How to Install Windows 11 in Legacy (MBR) BIOS Mode

Legacy BIOS PCs are those that do not use UEFI firmware. They are still compatible with newer versions of Windows operating systems because they run on older hardware architecture. However, you must enable legacy booting in order to install Windows 10 on such machines. If you don’t know how to do it, here’s a guide that will help you out.

The process begins by installing Windows 10 on a USB flash drive. Once done, insert the flash drive into the computer and reboot. When the PC boots up, press F12 during the startup process. Select “Boot options.” Choose “UEFI Firmware Settings,” and make sure that both “Secure boot” and “TPM 2.0” are disabled. Press Enter to continue. Now, select “Install now.” After the installation completes, restart the machine again. On the next screen, choose “Windows Setup.” Follow the instructions to complete the setup.

Windows 11 can be installed without UEFI?

Windows 11 requires a UEFI secure boot system. This is because it uses the Trusted Platform Module (TPM), which is part of the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI). If you do not have a UEFI secure boot enabled motherboard, you cannot install Windows 11. However, there are ways around this limitation. In this article we’ll show how you can bypass the UEFI Secure Boot restriction and install Windows 11 on PCs that lack a UEFI secure boot capable motherboard.

The following steps assume that you already have a copy of Windows 10 installed on your computer. We recommend that you make a backup copy of your existing installation before proceeding.

Step 1 – Create a bootable USB Flash Drive

You must use a USB flash drive formatted with FAT32 file system. Make sure that the USB flash drive contains at least 2GB of free space.

Download Rufus from Microsoft Store. Run the program and select “Create a bootable disk”. Select the ISO image of Windows 11 x64 version 1803. Click Next.

Select the location where you want to save the downloaded files. Click Write. Wait for the process to complete.

Step 2 – Install Windows 11 Without UEFI Secure Boot

Create a Windows 11 Bootable USB Drive without TPM and Secure Boot Checks

Windows 10 Home and Pro are now officially out of support. Microsoft announced it in January 2020. If you’re still running one of those versions, you’ll soon see a notification about how to upgrade to Windows 10 version 2004. You won’t be able to do that unless you’ve got a valid product key. And even if you do, you might find yourself locked out of your PC.

If you want to keep using Windows 10, there’s another option. You can use Rufus 2.0 to make a bootable copy of Windows 10. It doesn’t require a product key, and it works on computers that don’t have a TPM chip installed.

The tool supports both 32-bit and 64-bit editions of Windows 10. To run it, download Rufus 2.1.3 from GitHub. Then open the program and select “Create a bootable Windows 10 USB.”

You can choose whether to install Windows 10 on the USB drive, or just save the files to it. Either way, you’ll end up with a bootable copy of the operating system.

Rufus 2.1 includes some improvements over previous versions. For example, it no longer requires a product key to work. But it does still require a TPM chip. So if you’re planning to use Rufus to make a backup image of your hard disk, you’ll need to disable the TPM chip before starting the process.

To do that, go into BIOS settings and look under Security. There should be a setting called “Trusted Platform Module,” or something similar. Disable it.

Once you’ve disabled the TPM, follow the instructions in the video above to create a bootable Windows 10 installation media.

Change the Windows 11 ISO files by hand to turn off TPM and Secure Boot.

This guide explains how to disable TPM and Secure Boot requirements on Windows 10 Home and Pro versions. If you are looking to do the same thing on Windows 8.1, please refer to our previous article here.

The process involves modifying the Windows ISO file(s). We recommend creating a backup copy of the original ISO file(s), just in case something goes wrong during the modification process.

To disable TPM, we need to edit the “bootmgr” file located inside the ISO image. For example, if you’re trying to disable TPM on Windows 10 Home version, you’ll find the bootmgr file under the following location:

C:\Windows\System32\Boot\BCDE\bootmgfw.efi

You can open the bootmgr file using Notepad.exe. Simply type “notepad” into the Start menu search box and press Enter. Once opened, locate the section where the text says “TpmPolicy0x00000000”. Change the value 0x00000000 to 0x00000001. Save the file and close it.

For disabling Secure Boot, we need to edit another bootmgr file called “SecureBoot.wim”. Again, simply type “notepad” in the Start menu search bar and press Enter. Open the SecureBoot.wim file and locate the section where the string “SecureBootEnabled” appears. In this case, change the value “SecureBootEnabled” to “SecureBootDisabled”

After saving both changes, reboot your computer and let us know what happened.

Use a registry hack to get around Windows 11 Setup’s Secure Boot and TPM 2.0 checks

To bypass Secure Boot and TPM2.0 checks during the Windows setup process, modify the registry values listed above. This method works on all version of Windows 10.

To bypass TPM check, enter 1 in the value data fields of both keys listed above.

To bypass secure boot, enter 1 in the Value Data field of the ByPassTpmCheckKey.

The following video explains how to hack Windows 7/8/10 using Registry Editor.

This tutorial teaches you how to use RegEdit to edit the Windows registry. You’ll learn about the different types of entries within the registry, what each one does, and how to navigate around in the registry editor.

You’ll also learn about some of the most common errors people make in the registry.

Workarounds That Don’t Help With Legacy BIOS

Windows 10 requires UEFI firmware to boot properly. If you’re running Windows 7, 8, or even Windows Server 2008 R2, you’ll want to upgrade to Windows 10 ASAP. But what about those of us stuck on older versions of Windows? Well, there are still some options out there. Here are three methods to try, but keep in mind that none of them will actually install Windows 11 on a legacy BIOS computer.

1. Use a USB flash drive to install Windows 10

This method works best if you already have a spare USB flash drive lying around. Plug it into your PC, open up Device Manager, and find the “Unknown device” category. Right-click on one of the entries, select Properties, and make sure that the “USB Mass Storage Class” option is selected. Then, plug in the flash drive and restart your computer. When prompted, choose to run off the flash drive instead of your hard disk. Once installed, you can delete the flash drive.

2. Install Windows 10 via ISO file

If you’ve got access to a Windows 10 ISO file, you can use it to perform a clean install of Windows 10. Simply download the ISO file, burn it to a CD/DVD, and insert it into your PC. Restart your machine, and follow the prompts to begin the installation process.

3. Create a recovery disc

You can also create a recovery disc for Windows 10. This involves creating a bootable DVD or USB flash drive containing the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE). To do this, simply download the latest version of WinRE from Microsoft’s site. Burn the image onto a blank DVD or USB flash drive, and reboot your computer. Select the “Recovery Console” option during startup.

Skip the checks for TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot when setting up Windows 11.

If you are planning to upgrade your PC to Windows 11, here’s how to do it. You don’t need to format your hard drive nor lose data. All you need to do is follow these steps.

After downloading the ISO file, use PowerISO to burn the image into a DVD. Then insert the DVD into your computer and start the installation process. When prompted choose to Upgrade Windows 8.1 now or later. Once complete, restart your computer and enjoy!

This video tutorial explains how to bypass TPM 2.0 check during Windows 11 setup.