5 ms·

Windows 11 doesn't actually need a TPM or secure boot functionality to run at all, which is why Microsoft introduced an exemption commonly used in lab/school en

Windows 11 doesn't actually need a TPM or secure boot functionality to run at all, which is why Microsoft introduced an exemption commonly used in lab/school environments. When you get the “This PC can’t run Windows 11” error message during installation: -Press Shift+F10 to open a command prompt and run regedit.exe to launch the Registry Editor. -Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Setup -Right-click on the Setup key in the left pane and choose New -> Key. Call this key LabConfig. -Right-click the LabConfig key in the left pane and choose New -> DWORD (32-bit) Value. Call this value BypassTPMCheck. -Right-click the LabConfig key in the left pane and choose New -> DWORD (32-bit) Value. Call this value BypassSecureBootCheck. -Double-click both the BypassTPMCheck and BypassSecureBootCheck values and change the Value data from 0 to 1. -Close the Registry Editor and command prompt windows. -At the Windows setup screen with the error message, press the back button in the upper left and then click Next to continue installation normally. After installation, the Windows Security Center will display a warning indicating that your system doesn't have a TPM, but you can choose "Dismiss" and you'll get a green validation checkmark next to that section from that point onwards.

righthand 3y ago
Meanwhile Linux just installs, updates, and runs without having to trick the OS and performing 9 obscure steps.
- greggsy 3y ago
  Yet I continue to lose at least one whole day of my life per year trying to get some random wireless card working.
  - righthand 3y ago
    How many cumulative days per year do you spend fighting Windows updates. Clicking through the marketing campaigns for Windows 11, updating registries, etc.?
    - greggsy 3y ago
      None?
    - jonathantf2 3y ago
      Zero - I run a script when I install the OS and it kills all of that. I've never once had a Windows Update break anything on any of the computers I own. I definitely shouldn't have to do set a load of regkeys to make the computer do what I want it to do but it certainly beats the experience of Linux on a desktop.
      - righthand 3y ago
        Except you (or whoever you took it from) had to make a script to accomplish it in the first place. Something an average user on old hardware won’t be willing to do on Windows. Not sure what’s wrong with the Linux desktop experience that you’d go to such great lengths. My DE has been stable and feature full for 6+ years now. And considering most people just run a browser most of the time now, Linux looks even better than the restricted non-user friendly marketing platform that Windows evolved into.
        nightski 3y ago
        I never fight windows updates personally. Have not had an issue for several years at least and I use windows for several hours a day at least (without any custom scripts or modifications).
    - raydev 3y ago
      Unlike the other person who replied to you, I don't have a script to disable anything. I spend zero cumulative hours thinking or worrying about updates, it's just always up to date. While I recall registry exploring in the 2000s, I haven't needed to do that in 10+ years.
  - gosub100 3y ago
    That's amazing! I found the time-traveler from 2005. NDISwrapper is tricky, but trust me in a few years it gets better, and kernels will come pre-stocked with most chipsets and blob-firmware packages will be available from the package manager.
  - gaganyaan 3y ago
    I haven't had to worry about wireless cards working in Linux in 15 years or more. What sort of hardware are you seeing these issues with?
    - greggsy 3y ago
      Laptops and NUC style devices usually.
- NDizzle 3y ago
  Which versions of linux cleanly update? What do I do with an old Centos 7 system?
  - righthand 3y ago
    Plenty of Linux flavors update seamlessly. Update it or migrate to a new flavor. You might like Debian if you liked CentOS enough to keep a machine running it.
  - mkl 3y ago
    Ubuntu does. I do a fresh install of Kubuntu every couple of years, and in-place upgrades in between. With fresh installs, I make a file image of the old OS partition with dd and mount it from within the new system to copy across /etc files and settings (and I keep track of all of that in a text file to use as a manual script next time). The separate /home partition doesn't get changed at all.
    - NDizzle 3y ago
      For how many years have you had the same server running Ubuntu? Which version did you start with? LTS upgrades only? I don't want to update but once every 5 years or so.
      - mkl 3y ago
        The PC I'm on is from 2012 (well, its motherboard and CPU are; everything else has been upgraded at least once, and I plan to do a new build from scratch this year), and has been running Kubuntu the whole time, as did my previous PC. I don't stick to LTS releases, as sometimes I want updated software from newer ones. If you do update to non-LTS releases, you have to keep updating, as the non-LTS releases stop getting updates and security fixes after a year. I set things up in a way that makes a fresh install (rather than an update) pretty painless anyway. I always have a dedicated /home partition, which stays untouched by any update or reinstall, so all app settings are just carried through. Before I moved to a more space-limited SSD for the OS partition, I had multiple OS partitions available, so I could leave the old OS intact on one, but I pretty much never booted the old one, so an image in a file does the job just as well. I document all my setup steps in a text file and follow that, updating it as I go, for the setup of the next fresh install. I wouldn't recommend going 5 years between updates, for security reasons, but every two years between LTS releases would be fine. You could look into distrobox for running more up-to-date apps - I've done that a bit.
artificialLimbs 3y ago
Are they providing assurances that these machines won't break through an update?
xinayder 3y ago
Oh, yes, install Windows 11 with these simple steps. Honestly if I have to open PowerShell and mess with the registry just to install an ad-full upgrade of my OS, I'd rather install Gentoo. At least I'll learn more and won't get ads by building from scratch.

