft receive a This PC doesn't currently meet all the system requirements for Windows 11 message in Windows Update.

Microsoft introduced options to bypass the system requirements check during installation, but was clear that it did not recommend doing so.  In fact, it highlighted that it could not guarantee that incompatible systems would receive updates, including security updates, in the future.

Tools like MediaCreationTool.bat, Ventoy, or Rufus all come with options to bypass the system requirements check during installation or upgrade.

Microsoft did not reveal the number of devices incompatible with Windows 11 that run previous versions of Windows. These may run Windows 10 until 2025, but Microsoft plans to end support for that version of Windows in that year. What happens to these devices afterwards?

Devices that run Windows 11 were all treated the same until now, regardless of whether they meet the system requirements or not.

Twitter user Albacore discovered that Microsoft added a new reminder to the Settings application if a device does not meet the system requirements; this small reminder on the System page is not impacting the functionality of the device. The information itself is superfluous for several reasons. Administrators who upgraded incompatible devices know that these are incompatible.

Users on the other hand may not know, but there is not anything that they can do about it, unless a requirement is not met that the PC supports (such as a disabled TPM module).

Microsoft has yet to clarify its statement that incompatible Windows 11 devices may not receive updates in the future. It is possible that the statement was just precautionary, to give zero guarantees, but it is also possible that future updates, e.g., the next feature updates, may not install on incompatible devices.

Now You: do you run Windows 11? Is your hardware compatible?
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