Broke Down and Updated my Xeon Processor Laptop to Windows 11 (Unsupported)

[ShokWaveRider]

For a while I had heard that my powerhouse Windows 10 Lenovo P71 Xeon, 64gb RAM 4tb SSD was not supported by Windows 11. I was going to sell it and get a new one.

I backed it up, downloaded the upgrade to a USB, told the PC to ignore the processor check and hit "Setup.exe".

15 minutes later it was all done, no loss of data, absolutely no issues. I cleaned up the bloat, added a couple of extra programs that give Windows 11 a legacy look and feel and one would never know an upgrade had actually taken place.

Probably the best and most seamless windows update yet ... for me at least.

 

[target2019]

I'm in the same situation with Dell XPS8700. Will be fun to try the upgrade some day. Fingers crossed.

 

[Ian S]

What happens during Windows updates i.e. once you've bypassed the cpu roadblock, are you good to go for all time?

 

[ShokWaveRider]

What happens during Windows updates i.e. once you've bypassed the cpu roadblock, are you good to go for all time?

Updated fine for me so far.

 

[njhowie]

For a while I had heard that my powerhouse Windows 10 Lenovo P71 Xeon, 64gb RAM 4tb SSD was not supported by Windows 11. I was going to sell it and get a new one.

I backed it up, downloaded the upgrade to a USB, told the PC to ignore the processor check and hit "Setup.exe".

15 minutes later it was all done, no loss of data, absolutely no issues. I cleaned up the bloat, added a couple of extra programs that give Windows 11 a legacy look and feel and one would never know an upgrade had actually taken place.

Probably the best and most seamless windows update yet ... for me at least.

Awesome!

 

[gauss]

Timely post - I have a couple of used Lenovo M93p NUCs arriving tomorrow.

Might have to load W10 on them then try the W11 upgrade before they get dedicated to something else.

Thanks

-gauss

 

[Sunset]

But aren't those old processors vulnerable to certain exploits, and now Windows 11 does not manage those as it slowed down earlier versions of Windows as the only fix to the exploits which are on the chip itself ?

 

[jim584672]

Not a fan of Win11, more clicks to do the same things you would do in Win10. Buggy. Aggressive suggestions like you need OneDrive, nagging. Pushes feeds on you like news and weather. I loathe this OS and it takes spying to a new level.

Win10 just works.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

Not a fan of Win11, more clicks to do the same things you would do in Win10. Buggy. Aggressive suggestions like you need OneDrive, nagging. Pushes feeds on you like news and weather. I loathe this OS and it takes spying to a new level.

Win10 just works.

No one drive (or nagging) for us, so easy to disable.

 

[gauss]

But aren't those old processors vulnerable to certain exploits, and now Windows 11 does not manage those as it slowed down earlier versions of Windows as the only fix to the exploits which are on the chip itself ?

Hmm... Might have to look into this further. Currently running W7 on a e6410 laptop (1st gen Intel Core i5 ) so probably have exposure here too. I do run MS Security Essentials daily.

-gauss

 

[USGrant1962]

I might try this too. My 3rd string desktop had an I7-920, which I swapped for a Xeon 5680 for $21 last year. It is humming along with 6 cores at 4.0 Ghz. But it is sitting at our cottage which is closed until April. So a rainy day project in the Spring, maybe.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

But aren't those old processors vulnerable to certain exploits, and now Windows 11 does not manage those as it slowed down earlier versions of Windows as the only fix to the exploits which are on the chip itself ?

I would be surprised if the Xeon fell into that category as it was the processor of choice in most server farms.

Mine is the Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E3-1535M v6

 

[jim584672]

I would be surprised if the Xeon fell into that category as it was the processor of choice in most server farms.

Mine is the Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E3-1535M v6

https://www.techarp.com/guides/complete-meltdown-spectre-cpu-list/5/

Intel Server / Workstation CPUs Vulnerable To Meltdown + Spectre

Affected Variants : These Intel CPUs are affected by all three variants of the speculative execution CPU bug. They are vulnerable to the Meltdown and both Spectre exploits.

Intel Kaby Lake-H (2017)
Intel Xeon E3-1535M

 

[ShokWaveRider]

https://www.techarp.com/guides/complete-meltdown-spectre-cpu-list/5/

Intel Server / Workstation CPUs Vulnerable To Meltdown + Spectre

Affected Variants : These Intel CPUs are affected by all three variants of the speculative execution CPU bug. They are vulnerable to the Meltdown and both Spectre exploits.

Intel Kaby Lake-H (2017)
Intel Xeon E3-1535M

That is one heck of a lot of processors. There should be a large bunch of mega dollar files servers in the garbage someplace. Oh Well. I am not about to trash my laptop as it is working fine. Oh, and I may get hit by lightning tomorrow, I can live with that.

 

[jim584672]

Your BIOS should have a microcode update to address this. Also Windows and Linux have code to mitigate at as well.

Steve Gibson has a checker for it: https://www.grc.com/inspectre.htm

 

[ShokWaveRider]

Your BIOS should have a microcode update to address this. Also Windows and Linux have code to mitigate at as well.

Steve Gibson has a checker for it: https://www.grc.com/inspectre.htm

Thanks, mine is all good. Interesting how the app allows you to disable the protection.