The PC runs Windows 10 perfectly, yet Windows 11 Setup stops in the first minute and says the machine cannot run it. This is not a broken PC - it is a checklist. And one free tool can remove that checklist from the installer before you ever boot it.
The refusal is famous by now: This PC cannot run Windows 11, because the machine lacks TPM 2.0, or Secure Boot, or its processor is one generation too old for the official list. Microsoft enforces these checks inside Windows Setup - and Rufus, when it writes the ISO, offers to strip exactly those checks out. Ventoy cannot do this part for you, which is why this one job belongs to Rufus. Here is what the bypass really does, how to use it, and the honest limits nobody should hide from you.
Three checks cause almost every refusal: TPM 2.0 (a security chip older boards lack), Secure Boot capability, and the supported CPU list - plus the 4 GB RAM minimum. Note what is not on the list: your PC being too weak. Plenty of refused machines have fast processors and 8 or 16 GB of RAM; they fail an administrative list, not a performance test. That is why removing the check produces a Windows 11 that runs completely normally.
The exact wording of the checkboxes shifts slightly between Rufus versions, but the requirement-removal options are always in that pre-write dialog.
Ventoy's job ends the moment Windows Setup starts - it hands the ISO to the machine untouched. The requirements check lives inside Setup, so a Ventoy boot reaches the same refusal screen. Ventoy does offer its own optional Windows 11 bypass setting in recent versions, but Rufus remains the simpler and more predictable route for this job: the choice is presented in plain language, every time you write a drive, with nothing to configure in advance.
Unsupported means unsupported. Microsoft states that PCs not meeting the requirements are not guaranteed to receive updates, and a future feature update may re-check the hardware or need the bypassed installer again. In practice feature updates are handled by installing from a fresh bypassed USB, but you should know the arrangement before relying on the machine.
The bypass removes checks, not physics. A PC with 4 GB of RAM and a spinning hard disk will run Windows 11 slowly no matter which tool installed it. And never use these options on a machine you do not own - a workplace PC blocked by policy is a different conversation. For your own older machine, though, this is a legitimate, reversible choice: Windows 10 can be reinstalled any time.
The complete bypass is demonstrated in the comparison video - the refusal screen, the Rufus dialog with every checkbox explained, and the same PC installing Windows 11 minutes later.
Watch Full VideoThe installer is the official Microsoft ISO, modified only in its requirement checks by a well-known open-source tool. The running system is normal Windows 11. The risk is not safety - it is that Microsoft does not promise updates or support on hardware below its list.
Regular monthly security updates have continued to arrive on bypass-installed machines. The annual feature update is the uncertain one - the known workaround is an in-place upgrade from a newly written bypassed USB, keeping your files and apps.
Yes. The Rufus option removes the TPM check itself, so TPM 1.2 or no TPM at all both pass. The same applies to machines where Secure Boot exists in the BIOS but cannot be enabled.