Windows 11 can't install because of my processor and I want to keep it that way

I don't want Windows 11 and I want to stick with Windows 10 for the time being. Is there the possibility that Microsoft is going change it's mind and decided my processor (i7-7700) is good enough in the future and force the upgrade on me?

I have old software my elderly father depends on and since it appears Windows 10 will be supported till 2025 I don't feel like risking it.


Solution 1:

Is there the possibility that Microsoft is going change it's mind and decided my processor (i7-7700) is good enough in the future and force the upgrade on me?

There is no chance this will happen. If Microsoft had any plans for Windows 11 to support 7th Generation Intel Core processors, they would have already made that announcement before October 5th, 2021.

I have old software my elderly father depends on and since it appears Windows 10 will be supported till 2025 I don't feel like risking it.

The only way an incompatible device can be upgraded to Windows 11 is to set AllowUpgradesWithUnsupportedTPMOrCPU to 1 before manually performing the upgrade with the Windows 11 Installation Assistant or the Windows 11 Media Creation Tool. Incompatible devices will not be offered the upgrade through Windows Update.

If you are still afraid, despite a less than 0% chance of this happening, you can set the following registry keys to prevent any future upgrade.

  • TargetReleaseVersion to 1 - 32-bit DWORD
  • TargetReleaseVersionInfo to 21H1 - String Value

Both of these keys should exist within HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate, and if the keys do not exist, you should create them.

You will want to change the value of TargetReleaseVersionInfo to 21H2 once that version is released for Windows 10. As a reminder, Windows 10 21H2 is the last version of Windows 10.

Of course, since the device in question is not compatible unless you go to the extra step of manually installing Windows 11 yourself, it will never be upgraded to Windows 11 automatically.