Unsupported Windows 11 devices could soon get a desktop watermark

[midian182]

Facepalm: Having not learned its lesson with the Windows 11 hardware requirements fiasco, Microsoft is testing a feature that will show a desktop watermark in the OS to remind users of their system’s shortcomings.

The hardware requirements for Windows 11, especially when it comes to the presence of a Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 2.0 and the messy PC Health Check app situation, were a black eye for Microsoft. But there are ways of getting around the demands, such as editing the registry to bypass some checks. However, Microsoft has long warned that it can’t guarantee devices running Windows 11 on unsupported hardware will receive updates, and it “recommends” against force installs.

Image credit: Windows Latest

In the latest test builds of Windows 11, a watermark that reads “system requirements not met” appears above the taskbar clock alongside the pre-release build number.

Those who use an unregistered version of Windows will be familiar with these sorts of watermarks, though that particular 'Activate Windows' one is slightly transparent and less noticeable. Also, the hardware warning doesn’t appear on top of open apps and web browsers like the unregistered watermark, nor does it limit any features—at least not yet.

Microsoft has also placed a reminder about unsupported hardware on the landing page of the system settings app, just in case you somehow missed the one on your desktop.

The watermark is only a test. We don't know if it will definitely make it into the final version of Windows 11, but given that Microsoft has long used the 'Activate Windows' warning, don’t be surprised if it starts annoying Win 11 users who lack the supported hardware. In case you'd forgotten, that’s at least an Intel 8th Gen Coffee Lake or Zen+ and Zen 2 CPU.

h/t: Windows Latest

Masthead image credit: Windows on Unsplash

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/93502-unsupported-windows-11-devices-could-soon-get-desktop.html

 

[VaRmeNsI]

Sure it won't be long before hackers remove it.

 

[Nintenboy01]

Gonna have to retire my old ThinkPad T430 soon - touchpad and buttons are getting really erratic. Had to disable them and use an external mouse. It's not worth buying the parts to repair anymore I think.

 

[Dimitriid]

Boy you can tell hardware manufacturers and integrators were expecting a much bigger boost in their sales, probably promised by Microsoft and now MS is on the precarious position of trying to actively convince users who *did* migrate to an unpopular, low conversion rate OS to just go away and go buy new hardware needlessly cause they're doing it wrong.

Again all of this makes it seems like the last thing Microsoft cares about is the user experience and they're desperate in trying to turn their OS versions into an effective vehicle to drive up hardware sales for their partners.

Just go away to the cloud already MS, you know you only have a handful more years of consumer OS installs anyway before everything becomes a thin client so just stop it: this is just embarrassing.

 

[Geralt]

MS, what a disgusting company. Now they will pester users with the watermark thing. What is the point of that? If someone installed a fixed version of Windows 11, he knew what he was doing. No need of a constant warning. But no, MS just cannot resist and is following its crooked nature. A company with bad vibes.

 

[Uncle Al]

Once again MicroSludge demonstrates their incompetence ..... nuff said.

 

[Shadowboxer]

My opinion is probably unpopular but I like these requirements. A decent minimum spec means software doesnt have to accomodate a 5 year old Celeron or whatever. Raising the bottom line of hardware usually means a better software experience. I would have prefered to have seen higher requirements, like 16GB of RAM.

But I dont understand why people are hating on MS for this, as far as I can tell there isnt anything you can do on Windows 11 that you cant do on Windows 10 at this point in time and for the near future. These people are literally getting upset that their 4 years or older hardware may struggle after 2025. Cry me a river.

 

[emiron]

My opinion is probably unpopular but I like these requirements. A decent minimum spec means software doesnt have to accomodate a 5 year old Celeron or whatever. Raising the bottom line of hardware usually means a better software experience. I would have prefered to have seen higher requirements, like 16GB of RAM.

But I dont understand why people are hating on MS for this, as far as I can tell there isnt anything you can do on Windows 11 that you cant do on Windows 10 at this point in time and for the near future. These people are literally getting upset that their 4 years or older hardware may struggle after 2025. Cry me a river.

A 5 year old high end i7 will perform way much better than a recently launched and supported atom processor. Also, not everyone can afford upgrading their system or getting a new device. Yes W10 will be technically supported until 2025, but it will be heavily neglected by MS.

 

[Shadowboxer]

A 5 year old high end i7 will perform way much better than a recently launched and supported atom processor. Also, not everyone can afford upgrading their system or getting a new device. Yes W10 will be technically supported until 2025, but it will be heavily neglected by MS.

Are you really expecting full software support on an 8 year old machine? And in the case of an atom vs the i7, its not the performance that rules the i7 out. Its the lack of TPM, a security chip.

Also, can I ask, what do think you wont be able to do with your machine after 2025 that you can do now?

 

[Theinsanegamer]

Are you really expecting full software support on an 8 year old machine? And in the case of an atom vs the i7, its not the performance that rules the i7 out. Its the lack of TPM, a security chip.

