Microsoft is cracking down on installing Windows 11 on computers that don’t meet its system requirements. Recently, the company patched a popular loophole known as the “/product server” exploit, which allowed users to bypass hardware checks during installation. This fix is currently only available in the Canary branch—a testing version—but is expected to be rolled out to regular versions soon.
When Windows 11 first launched, many users were confused when their powerful PCs couldn’t upgrade. This was due to strict system requirements that included features like TPM 2.0, a security feature that many older systems lack. Even though some users found ways to install Windows 11 on unsupported PCs, Microsoft is now actively closing these loopholes.
The “/product server” trick had been around for about a year, allowing users to force the Windows 11 setup to skip hardware checks. However, as reported by Neowin and confirmed by users on platforms like X (formerly Twitter), Microsoft has disabled this trick in the latest Canary branch update. This suggests that Microsoft is committed to enforcing its hardware requirements more strictly.
For now, this fix is limited to the Canary branch, so the exploit might still work in the current public version of Windows 11. However, it’s likely that this patch will soon be included in broader updates.
As Microsoft tightens these restrictions, users with unsupported hardware may have to stick with older versions of Windows or explore other options to continue using their current setups.
