Intel i7-7700HQ processor compatibility with Windows 11

No, the Intel i7-7700HQ processor is not supported for Windows 11 update. Computers running on i7-7700HQ will not get a natural update from Windows 10 to Windows 11 through the Windows update program. As of January 2022, there are only 3 processors from the Intel i7 seventh generation that support Windows 11. These processors are:

Intel i7-7820X
Intel i7-7820HQ
Intel i7-7000X

All other i7 7th generation processors are incompatible with Windows 11. The existing operating system will not get updated to Windows 11 on such computers through the Windows Update program. If you wish to validate the processor’s incompatibility with the Windows 11 operating system, please check Microsoft’s list of compatible processors for Windows 11 operating system on this page. You could even use the PC Health check app to check the compatibility of your Intel i7-7700HQ based computer with Windows 11.

It remains unclear as to why the Intel i7-7700HQ processor is incompatible with Windows 11. There has been no confirmation from Microsoft or Intel about the likely cause of Windows 11 being unsupported on the Intel i7-7700HQ processors. In the absence of any underlying clarity or confirmation from Intel or Microsoft, we can only take a guess about the potential cause of incompatibility between Windows 11 and Intel i7-7700HQ processors.

Can Windows 11 be installed on Intel i7-7700HQ?

Microsoft has released a workaround that allows you to upgrade to Windows 11 on an Intel i7-7700HQ. Or, you could choose to perform a clean install of Windows 11 on i7-7700HQ.

To allow this installation to go through, Microsoft has created a registry hive entry. By setting up this registry hive entry, the TPM and CPU eligibility requirements for Windows 11 will not be checked. The bypass TPM and CPU eligibility entry needs to be created as under:

Launch the registry editor using the Regedit command on a Windows computer.
Open the registry hive – HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Setup\MoSetup. In the right pane, look for an entry that has the name: AllowUpgradesWithUnsupportedTPMOrCPU. It is of the type of Type: REG_DWORD.
Right-click on the entry to modify the REG_DWORD entry to set a value of 1.
The Value of 1 for AllowUpgradesWithUnsupportedTPMOrCPU tells Windows to bypass eligibility requirements.

During the times when Microsoft released this workaround, there have been some interesting developments over the past few weeks. Systems that are not supported for Windows 11 are getting automatic updates to Windows 11. A subset of users seems to be getting updates on unsupported systems. This is on i7 and i5 processors. It is unclear if Microsoft is testing these updates on the incompatible processors. It is also unclear if the recent updates to Windows 11 will be supported in the future by Microsoft.

There is no clarity about the security updates, product updates, quality updates, and the monthly rollup updates for Windows 11 on systems that are unsupported. Microsoft’s initial response has been that the unsupported systems will not have access to the updates through the Windows Update program on the control panel. Blocking the Windows Updates program on such systems means that you are out of luck for all types of updates on the Windows 11 computer.

Prior to this latest development, Microsoft had advised that for unsupported processors and systems, you could perform a clean install of Windows 11 on such computers. One of the following three ways can be used to perform clean installation of Windows 11 on unsupported processors and computers:

Download an ISO image of Windows 11 from the Microsoft site and run through the installer to perform a clean install of Windows 11 on the unsupported system.
Download the Installation assistant from the Microsoft website. Installation assistant will work like a virtual assistant and guie you through the installation of Windows 11 on your system.
You could use the media creation tool to create a bootable USB or DVD drive with Windows 11 installer files. Using the media so created, you can run through the installation of Windows 11 on your unsupported computer.

All these files can be downloaded from the Microsoft’s download page for Windows 11.

You need to understand that clean installing Windows 11 on Intel i7-7700HQ processor based computers does not offer you access to the Windows 11 updates on such computers. Microsoft has not released any clarification or change to the original policy about Windows updates on unsupported computers. Computers that are not supported by Windows 11 will not have access to security updates, product updates, quality updates or monthly rollup updates for Windows 11. This may change in the future. But, it may be worth taking the risks on your side before you attempt to install Windows 11 on unsupported computers, especially on the business computers. Trust me, it is not worth the hassle. It may be better to wait a few months and see how the update policy for Windows 11 develops.

Can i7-7700HQ continue with Windows 10 without updating to Windows 11?

Yes, Intel core i7-7700HQ processor based computers can continue to work seamlessly with the Windows 10 operating system. Windows 10 was released in 2015. It will continue to be supported by Microsoft until October 2025. So, for the next 3 or more years, your computer on Windows 10 will continue to get all the security, monthly rollup, product and quality updates through Windows Update on your computer.

What this implies is that there is no immediate trigger for you to rush through clean install of Windows 11 on unsupported computer based on the Intel i7-7700HQ processor. You could choose to work with Windows 10 and take a decision about updating to Windows 11 or buying a new computer with Windows 11.

Summary

Windows 11 is not compatible with Intel i7-7700HQ processors. Computers running on Intel i7-7700HQ may choose to stay on Windows 10. Or, you could do a clean install of Windows 11 on intel i7-7700HQ and understand that your computer will not have access to Windows 11 updates on such unsupported computers.

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Rajesh Dhawan

Rajesh Dhawan is a technology professional who loves to blog about smart wearables, Cloud computing and Microsoft technologies. He loves to break complex problems into manageable chunks of meaningful information.