T430S won't install Windows 11

[swb_mct]

I have three T430S Thinkpads. Trying to install Windows 11
Installed Latest Firmware . . see below


I have set the system to EUFI boot only, but Win11 USB installer thumb drive isn't recognized on start boot menu

Is it possible to run Win11 on this computer ?

[dr_st]

If the USB thumb drive is not recognized, then it is not a Win11 compatibility issue, but something more fundamental. Either the drive is bad, or improperly formatted, or just incompatible with this particular laptop.

Is it visible in the BIOS / F12 boot menu, but just won't boot - or does it not appear there at all?
Can you boot from the thumb drive in a different system?
If you boot the T430s into an OS - is the thumb drive visible from there?

[swb_mct]

Well on a second try after re-doing the bios settings, the Win11 thumb drive got me to setup but said the computer doesn't support Win11

-No TPM 2.0
-Processor

Meanwhile I installed a Win11 hard drive from a 10 year old Dell desktop that has unpdated firmware. Win11 came installed the old Dell from ebay so I don't know how they installed it.

The Win11 drive started up and most everything works after Windows Update installed some Lenovo components. I assume there are some TPM dependent security features that aren't working.

Update
Windows 10 and 11 are the easiest installations to move with a disk image from one computer to another, even of a different brand. The always start up normally on a new system and install new drivers needed.

From other thread I was reading, T430S doesn't really support Win11, but most of it appears to be pre-installation validation test rather than full incompatibility. So fare, Win11 is work great on my T430 S after importing a Dell disk image to the T430S. Of course I don't know what might not be working that isn't visible.

[mikemex]

Update
Windows 10 and 11 are the easiest installations to move with a disk image from one computer to another, even of a different brand. The always start up normally on a new system and install new drivers needed.

From other thread I was reading, T430S doesn't really support Win11, but most of it appears to be pre-installation validation test rather than full incompatibility. So fare, Win11 is work great on my T430 S after importing a Dell disk image to the T430S. Of course I don't know what might not be working that isn't visible.

Yeah, Microsoft went the way of Linux: they are packing everything but the kitchen sink, and it'll probably just boot up and work for basic tasks on pretty much anything modern. The fact that it includes pretty old networking drivers denotes that Microsoft originally intended Windows 11 to run on more hardware. I'm pretty sure Meltdown and Spectre sent paranoia waves across the industry and they just wanted to cut liabilities as much as possible and just didn't want to backtrack later.

I just took out my X1C9's factory 256GB SSD and installed it into one of my X1C4s and it booted right away, though I had to hunt for some drivers. Everything seems to be working fine (it has Secure Boot, TPM 2.0 and HVIS enabled) and peformance seems OK, except for the middle trackpoint button (scrolling feels sluggish but it works fine with the arrow keys). Ah, and the camera doesn't show in the device manager.

[rojoblancojr]

Installing Windows 11 on Unsupported Devices:

1. Download Windows 11 ISO:
Go to the Microsoft website and download the Windows 11 ISO installer.
Important: Choose the same language as your existing Windows 10 installation.

2. Extract the ISO File:
Extract the contents of the ISO file to a folder or a specific location on your device.

3. Open Command Prompt as Administrator:
Search for "cmd" in the Start menu, right-click it, and select "Run as administrator."

4. Navigate to the 'sources' Directory:
In Command Prompt, change the directory to the folder named sources within the extracted ISO files.

Run the Installation Command:
Type the following command and press Enter:
setupprep.exe /product server

Start Installation:
Ensure your device is plugged in, as the installation may take anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour.
During installation, you may see prompts referring to Windows Server. However, once complete, it will be a Windows 11 installation.

Using the Windows Server setup process bypasses checks for UEFI, TPM 2.0, and an 8th Gen or higher CPU, allowing Windows 11 to be installed on devices that would otherwise be unsupported.

[freeagent]

Installing Windows 11 on Unsupported Devices:

Seems like a good option!

I am about to try something similar on my T520. I started a new thread seeing I have different THinkpad (Installing Win 11 on separate drive on Win 10 T520) I added some questions there that you may be able to help with.

Could Rufus 4.6 bootable USB be used instead or in conjunction with your method?

Would your method update the existing Win10 or would it replace it with a clean install?

If a clean install, I would like to install W11 in a new partition on a different drive from Win10. Then be able to choose which drive to boot from (using T520 F12 key). If it replaces Win10, then I could clone the Win10 drive to the second partition.

[freeagent]

No need for reply. Your method worked just fine and I now have W11 live on T520