Rules are made to be broken. Microsoft doesn't seem to understand the message, and the classic cat-and-mouse game continues. Once Redmond announced the minimum hardware requirements for Windows 11, users immediately went out looking for methods and shortcuts to escape its most contentious limitations. If you are one of those users and want to know how to bypass TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot to install Windows 11, keep reading.
Microsoft in damage control
Previously we shared an article that explains how to enable TPM 2.0 to meet one of Windows 11's basic requirements, and we also highlighted that Microsoft needed to fix its communication disaster as soon as possible. Fortunately, Redmond picked up the gauntlet and made some decisions. The first was to remove the download of the "PC Health Check" app. User complaints multiplied due to the lack of technical details, and the company admitted it has enough problems to justify its removal.
The second decision is to extend its testing to identify devices based on "7th generation Intel" and "first generation Zen" processors that can "meet the principles" of Windows 11. In other words, this point is a scandal. The "generational cut" left nearly half of Surface devices without support for Windows 11, including the $3,500 Surface Studio 2.
And to that we must add two little monsters in the background: TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot. Microsoft says they are mandatory, and without them Windows 11 will not install. In less than a week, users proved that is not true. In fact, the folks at Windows Latest published two methods that allow us to bypass TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot to install Windows 11, and both are quite easy to implement.
How to bypass TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot #1: Registry
This happens during the installation phase. You will inevitably reach a point where Windows 11 refuses to continue, and when that happens, do the following:
- Press Shift+F10 to open the system console
- Open regedit.exe (yes, the same Registry Editor as always)
- Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Setup
- While in Setup, create a key called LabConfig
- Inside LabConfig, create two 32-bit DWORD values: BypassTPMCheck and BypassSecureBootCheck
- Assign both a value of "1"
- Close the editor. The unsupported message should go away.
How to bypass TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot #2: ISO Manipulation
In other words, the key here is to replace files. In addition to the Windows 11 ISO image, you will also need a Windows 10 image:
- Enter the Windows 10 ISO image, either by mounting its content or creating an installation USB.
- Enter the Sources folder and extract a copy of the file appraiserres.dll
- Create an installation USB for Windows 11
- Copy the appraiserres.dll file extracted from Windows 10 into the Sources folder of Windows 11
- You must overwrite the file, not keep both copies
Other users suggest copying/overwriting the entire Sources folder from Windows 10 over Sources in Windows 11, except for the file install.wim or install.esd.
In summary: This might not last
The cat and mouse. These methods to bypass TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot work for now, and it's not far-fetched to think Microsoft will add more barriers or additional checks in the final version of Windows 11. What will users do? Respond with more tricks, hacks, and modifications. We have been in that trench before.
Source: Windows Latest