Yes. Show me what a core i7 7700k chip (these are from 2017 BTW, 5 years old not 8) cant do but a dual core alder lake celeron CAN do. Go ahead, I'll wait.

These requirements are entirely arbitrary. Software is coded to an API, not to bare metal. It makes no differenc ewhat CPU you have so long as it can run the API, and no programming API out there runs on 8th gen but not 7th gen. Or 2nd gen for that matter.

TPM can easily be added to motherboards via an add on board. Not hard to find.

We should not be encouraging massive e-waste and the early retirement of perfectly functional hardware for a windows service pack.

Also, can I ask, what do think you wont be able to do with your machine after 2025 that you can do now?

How about download security updates? That's a pretty big one. Install new versions of web browsers, there's another.

Dropping suppor tis a pretty big deal, and there is no reason to drop older hardware that still functions fine. Even core 2 duos can function in windows 11 without issues TODAY. So why get rid of them?

 

[emiron]

Are you really expecting full software support on an 8 year old machine? And in the case of an atom vs the i7, its not the performance that rules the i7 out. Its the lack of TPM, a security chip.

Also, can I ask, what do think you wont be able to do with your machine after 2025 that you can do now?

Tpm 2.0 was announced in 2014. So, at least Ms should have set the mark 5th or 6th gen and onwards. Also it's irrelevant to the CPU generation. My i7 7th gen laptop has tpm 2 chip but it was crossed out. If this was the case, it would be eligible for the upgrade. Regarding your second question, MS doesn't have to wait until 2025 to introduce a feature that is exclusive to Windows 11 but my point was not this. My guessing is either the amount of cumulative updates for windows 10 will be reduced, or MS won't be meticulously fixing every single bug since W11 is "the youngest child" now. And this is what bugs me.

 

[Carlos GarPov]

MS should feel proud that the users are seeking ways to make MS´s market-share bigger (Without spending in any marketing campaign or giving discounts/coupons).

 

[Geralt]

A 5 year old high end i7 will perform way much better than a recently launched and supported atom processor. Also, not everyone can afford upgrading their system or getting a new device. Yes W10 will be technically supported until 2025, but it will be heavily neglected by MS.

In my laptop I have an unsupported Core i7 7700 with TPM 2 (supported). Who decides in MS what is supported or not?

 

[Geralt]

Are you really expecting full software support on an 8 year old machine? And in the case of an atom vs the i7, its not the performance that rules the i7 out. Its the lack of TPM, a security chip.

Also, can I ask, what do think you wont be able to do with your machine after 2025 that you can do now?

In my laptop I have TPM 2 but the Core i7 7700 is not supported. Moronic decision.

 

[emiron]

In my laptop I have an unsupported Core i7 7700 with TPM 2 (supported). Who decides in MS what is supported or not?

If only I knew who, maybe then we could 'persuade' him/her lol

 

[trparky]

The minimum requirements have something to do with how they want to virtualize core components of the operating system specifically the kernel and various drivers so as to protect them from being tampered with by malware. This technique is called Hypervisor-Enforced Code Integrity (HVCI) or Memory Integrity.

https://www.makeuseof.com/what-is-virtualization-based-security-windows/

Obviously, this is a good thing but apparently older processors take a massive hit in performance when this core functionality of Windows 11 is enabled due to a lack of a specific instruction set called MBEC. See the following article for details about that.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/202...hardware-requirements-according-to-microsoft/

 

[seeprime]

Gonna have to retire my old ThinkPad T430 soon - touchpad and buttons are getting really erratic. Had to disable them and use an external mouse. It's not worth buying the parts to repair anymore I think.

Replacement keyboards are between $32-$45. It takes about 1/2 hour to put one in following a YouTube video. You're already using a wireless mouse, so the faulty touchpad is already covered. If you don't already have an SSD installed, that can be done at the same time with the total cost of parts around $100. Why rush into a buying a new laptop when yours can be repaired inexpensively?

 

[Aceseven]

Replacement keyboards are between $32-$45. It takes about 1/2 hour to put one in following a YouTube video. You're already using a wireless mouse, so the faulty touchpad is already covered. If you don't already have an SSD installed, that can be done at the same time with the total cost of parts around $100. Why rush into a buying a new laptop when yours can be repaired inexpensively?

I googled that laptop out of curiosity.

it came out in 2012, let it go dude, you can probably find a cheapo that'll run circles around it now.

 

[Plutoisaplanet]

Separately, if anyone wants to put their own watermarks on their desktop, Microsoft has an official Sysinternals tool for it called BgInfo: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/bginfo

 

[brucek]

My opinion is probably unpopular but I like these requirements. A decent minimum spec means software doesnt have to accomodate a 5 year old Celeron or whatever. Raising the bottom line of hardware usually means a better software experience. I would have prefered to have seen higher requirements, like 16GB of RAM.

