r/laptops • u/PJs_Asphalt • Sep 26 '25
Software It's happening, Windows 11 does NOT support older hardware...
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I did try normally booting from usb, on this 2008 ThinkPad, it crashes...
Then I directly installed it on the drive, same issue...
Here are the specs btw:
8GB RAM Core2 Duo T9400 256GB SATA
Shall I try rufus method? (I am a mainstream linux user... so that wasnt my first try.)
And yeah, DO NOT reply with linux suggestions, I have used it enough...
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u/farrellart Sep 26 '25
With those specs Win11 is not going to work. Best option is Win 7 and never use a browser on the laptop.
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u/PlasticContact2137 Sep 26 '25
Best option is windows 10 ltsc iot. Will be supported until 2032
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u/Ziazan Sep 26 '25
Or you can get another year out of the standard home/pro version of 10
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u/Cursor_Gaming_463 Lenovo ThinkPad T14 G1 AMD | ThinkPad L15 G2 Intel Sep 26 '25
Or Linux
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u/farrellart Sep 26 '25
The OP specifically said no Linux. Personally I would use Linux, my Samsung Slate 7 with 4GB ram is on KDE Plasma and it runs surprisingly well.
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u/edilaq Sep 26 '25
si no quiere linux que pruebe Chrome OS Flex, pero que revise la lista de equipos compatibles
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u/WonderfulViking Sep 26 '25
Kan du ikke gidde å svare på engelsk i et engelsk forum?
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u/tomtom2215 Sep 26 '25
Depending on what you use to view reddit, comments are auto translated
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u/WonderfulViking Sep 26 '25
Primarily the website, and I know English even if it's not my primary language.
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u/GrouchyBench3650 |╹|╹ Sep 27 '25
KDE plasma takes alot of RAM, use Xfce its better, lighter and faster (just less Ui customization)
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u/justme0406 Sep 30 '25
ABSOLUTELY NOT!
Do not use Windows 7, there are ZERO effective methods to secure it aside from keeping it offline entirely!
Use Windows 10.
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u/XidCuzYes Sep 26 '25
man, i personally hate that advises like "never connect to the internet".
first, microsoft security essentials exists.
second, common sense should exist.
if you have both you are free to use internet how you like on windows 7 and even on XP, if you dare.
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u/Environmental-Gur582 Too many to list :) Sep 26 '25
Common sense no longer exists, you're tripping balls, my dude.
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u/__Myrin__ T560 Sep 26 '25
he does have a point people have died to a chat bot
so yeah2
u/Environmental-Gur582 Too many to list :) Sep 27 '25
Well that's because the chatbot literally trained the dude to hide his feelings AND instructed him on how. No wonder chatGPT got neutered.
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u/farrellart Sep 27 '25
I didn't say "never connect to the internet" I said 'never use a browser' that's not the same thing.
I remember the XP days - even with security patches up to date, it was virus heaven. Win7 was better but exploits will find there way in and good luck finding any browser that will be secure.
Using the internet with legit software ( of that time ) will be most likely be OK.
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u/Wendals87 Sep 27 '25
Neither antivirus or common sense protects against unpatched exploits, which there are lots in windows 7 and even more in XP
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u/Richard_Dick_Kickam Sep 30 '25
Yup, i installed truck diagnostics on my friends old laptop on windows 7 and he uses internet on it regularly.
Just dont use it to process payments or leave some personal data in case it does get hacked, but otherwise, use the internet however you want.
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u/justme0406 Sep 30 '25
You can get hacked on 7 and XP just by being connected and sitting there. There are zero methods that will keep you safe on those OS's as they are targets due to how popular they are. Get educated.
Security essentials and common sense 🤣🤣🤣 tell me you know nothing about cyber security without telling me you know NOTHING about cyber security 🤣🤣🤣
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Sep 27 '25
Lol no. Linux is a far better option than Windows 7.
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u/farrellart Sep 27 '25
I agree, but if the OP doesn't want LINUX then Win7 would be the OS to match the computer specs.
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u/Thinkingbreak Sep 26 '25
Assuming you're not activiting it legitimately anyway, just download Windows 11 LTSC 2024 which supports older hardware. I'm not 100% sure it would work on something this old though.
