Microsoft published a long blog post yesterday to clarify its minimum system requirements for Windows 11, but it appears the company once again failed to properly explain the situation for Windows 10 users. First of all, the company’s blog post didn’t explicitly mention that users with unsupported PCs will still be able to manually install Windows 11 by using ISOs, as reported by The Verge and a couple of other sites yesterday.
While yesterday’s news was probably a relief for many Windows 10 users with unsupported PCs, Microsoft has since told The Verge that these people who will use Windows 11 ISOs to manually install the OS on uneligible devices may actually not receive any updates via Windows Update, and that also includes security updates.
Microsoft won’t be recommending or advertising this method of installing Windows 11 to consumers. In fact, after we published this post, Microsoft reached out to tell us about one potentially gigantic catch it didn’t mention during our briefing: systems that are upgraded this way may not be entitled to get Windows Updates, even security ones. We’re asking Microsoft for clarification.
This unexpected update should obviously raise some red flags for enthusiasts interested in installing Windows 11 on unsupported PCs. Anyway, Microsoft’s position here is quite ambiguous: Is it really responsible for the company to allow enthusiasts to install Windows 11 at their own risk on unsupported PCs, but not service these devices with security updates? The company made quite a big deal about Windows 11 being the most secure version of Windows ever released, but that’s except if you install the OS on an unsupported device.
We’ve reached out to Microsoft to get more details about the risks of running Windows 11 on unsupported PCs, and we’re hoping that the company will be able to clarify the situation once and for all. Right now, installing Windows 11 on an unsupported PC doesn’t sound like a good idea due to the security risks, but maybe Microsoft will eventually change its stance.
