Installing Windows 11 Without TPM or Secure Boot Using Rufus: What Actually Worked for Me

I’ll be honest—when Microsoft dropped the Windows 11 hardware requirements, I had a moment. TPM 2.0? Secure Boot? Mandatory Microsoft account? Felt like they were trying to gatekeep upgrades from perfectly functional machines. I’ve got a couple of older setups in my lab—one’s a Surface Studio (first-gen, no TPM), and another is a 2GB RAM laptop I use for testing edge cases. Neither passed the official checks, but both now run Windows 11. Here’s how I pulled it off using Rufus.

Why I Went Down This Path

I wasn’t trying to be clever—I just needed a clean Windows 11 install on hardware that didn’t meet Microsoft’s checklist. I’d already tried the registry hacks and manual ISO edits, but they were hit-or-miss. Rufus, on the other hand, felt like the right kind of tool: lightweight, no fluff, and built by folks who clearly understand the pain of sysadmins dealing with compatibility nonsense.

My Setup

• Surface Studio (Gen 1, no TPM)
• Lenovo ThinkPad with 2GB RAM (yes, really)
• Rufus 4.3 (latest as of October 2025)
• Windows 11 ISO from UUP Dump
• USB 3.0 drive, 16GB
• Running Hyper-V on a separate dev box for testing

Step-by-Step: What I Actually Did

1. Downloaded Rufus from rufus.ie. No surprises there.
2. Grabbed the ISO using UUP Dump. I’ve used Media Creation Tool before, but UUP gives more flexibility with build versions.
3. Launched Rufus, plugged in the USB, and selected the ISO.
4. Rufus prompted me with a few options:
   o Remove TPM 2.0 requirement
   o Remove Secure Boot requirement
   o Allow local account setup (this one’s gold if you’re avoiding the Microsoft account trap)
5. Hit Start. The USB creation took about 5–6 minutes.
6. Booted from USB, and the install screen popped up—no nags, no warnings. Just clean setup.

Not gonna lie, the first time I tried this on the ThinkPad, I was half expecting it to freeze mid-install. But it went through. The install screen just sat there—black, silent, almost mocking me—for a good minute before kicking into gear.

Gotchas and Weird Moments

• Windows Update: On unsupported hardware, updates can be flaky. On the Surface Studio, cumulative updates worked fine. On the ThinkPad, I had to manually install a few using .msu files.
• 24H2 builds: These are trickier. I had to use Setup Patchium and swap out appraiserres.dll to get past the newer checks. If you’re trying this on 24H2 or later, be ready to dig into those tweaks.
• Local account setup: Rufus does the heavy lifting here, but I still had to skip a few screens manually. It’s not 100% automated.

Lessons Learned

• Rufus doesn’t modify Windows itself—it just tweaks the installer. That’s why it works legally and cleanly.
• Most guides say you need to edit the registry post-install. I didn’t. Rufus handled it upfront.
• If you’re running this on ultra-low RAM machines, expect lag during setup. The ThinkPad took 45 minutes to complete the install.

Final Thoughts

I used to avoid unsupported installs because of the update risk. But for lab machines, test environments, or legacy hardware, Rufus makes it surprisingly painless. Just don’t expect miracles—Microsoft still flags unsupported setups, and you might hit roadblocks with future builds.

Ever tried installing Windows 11 on a machine that technically shouldn’t run it? Did Rufus work for you, or did you go the registry route? Drop your setup details—I’m curious how far folks are pushing this.