It's well known that Windows 11 hasn't been as popular with the computing masses as its predecessor. It's been on the market for two years now, but according to the most recent analysis from Statcounter, Windows 10 still holds over 70% market share compared with Windows 11's 23%. One of the reasons for this disparity is the somewhat strict hardware requirements for Windows 11, which requires a "compatible" 64-bit CPU and a hardware TPM 2.0 module. This rules out some computers made just a few years ago, but now a workaround has been discovered that lets anyone bypass these onerous restrictions and install it on pretty much any computer.
The workaround is simple, making us wonder how it was never discovered during pre-release testing. All you have to do is install Windows 11 from the command prompt and add the line '/product server" when pointing to the setup.exe file, and it bypasses the requirements. This loophole was already discovered a year ago by a person in Vietnam, but it wasn't widely disseminated. That all changed this week when a user on Twitter reposted it, earning the simple workaround the attention it deserves. PCWorld says it has tested it on the latest Canary build of Windows 11, and it still works. During installation, a message appears saying Windows Server is being installed, but instead, Windows 11 Home or Pro are installed.
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This could theoretically open the floodgates to Windows 11 being installed on many more computers, assuming Microsoft doesn't patch this out of existence shortly. We imagine it might already be working on a fix as it sees coverage of this story, but at the same time, it surely would love it if more people upgraded to Windows 11, so we'll have to wait and see how it responds. Microsoft also put those requirements in place for a reason, as it's said they are security-related. Therefore, installing Windows 11 on an older computer might not be the wisest route. There might also be performance issues running it on a fossilized machine from the Windows 7 era, but we imagine running it on a machine with Windows 10 should be fine.
Though this is certainly a neat trick, it remains to be seen if people with older computers want to install Windows 11. Windows 10 is still fast and reliable, which are bedrock requirements for an operating system, and for many people, there are just not a ton of compelling reasons to upgrade. Plus, Windows 10 will still receive security updates for another year, even though it's already been cut off from receiving any new features. Still, if you have an older computer lying around that you don't use much, it'd be fun to try this hack out as an experiment.
