OK, then. With the advent of Build 22557 (Dev Channel), MS is  testing a new watermark. It shows up on some PCs running Windows 11 that don’t meet hardware requirements. This Windows 11 watermark warns against unsupported hardware. It’s shown in the lead-in graphic above. The image source (shown at 200%  native resolution) comes from a story at WindowsLatest.

What If Windows 11 Watermark Warns Against Unsupported Hardware?

Rumors have been flying for weeks that MS planned an on-screen “nag” for non-compliant PCs. MS has been straight-up all along. Install and run Windows 11 on unsupported hardware, and you may be ineligible for future updates. MS won’t support PCs running Windows 11 on unsupported hardware, either.

Even so, lots of people are doing it anyway. Consider the number of threads and posts on this topic at ElevenForums.com. For example, there’s the “Let’s install Windows 11 on a incompatible hardware” thread. It’s up to 35 pages/697 posts as I write this ditty.

Clearly, certain intrepid do-it-yourselfers don’t care about Microsoft’s warnings. Personally, I think it’s a bad bet. The reason I had to turn to WindowsLatest for a screencap of the watermark is because I’m not running Windows 11 on incompatible hardware here at Chez Tittel .

The old saying goes: “You pays your money and you takes your chances.” But this is one chance I won’t take. I have other things that need doing…