Annoying desktop watermark comes to users of unsupported Windows 11 PCs

Enlarge / Windows 11 running on an old Windows 7-era HP laptop. (credit: Andrew Cunningham)

Windows 11 has stricter system requirements than any Windows version before it, dropping support for a wide range of pre-2018 PCs in the name of improving the Windows platform's security baseline. You can work around these requirements to install Windows 11 on unsupported PCs relatively easily, but Microsoft added warnings to its installer and has threatened to withhold updates from these systems. So far, the company hasn't followed through on that threat. But using Windows 11 on these somewhat older computers is about to get more annoying.

A new Windows 11 update adds a "system requirements not met" watermark to the desktop of unsupported PCs, similar to the watermark you might see if you were running an early beta or unactivated version of Windows. This message will presumably appear when your PC doesn't meet one or more of the operating system's core security requirements: a supported Intel, AMD, or ARM processor; Secure Boot support; and TPM 2.0 hardware or firmware. The screenshot below is from a PC that supports TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot but uses an unsupported 6th-generation Intel Core CPU.

The watermark you'll begin seeing on unsupported PCs. A similar "requirements not met" message will also appear in the Settings app. (credit: Andrew Cunningham)

The new Windows 11 version (build number 22000.588) is currently in the Windows Insider Release Preview channel reserved for updates that will roll out to everyone within a few days or weeks. That means most people with unsupported hardware will begin seeing this message sooner rather than later, provided they're keeping their PCs up to date.

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