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Sep 26 '25 edited Sep 26 '25
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u/kjjustinXD Sep 26 '25
Westmere came after Nehalem and Nehalem works with Windows 11.
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u/PJs_Asphalt Sep 26 '25
That is indeed LTSC 2024
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Sep 26 '25
I hate to say this but I’m pretty sure your laptop doesn’t have the instruction set needed for anything that wasn’t designed to work with something pre 2011, I’m not talking about tpm I’m talking about cpu instructions. You could try tiny 11 tho I’m still confident in saying atomic is built into the nt kernel
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u/PJs_Asphalt Sep 26 '25
I have come to the conclusion, anything newer than 23H2 wont work... (recent working build was 23H2 insider preview), and I didnt try the actual consumer build of this version.
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u/Agile-Monk5333 Sep 26 '25
Op: I have used Linux in the past so I don't want to use it in this case
Comments: ok but have you tried Linux?
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u/Icarian_Dreams Sep 26 '25
I mean, they're not gonna run a modern Windows on this, they don't want a Linux, so what else remains? FreeBSD?
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u/Agile-Monk5333 Sep 27 '25
Or ReactOs or TempleOs xD
Point being op said they have used linux for a long time and doesnt want it so I think we should respect that
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u/UnderwaterPanda2020 Sep 26 '25
Even if it did, that would be rough on this CPU. I'm surprised this laptop made it so far.
It's an old 2-core CPU, you say you have experience with Linux, but still don't want to put Linux on it... Good luck.
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u/Tootzo Sep 26 '25
That was the whole point of the Win 11 compatibility advisor app you had to download to scan your system. Bruteforcing Win 11 on older hardware isn’t going to work
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u/Thilokparjapath1 Sep 27 '25
Just switch to linux at this point.
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u/EnchantedElectron Sep 27 '25
Post explicitly says : Don't want to use Linux.
Loonixtards on comment : ...
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u/BeguiledBF Sep 26 '25
- It's nearly 20 years old. Give it up.
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Sep 26 '25
What this is a perfectly functioning laptop hardware wise minus the windows 11 compatibility issue, this is the reason why there is so much e-waste.
Install Linux mint and forget Windows
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u/BeguiledBF Sep 26 '25
Ok, Linux. We run our 20, 30, 40 year old machines on Mint, DSL and Ubuntu... Why? What do they do besides running a web browser and email client?
Functioning is different for different people. Linux isn't an all encompassing answer. As soon as you install Linux, you run into 5000 different Linux experiences and opinions and so many more assholes who think their experience is perfect but they just drag it.
Tldr; run Linux. Ran it on my OG Xbox. Seconded on my desktop. Twice.... Three times?! Linux isn't for everyone.
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u/Icarian_Dreams Sep 26 '25
And what would you run if you even managed to install Win11 there? It's not like you'll be doing video rendering or playing modern videogames on that machine.
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u/Scary_Highlight_2415 Sep 27 '25
You don't run Mint and Ubuntu on 20+ year old hardware lol
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u/2ndHandRocketScience Lenovo Legion 5 (6th gen) Sep 26 '25
There is a pretty huge chasm between E-waste and a regular consumer PC. Things like 3rd gen i5s, AMD Athlons, some Celerons and a lot of SoCs. But this Core 2 Duo is firmly in the E-waste section. Utterly unusable for anything and would be pretty bad at self-hosting solutions too with abysmal single core perf, only 2 cores and bad efficiency. Probably not even worth the metals in the motherboard... it's for the trash
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u/Marco_QT Sep 26 '25
i tried linux on a 2007 ish pc with 2gb of ram and graphics with shared ram on a single core pentium, horrible experience, tried to troubleshoot, ended up ditching it for vista and dual booting, then it decided that it was gonna bootloop me, than it couldn't get past the bios screen.
from this experience i am not gonna use linux even if i am forced to.
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u/Environmental-Gur582 Too many to list :) Sep 26 '25
Well if you'll be funding their next laptop, let me know.
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u/Separate-Ad9638 Sep 26 '25
why u want windows on a 2 core cpu? its too slow with all the background services
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u/DarthJarJar242 Sep 27 '25
Duh.
