Unsupported Insider PCs will have to roll back to Windows 10

Source: Daniel Rubino / Windows Central

Windows Insiders with PCs that don’t meet the minimum requirements of Windows 11 will have to switch their devices back to Windows 10. Testers in both the Dev and Beta channels are starting to see a message regarding their PC being incompatible with Windows 11. Back in June 2021, Microsoft specified that this would be the case, but the message is starting to appear for Insiders now since the OS is approaching general availability.

The warning from Microsoft (via BetaWiki) that appears in Windows update reads:

Your PC does not meet the minimum hardware requirements for Windows 11. Your device is not eligible to join the Windows Insider Program on Windows 11. Please install Windows 10 to participate in the Windows Insider Program in the Release Preview Channel.

While some Windows Insiders will be disappointed to have to bump back down to Windows 10, this isn’t a surprise or a change from Microsoft. Back on June 24, 2021, Microsoft explained what would happen to unsupported PCs when it comes to testing Windows 11. A chart from the company explains that some PCs will have to go back to Windows 10 before Windows 11 reaches general availability on October 5, 2021.

Microsoft’s Brandon LeBlanc pointed people back to the Windows Insider blog post from June.

If people are determined to have their PCs run Windows 11, they’ll be able to manually install Windows 11 onto devices even if they don’t meet the minimum requirements for the OS. If upgraded this way, PCs will not be officially supported and might not receive further updates.

Secure Windows

Don’t have TPM support? Try one of these motherboard modules.

If your PC somehow does not have trusted platform module (TPM) support through firmware and your UEFI BIOS, we’d recommend checking your motherboard manual for a TPM header. If you have one present, you can try to see if one of these will be compatible to get you ready for Windows 11.