Windows 11: A/B test shows watermark on unsupported systems

[German]Another small addendum from this week. Users who install Windows 11 with a trick on hardware that does not support the minimum requirements suddenly get a corresponding notice as a watermark on the desktop. Seems to be a a/b test with insider, but there is an option to hide this watermark so far.

Windows 11 and the hardware requirements

Microsoft has set very stringent minimum hardware requirements for systems suitable for Windows 11 (see Windows 11: Hardware requirements). This leads to the fact that only around 40 percent of the currently running devices are shown as compatible for Windows 11. However, the developers have revealed a trick on how to bypass these minimum requirements when installing Windows 11 (see Windows 11: Most hardware don't fulfill the minimum requirements, Microsoft reveals by-passing trick).

This has led to a lot of users installing Windows 11 on systems that don't meet the minimum requirements. At some point, this could lead to these machines no longer getting security and feature updates.

Watermarking on non-compatible systems

Windows Latest picked it up the other day in the post Microsoft is testing a desktop watermark for unsupported Windows 11 PCs. Microsoft is running an A/B test (on certain systems) where Insiders will see a watermark on the desktop if the machine does not meet the minimum requirements for the Windows 11 installed.

Watermark on the Windows 11 desktop; source: Windows Latest

It is currently unknown whether this display will be shown in the future on all Windows 11 machines that do not meet the minimum requirements. If this should be displayed in the final version of Windows 11, users can hide it so far, though. Just use the registry editor and move to the following registry key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\UnsupportedHardwareNotificationCache

Add, if not present, the DWORD value SV2 and set it to 0 (see here). After a reboot, the watermark should be gone.

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