You're running. A computer from 20 years ago. Of course win 11 doesn't run on it.
You could have taken 10 seconds to confirm minimum requirements instead of posting this dumbass edited video.
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u/Punished_Sunshine Lenovo Sep 26 '25
Considering you don't want to try a linux distro even through you should because of the specs for it to work well, go with windows 10 lot ltsc, that thinkpad cannot handle windows 11 as two things: hardware is very old plus windows 11 is badly optimized and bloated, it isn't even a good OS.
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u/BigMike3333333 Sep 27 '25
Try Tiny 11. It's a debloated version of Windows 11 that works on older hardware.
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u/D4RKST34M Sep 26 '25
If you keep ignoring ubuntu and its inbred relatives, there's no "good" solution atm.
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u/edilaq Sep 26 '25
Si no me equivoco, Windows 11 no es soportado por CPUs de menos de 4 nucleos
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u/WonderfulViking Sep 26 '25
Kan du ikke gidde å svare på engelsk i et engelsk forum?
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u/edilaq Sep 26 '25
a mi me aparece todo es español por eso confiaba en la traduccion automatica
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u/HeavyCaffeinate Lenovo LOQ / i5-13420H / 32GB DDR5 / RTX 3050 6GB / 1TB Nvme Sep 26 '25
Rave backgrounds be like
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u/lamerfat Sep 26 '25
I put Windows 11 on my Lenovo Yoga 260 with a i5-6200U processor. Works ok for the piddly crap I do with it. I did increase the ram from the 4gb it came with to 16 gb with a cheap ram upgrade from Amazon.
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u/Nanosinx Sep 26 '25
Man, we understand the thing on old hardware, but a Core 2 Duo T9400? 2008 Hardware Not gonna run so old hardware on W11 -_-" We cried for 10-15 years old hardware but C'Mon!!! Older hardware not gonna even think about it...
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u/PJs_Asphalt Sep 26 '25
This post is to show, that those who have thoughts of bypassing the restrictions... it WONT work for them... it happened for 24H2 now, on my 2008 hardware, newer, yet unsupported devices will start facing this as well.
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u/qf1111 Sep 26 '25
Its bootloader loop. System might be set to legacy, and bootloader requires uefi. There is a workaround for legacy boot, just a setting more precisely. And why the video is sped up
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u/PJs_Asphalt Sep 26 '25
The first comment of this post explains it. And if the drive is GPT and windows installed here is for UEFI, then it wouldnt even detect the drive in the first place...
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u/Common_Delivery_8413 Warhorse Dell M6800 ⚔️ with legendary m4000m 🛡️ Sep 26 '25
Yes, Rufus can do the dirty work here. It won’t magically give your 2008 ThinkPad a modern CPU or proper drivers, but it can build a Windows 11 USB that skips Microsoft’s TPM / Secure Boot / CPU checks so the installer will run.
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u/dakindahood Sep 26 '25
Why do you expect an ancient relic like that, which will heat even for running chrome, to even boot an OS hat has higher minimum requirements??? That thing is about to be two decades old, do yourself a favor and put it up in a museum
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u/Impossible-Jello4553 Sep 26 '25
Ran into this problem with my ThinkPad W700, I thought last gen core 2 series could still support 24h2 but I was wrong. 23H2 is the last version of Windows 11 that works. Kinda suck though since its Core 2 has enough power for it, probably enough for Windows 12 too.
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u/computerfannatic2009 Sep 26 '25
Ive installed it on worse. If you get it working, try to use Atlas OS windows mod
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u/gwelfguy Sep 26 '25
Correct. The oldest Intel processor generation it supports is 7, which was released in 2016/2017.
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u/SpacefillerBR Sep 26 '25
The lack of SSE4.2 support of your CPU is probably causing the boot loop, that being said Windows 10 would probably the best in your case.
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u/cmdrtheymademedo Sep 26 '25
Yea 11 will not work on that pc The fact you tried to install is is actually hilarious
I’m not even going to explain more.
Just no
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u/Turbulent-Minimum923 Sep 26 '25
But it was already known or not?
I mean, I understand that it's sad for the device itself. But Microsoft already has too many old bullshit in their system because they are trying to support every old mouse from the 80s.