righthand 3y ago

Meanwhile Linux just installs, updates, and runs without having to trick the OS and performing 9 obscure steps.

greggsy 3y ago
Yet I continue to lose at least one whole day of my life per year trying to get some random wireless card working.
- righthand 3y ago
  How many cumulative days per year do you spend fighting Windows updates. Clicking through the marketing campaigns for Windows 11, updating registries, etc.?
  - greggsy 3y ago
    None?
  - jonathantf2 3y ago
    Zero - I run a script when I install the OS and it kills all of that. I've never once had a Windows Update break anything on any of the computers I own. I definitely shouldn't have to do set a load of regkeys to make the computer do what I want it to do but it certainly beats the experience of Linux on a desktop.
    - righthand 3y ago
      Except you (or whoever you took it from) had to make a script to accomplish it in the first place. Something an average user on old hardware won’t be willing to do on Windows. Not sure what’s wrong with the Linux desktop experience that you’d go to such great lengths. My DE has been stable and feature full for 6+ years now. And considering most people just run a browser most of the time now, Linux looks even better than the restricted non-user friendly marketing platform that Windows evolved into.
      - nightski 3y ago
        I never fight windows updates personally. Have not had an issue for several years at least and I use windows for several hours a day at least (without any custom scripts or modifications).
  - raydev 3y ago
    Unlike the other person who replied to you, I don't have a script to disable anything. I spend zero cumulative hours thinking or worrying about updates, it's just always up to date. While I recall registry exploring in the 2000s, I haven't needed to do that in 10+ years.
- gosub100 3y ago
  That's amazing! I found the time-traveler from 2005. NDISwrapper is tricky, but trust me in a few years it gets better, and kernels will come pre-stocked with most chipsets and blob-firmware packages will be available from the package manager.
- gaganyaan 3y ago
  I haven't had to worry about wireless cards working in Linux in 15 years or more. What sort of hardware are you seeing these issues with?
  - greggsy 3y ago
    Laptops and NUC style devices usually.
NDizzle 3y ago
Which versions of linux cleanly update? What do I do with an old Centos 7 system?
- righthand 3y ago
  Plenty of Linux flavors update seamlessly. Update it or migrate to a new flavor. You might like Debian if you liked CentOS enough to keep a machine running it.
- mkl 3y ago
  Ubuntu does. I do a fresh install of Kubuntu every couple of years, and in-place upgrades in between. With fresh installs, I make a file image of the old OS partition with dd and mount it from within the new system to copy across /etc files and settings (and I keep track of all of that in a text file to use as a manual script next time). The separate /home partition doesn't get changed at all.
  - NDizzle 3y ago
    For how many years have you had the same server running Ubuntu? Which version did you start with? LTS upgrades only? I don't want to update but once every 5 years or so.
    - mkl 3y ago
      The PC I'm on is from 2012 (well, its motherboard and CPU are; everything else has been upgraded at least once, and I plan to do a new build from scratch this year), and has been running Kubuntu the whole time, as did my previous PC. I don't stick to LTS releases, as sometimes I want updated software from newer ones. If you do update to non-LTS releases, you have to keep updating, as the non-LTS releases stop getting updates and security fixes after a year. I set things up in a way that makes a fresh install (rather than an update) pretty painless anyway. I always have a dedicated /home partition, which stays untouched by any update or reinstall, so all app settings are just carried through. Before I moved to a more space-limited SSD for the OS partition, I had multiple OS partitions available, so I could leave the old OS intact on one, but I pretty much never booted the old one, so an image in a file does the job just as well. I document all my setup steps in a text file and follow that, updating it as I go, for the setup of the next fresh install. I wouldn't recommend going 5 years between updates, for security reasons, but every two years between LTS releases would be fine. You could look into distrobox for running more up-to-date apps - I've done that a bit.

artificialLimbs 3y ago

Are they providing assurances that these machines won't break through an update?

xinayder 3y ago

Oh, yes, install Windows 11 with these simple steps. Honestly if I have to open PowerShell and mess with the registry just to install an ad-full upgrade of my OS, I'd rather install Gentoo. At least I'll learn more and won't get ads by building from scratch.