But I dont understand why people are hating on MS for this, as far as I can tell there isnt anything you can do on Windows 11 that you cant do on Windows 10 at this point in time and for the near future. These people are literally getting upset that their 4 years or older hardware may struggle after 2025. Cry me a river.

That's end-user home enthusiast thinking and I won't argue with you for that narrow segment. But there are hundreds of millions (or billions?) of windows devices performing mundane functions in stores, businesses, manufacturing lines, hospitals, army bases, sanitation plants, etc etc. These devices don't need a trendy new UI, they need to keep working reliably and securely.

If Microsoft pulls security support in 2025, there's two outcomes and both are bad. The better but less likely choice is that these organizations squander some of their budget to needlessly turn the existing devices into e-waste in order to buy new devices to do the exact same thing. The more realistic choice is they keep running whatever app they are running, but with an insecure OS underneath that gets exploited with bad results for them + everyone downstream.

My fantasy outcome would be successive artificial breakages like this eventually lead all organizations with large non-consumer deployments to dump Windows over it. That + good success of the steam deck might finally get us free of the world's primary consumer OS having one side trying to help people and another that is actively working against them such as by artificially obsoleting their devices every few years.

 

[Shadowboxer]

Yes. Show me what a core i7 7700k chip (these are from 2017 BTW, 5 years old not 8) cant do but a dual core alder lake celeron CAN do. Go ahead, I'll wait.

These requirements are entirely arbitrary. Software is coded to an API, not to bare metal. It makes no differenc ewhat CPU you have so long as it can run the API, and no programming API out there runs on 8th gen but not 7th gen. Or 2nd gen for that matter.

TPM can easily be added to motherboards via an add on board. Not hard to find.

We should not be encouraging massive e-waste and the early retirement of perfectly functional hardware for a windows service pack.


How about download security updates? That's a pretty big one. Install new versions of web browsers, there's another.

Dropping suppor tis a pretty big deal, and there is no reason to drop older hardware that still functions fine. Even core 2 duos can function in windows 11 without issues TODAY. So why get rid of them?

A 7700K does not have a TPM 2.0 chip as a standard on that platform. Thats what a dual core alder lake has that the 7700K doesnt. I believe you can add one provided your motherboard has the connection. MS are keeping it simple and stating the 7700K is not supported because they know that not all users are as technically capable of you or myself, installing a TPM 2.0 chip isnt as straightforward as clicking on "upgrade to windows 11".

Besides, the CPU you have mentioned, the dual core Alder lake Celeron is not on the list of supported CPUs for Windows 11.

Windows processor requirements Windows 11 supported Intel processors

This specification details the Intel processors that can be used with Windows 11 customer systems that include Windows products, including custom images.

docs.microsoft.com

Also can you give me any reason whatsoever to throw out a working 7700K machine or any machine not on the Windows 11 supported list? Not being able to upgrade to windows 11 is not a reason to throw any hardware out. There is no e-waste here. At least, not for the next 3 years and 7 months at a minimum and only for unsupported CPUs, the vast majority are over 4 years old today.

 

[Shadowboxer]

In my laptop I have TPM 2 but the Core i7 7700 is not supported. Moronic decision.

Can you tell me what it is about Windows 11 that you are so upset about missing out on?

 

[Geralt]

A 7700K does not have a TPM 2.0 chip as a standard on that platform. Thats what a dual core alder lake has that the 7700K doesnt. I believe you can add one provided your motherboard has the connection. MS are keeping it simple and stating the 7700K is not supported because they know that not all users are as technically capable of you or myself, installing a TPM 2.0 chip isnt as straightforward as clicking on "upgrade to windows 11".

Besides, the CPU you have mentioned, the dual core Alder lake Celeron is not on the list of supported CPUs for Windows 11.

Windows processor requirements Windows 11 supported Intel processors

This specification details the Intel processors that can be used with Windows 11 customer systems that include Windows products, including custom images.

docs.microsoft.com

Also can you give me any reason whatsoever to throw out a working 7700K machine or any machine not on the Windows 11 supported list? Not being able to upgrade to windows 11 is not a reason to throw any hardware out. There is no e-waste here. At least, not for the next 3 years and 7 months at a minimum and only for unsupported CPUs, the vast majority are over 4 years old today.

My Dell laptop has that CPU with TPM 2.

 

[Geralt]

Can you tell me what it is about Windows 11 that you are so upset about missing out on?

Design, Android apps, etc.

 

[Nintenboy01]

Replacement keyboards are between $32-$45. It takes about 1/2 hour to put one in following a YouTube video. You're already using a wireless mouse, so the faulty touchpad is already covered. If you don't already have an SSD installed, that can be done at the same time with the total cost of parts around $100. Why rush into a buying a new laptop when yours can be repaired inexpensively?

the keyboard is fine, it's both sets of touchpad buttons that are acting up