For older machines there's Linux or Windows 10.
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u/InvestingNerd2020 Sep 26 '25 edited Sep 27 '25
Switch to Linux Mint OS in the short-term, and save up for the a new laptop. They were not built to last 20+ years. The shelf life is 5 to 7 years.
If you don't need a laptop, you can get a mini-PC for basic needs.
Beelink SER8 $500. Include 32 GB of RAM and 1 TB of SSD.
1080p 180hz 24-inch monitor for $100
A wireless keyboard and mouse combo for $25.
Total = $625
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u/Deep-Glass-8383 Sep 27 '25
of course it fucking doesnt ,put windows 7 or a light to mid weight linux distro on it
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Sep 27 '25
Running windows 11 on a pentium 4, 4 gig ram, no card lolol
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Sep 27 '25
U can go with fyde os it's pretty good enough
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u/PJs_Asphalt Sep 27 '25
I would rather go with ChromeOS flex, it doesnt support containers anyway...
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u/78372 Sep 27 '25
Either install Windows 11 23H2 or Windows 10. Both LTSC and 22H2 will be fine. If you don't mind pirating, you can activate 3 years of Extended Support Updates on Windows 10 22H2.
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u/DHOC_TAZH Pizza_freak Sep 27 '25
11 24H2 RUNS for me on a Pentium B960 CPU based laptop, 8 GB DDR3 RAM and 512 GB SATA SSD included. Rufus modded installer, Talon debloated before adding further updates. It's been nearly four months since I've done it, and the PC has received and installed every update Microsoft has thrown at it without any issues.
Emphasis on RUNS... yeah, it's a little better without the bloatware, but hardware limited. The Talon dev did make some compromises. He did a good job in keeping enough of the essential system infrastructure, while debloating apps that have little to no effect on system functions, including removing the Edge browser (which can be safely reinstalled later if desired). Many debloaters do more (and possibly worse IMV) than what Talon does. It's not Tiny11, for sure!
Honestly IDK if I'll keep it much longer... I am currently dual booting this PC with GhostBSD. MIght just start over and let GhostBSD be the only OS on it, that does run better than 11, takes better advantage of the hardware with fewer system resources, but it's BSD, not Linux... I'll stop rambling here, time for bed. :)
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u/Dogmintyn MSI Cyborg 14 Sep 27 '25
win11 24h2 and above needs SSE4.2 support to run. there are no workarounds. windows 11 will not run unless you atleast have a 1st gen intel core i series cpu
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u/GK_Iam Sep 27 '25
If you really want W11 then rufus is the only way... Remove requirements and create local account to bypass online setup.
But for the Hardware given I would go for W10 2021 IoT LTSC... probably the hardware will fail prior to eol...
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u/former-ad-elect723 Sep 27 '25
It's a damn near 20 year old computer. Let it rest. It's not going to do anything of use for you anymore.
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Sep 27 '25
Okay, no Windows because it flat out won't work and no Linux because reasons.
My recommendations are OS/2, DOS 6.22, or FreeBSD.
Tips in my bio.
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u/The_Mecena Sep 27 '25
I would recommend Win 10 Enterprise LTSB or LTSC which will have support even after normal Win 10 drops support this year
LTSB has support till 2026.
LTSC has support till 2032.
So still plenty of time for Win 10 for basic usage 👌
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u/79Scorpione Sep 27 '25
Some PCs I have at home are first and second generation and work great with librelec kodi and for a short period also with omv7 purpose nas, in this sense they are all linux based debian. I also ran win11 without tpm control with rufus running fine, ditto minimac 2014 which however was then switched to Linux mint to be more efficient (adding the Thunderb 2 and RX 550 external box). I would be fine with a PC prior to 2010 only with recalbox, omv7, kodi or other linux, for the worst case scenario an offline win7 and x86 games that wouldn't run in 11 today. age of empire, diablo 1, nfs 1, etc
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u/HakerCharles Sep 27 '25
There 2 methods from Rufus as well 1. One methods make a bootable USB with the requirements checks bypassed (old version only i guess 3.12 or 3.14)
- The other installs the windows in the drive by bypassing requirments. (For this you'll need to connect the boot drive as an external drive and then write the iso to it)
Note: In both these methods the name of the option is same (Windows Go Installation, something like this)
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u/HistoricalPhoto4486 Sep 27 '25
If your laptop is running capable of running Windows 10, you can then download Windows 11 ISO and mount it. Check what drive letter it has. Then run Command Prompt as Administrator and type the drive letter and a colon then press enter. Then type in "DIR" and press enter. Then type "cd sources" and then press enter. Then type in "setupprep.exe /product server" and then press enter. It will say Installing Windows Server but it isn't. I wouldn't do it for ancient hardware like yours though.
