In the mailbag this week: Can I install Windows 11 on my not-very-old Surface PC even if Microsoft says it’s incompatible? And why can’t I say no to driver updates from Windows? If you’ve got a question about any of the topics ZDNet covers, one of our team of editors and contributors probably has an answer. If they don’t, we’ll find an outside expert who can steer you in the right direction. Questions can cover just about any topic that’s remotely related to work and technology, including PCs and Macs, mobile devices, security and privacy, social media, home office gear, consumer electronics, business etiquette, financial advice… well, you get the idea. Send your questions to ask@zdnet.com. Due to the volume of submissions, we can’t guarantee a personal reply, but we do promise to read every letter and respond right here to the ones that we think our readers will care about. Ask away. To upgrade your system, you need to modify the registry, as documented in this Microsoft support document. (The usual warnings apply when working with the registry. Make a complete backup before proceeding.) Open Registry Editor and navigate to the following key: If you’re willing to perform a clean install of Windows 11, you can boot from installation media and run Windows Setup. That option skips the CPU compatibility check completely. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Setup\MoSetup Create a new DWORD value, AllowUpgradesWithUnsupportedTPMOrCPU, and set it to 1. You can now perform the upgrade by downloading an ISO file, mounting it as a virtual drive, and running Setup from Windows 10. You’ll see a stern warning about compatibility issues, but after you click OK on that dialog box your upgrade should proceed without any serious issues. Send your questions to ask@zdnet.com. Due to the volume of submissions, we can’t guarantee a personal reply, but we do promise to read every letter and respond right here to the ones that we think our readers will care about. Be sure to include a working email address in case we have follow-up questions. We promise not to use it for any other purpose. (If you’re curious about Microsoft’s rules for driver developers, see the article “Understanding Windows Update rules for driver distribution” at the Partner Center for Windows Hardware.) Typically, drivers delivered in this fashion fix hardware issues that have been identified (using telemetry data) as causing problems for a significant group of customers. Delivering those fixes through Windows Update is a much more reliable way of resolving those issues than depending on customers to download and update drivers manually. In the rare case that a driver delivered as an automatic update causes problems, you can and should take it up with the manufacturer of that hardware.
