Microsoft mistakenly offered Windows 11 upgrades to users with unsupported PCs
Earlier this week, Windows 10 mistakenly prompted some users to upgrade to Windows 11, despite the fact their computers did not meet the operating system’s minimum requirements. Twitter user PhantomOcean3 was among the first to notice the error after Windows 10 displayed a full-screen notification telling him he could install the software on a system that only had 2GB of RAM.
Windows 11 free upgrade being offered to unsupported Windows 10 devices/VMs?
— PhantomOcean3???????? (@PhantomOfEarth) February 23, 2023
Screenshots from a Windows 10 22H2 VM that does not meet the Windows 11 system requirements, big ones being TPM (none) and RAM (2 GB) pic.twitter.com/VNNswgMLiC
“Some hardware ineligible Windows 10 and Windows 11, version 21H2 devices were offered an inaccurate upgrade to Windows 11,” Microsoft states in a support document spotted by The Verge. “These ineligible devices did not meet the minimum requirements to run Windows 11. Devices that experienced this issue were not able to complete the upgrade installation process.” Microsoft adds it resolved the issue the same day it was detected.
As The Verge notes, this isn’t the first time Microsoft has erroneously prompted some Windows 10 users to upgrade to Windows 11. Last year, hundreds of Windows Insider beta testers were able to install the operating system, even though their machines didn’t meet the minimum requirements. The incidents highlight an ongoing frustration with Windows 11. Microsoft requires that a PC feature a Trusted Platform Module (TPM) before you can install its latest OS on your computer. Ever since Microsoft first revealed that requirement, there’s been confusion about what PCs can run Windows 11.