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Bypass Windows 11 requirements with this simple trick

Published Oct 14th, 2023 7:20PM EDT
A laptop running Windows 11
Image: Microsoft

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One of the most annoying things about Windows 11 is Microsoft’s arbitrary safety requirements, which include a requirement for certain CPUs and TPM 2.0, which some PCs from the last couple of years might not have. While we’ve seen ways to bypass those Windows 11 requirements in the past and still install Windows 11, those left you without important Windows updates. Thankfully, there is another way to bypass those requirements and install the operating system.

The process was most recently shared by X (formerly Twitter) user @TheBobPony, though it was discovered previously and even used in another Windows 11 install tool. The trick requires you to add “/product server” to the setup process using the Microsoft command prompt. You’d type that like “setup /product server” when installing Windows 11 from an ISO, and it forces the system to ignore the requirement checks that typically trigger.

It’s been confirmed to work on the most recent Canary version of Windows 11, and as I noted above, it is a bypass that people have been using for the past couple of years anyway, so it should work on live versions of Windows, too. Of course, it does require some knowledge about how to use Command Prompt, and because you can mess up things by putting in commands, it’s recommended to only use it if you have a basic understanding of what you’re doing.

If you don’t have much tech knowledge and you’re looking to upgrade to Windows 11, then utilizing one of these bypasses isn’t going to be the easiest thing. I’d recommend watching YouTube videos about the subject before trying it yourself, as you will want to have a basic idea of what you’re doing. 

Of course, you could also just go on ignoring Windows 11 like a lot of people are, as many aren’t happy with Microsoft’s recent move, which closed the pipeline that allowed users to upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 11. No matter the choice, there are multiple ways to bypass the Windows 11 requirements if you so choose.

Josh Hawkins has been writing for over a decade, covering science, gaming, and tech culture. He also is a top-rated product reviewer with experience in extensively researched product comparisons, headphones, and gaming devices.

Whenever he isn’t busy writing about tech or gadgets, he can usually be found enjoying a new world in a video game, or tinkering with something on his computer.