Windows 11 upgrade accidentally offered to unsupported PCs

WASHINGTON: American tech giant Microsoft has once again accidentally offered the Windows 11 upgrade to PCs with unsupported hardware. According to The Verge, an American technology news website, Twitter user PhantomOcean3 spotted the mistake earlier this week, where Microsoft was showing full-screen prompts on unsupported hardware.

Microsoft has since clarified the error, pointing out that PCs that didn't match the prerequisites for Windows 11 couldn't finish the upgrade. "Some hardware ineligible Windows 10 and Windows 11, version 21H2 devices were offered an inaccurate upgrade to Windows 11," explains Microsoft in a support note.

"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." Last year, Microsoft faced a similar problem when it offered the Windows 11 upgrade to PCs that were not officially supported. That accident enabled those unsupported PCs to upgrade, but it also brought to light the contentious minimum hardware requirements for Microsoft's latest operating system, reported The Verge.

With very few exceptions, Windows 11 officially requires Intel 8th Gen Coffee Lake or Zen 2 CPUs or higher. While installing Windows 11 on unsupported CPUs is simple, Microsoft has been testing a new desktop watermark on unsupported hardware.

As per The Verge, this latest blunder comes just weeks before Microsoft is expected to release new features for Windows 11. Microsoft is planning a "Moment 2" update that will include a full search box in the taskbar, improved search in the Start menu, a tablet-optimized taskbar, and a redesigned system tray.