Microsoft is moving forward with plans designed to warn Windows 11 users who install the operating system on unsupported hardware. In a new update for Windows 11, a watermark has appeared on the desktop wallpaper for unsupported systems, along with a similar warning on the login page of the Settings app.
Microsoft has been testing the changes for the last month, but now they’re being rolled out to release preview builds, which are typically released days before a general release to all Windows 11 users. While Microsoft didn’t mention adding watermarks in the list of “improvements” for this update, testers have noticed that it was included.
If Windows 11 is running on unsupported hardware, a new desktop watermark will state “System requirements not met. Go to settings to learn more”. It’s similar to the translucent watermark that appeared before in Windows, but it’s far less prominent, and it only shows up if you don’t activate the OS.
Many people have bypassed Microsoft’s minimum hardware requirements for Windows 11 through various methods to freely install the operating system. Controversial hardware requirements mean Windows 11 only officially supports Intel’s 8th Gen Coffee Lake or Zen+ and Zen 2 CPUs and above, leaving millions of PCs behind. Anyone who has used the workaround will now start seeing this warning in Windows 11.
Microsoft has used similar warnings for inactive versions of Windows in the past and restricted modifications to features like dark mode, personalization, and themes until the system were activated. Microsoft doesn’t appear to be experimenting with any similar feature limitations, and it’s likely that the desktop watermark can be disabled with some registry modifications.