Windows 11 has some rather demanding CPU requirements which mean that owners of slightly older machines could miss out on Microsoft's latest OS. Bypassing the TPM requires a few complex steps, but it seems that there is now an easy way to bypass these requirements, via Rufus which has just been updated to version 3.16 Beta 2. With the latest beta of Rufus we can adapt the stock Windows 11 ISO images for use with machines that don't meet Microsoft's requirements.
Rufus is a third party media creation tool, commonly used to create bootable USB drives. Version 3.16 Beta 2 includes an "extended mode" which users can use to bypass Microsoft's main security requirements and RAM requirements. Rufus' new update gives users an easy way to make fresh installation media for Windows 11, adapted to install the OS on almost any PC made in the last decade or on any PCs that lack a UEFI BIOS.
The process of making your own custom Windows 11 bootable USB drive is incredibly easy. All you need to do is download the latest Windows 11 ISO from Microsoft, and download Rufus 3.16 Beta 2 application from GitHub.
Once you have your USB drive plugged into your PC, open Rufus and it should automatically detect the new drive. Select the Windows 11 ISO from the boot sector menu, then in the image options menu, select the extended installation for Windows 11. Finally, you can click start, and Rufus will create a bootable Windows 11 installation drive that is free of Microsoft's RAM, Secure Boot, and TPM requirements.
For now, you can only get the new beta from Rufus' GitHub page, but expect a full 3.16 release to be available soon on the project's main site.
Here are the full patch notes for Rufus 3.16 Beta 2:
- Fix ISO mode support for Red Hat 8.2+ and derivatives
- Fix BIOS boot support for Arch derivatives
- Fix removal of some boot entries for Ubuntu derivatives
- Fix log not being saved on exit
- Add Windows 11 "Extended" installation support (Disables TPM/Secure Boot/RAM requirements)
- Add UEFI Shell ISO downloads (retroactively applied through FIDO)
- Add support for Intel NUC card readers
- Improve Windows 11 support
- Improve Windows version reporting
- Speed up clearing of MBR/GPT
Microsoft allows Windows 11 to be installed on older, unsupported hardware but specifically nixes official support — minimum requirements for full compatibility remain unchanged
Windows 11 for Arm can run natively on specific Android smartphones — the test device heats up very fast, and battery life substantially decreases
