Since a few weeks, Microsoft has released their 22H2 update. This update has some new features and bugfixes. With the introduction of Windows 11 also came some restrictions on supported hardware. Like the need for a fairly recent CPU, TPM 2.0 and secure boot. The 22H2 update seems to change some things that could prevent to work around the hardware checks. The original method to upgrade from Windows 10 to 11 on unsupported hardware is no longer working and also on Windows 11 installations that used any of the workarounds to overcome the hardware check, the 22H2 update will most likely not be offered through Windows update. In this article I will describe alternative and how to still upgrade Windows 11 22H2 on unsupported hardware, either running already on Windows 11 or from Windows 10.

For some time now, Microsoft has been pretty intrusive about pushing the use of a Microsoft account on Windows-based PCs. Over the time, it became harder and harder to setup or upgrade Windows using a local account or even without internet access. Although having a Microsoft account could have its advantages, many people, including myself, prefer to make that decision on their own. In this post, I’ll explain, for the various Windows 11 versions like Home or Pro, how you can work around the need for a Microsoft account and how you can switch back to a local account in case you started using one already.