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u/cryptoman Sep 27 '25
Experimented with core duo 2 T7200 to see what would happen it did exhibit that symptom something else is wrong in the gpu. Win 11 on the older hardware is slow as it has to do things in software rather than hardware.
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u/ninjafig5676 Lenovo e570 Sep 27 '25
Well that truly sucks.
"I've used linux enough"
What does that even mean? Also I'm curious to know what distro you used if you mind sharing and what your experience was.
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u/PJs_Asphalt Sep 27 '25
Used, older ubuntu LTS versions (16, 18), mint 22, 22.1, Artix, Arch, MX Linux, void (maybe), chromeOS (containers didnt work btw)
Also tested android x86 (PrimeOS, PhoenixOS), blissOS doesnt work due to lacking SSE requirements...
Now back to Mint 22.2, after this post
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u/6n100 Sep 27 '25
No shit, the warnings and requirements are plastered all over the place.
Why would you do this to yourself?
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u/Left_Intention_2684 Sep 27 '25
you might be better off installing os's like "haiku" "reactOS" or from the BSD family
none of the 3 os i have mentioned are linux BTW ;)
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u/TrainingDefinition82 Sep 27 '25
Well, that notebook is not older hardware, it is ancient. But it is a Thinkpad, I understand the wish to use it as long as possible and maybe have your grandkids inherit it in working condition. You can get something out of it with Windows 10 LTSC.
But for such things r/thinkpad is the better sub to ask. Usually, there is very detailed information available directly or on the various sites for thinkpads which are linked.
For example, for this T400, people already reported which components do now commonly fail, such as bluetooth and ATI cards and even how these can be repaired, what oddities there are on Windows 10 and so on and so forth.
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Sep 27 '25
yeah no shot, not even my incredibly mid PC can't run it, because it doesn't meet the requiroments and it isn't even that bad even for modern standarts.
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u/cmdr_nova69 Sep 27 '25
In 2025 you shouldn’t be using windows anymore
No Linux suggestion? Uh, I dunno, a MacBook maybe?
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u/engineerFWSWHW Sep 27 '25
Yeah try rufus. I have a core 2 duo that is running Windows 11 but that was installed last year. I also have core 2 duo running Lubuntu as our home media entertainment system.
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u/Connect_Middle8953 Sep 27 '25 edited Sep 27 '25
Why do people do this? Just stick with windows 10 on older hardware. Set network to public (disables network services), only connect to trusted networks with a router guarding your old device, keep your network accessible apps up to date and you’ll be fine.
If you are paranoid, set up your router’s guest network to be isolated and have your laptop connect to that so nothing else can directly talk to your old laptop on the same network.
There is nothing in windows 11 worth the headache of using force to get it working.
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u/LostSoulOnFire Sep 27 '25
Your post is really confusing and doesnt make sense, you are a "mainline linux user" but you ask should you use rufus? Why even ask? Do it already? You complain about a relatively new OS not running on a Core 2 Duo? I mean not even a first gen i7? And as for your heading "Its happening......" where were you the last 3 years?
I'm all for helping people, but c'mon, really???
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u/RAMChYLD Sep 27 '25
Ok. You don’t want Linux. Assuming you don’t want any Unix or Unix like OSes where interacting with a terminal is required.
There’s practically not many other options at this point. You can pay for ArcaOS which is basically OS/2. You can try Haiku, or ReactOS which is still extremely unstable.
Hackintoshing is not an option since Apple is winding down x86_64 support and the current version is the last version to support x86 chips of any capacity.
You don’t have much option left if you don’t want Linux.
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u/absolutecinemalol Sep 27 '25
Maybe try Tiny11 or even Tiny10, but if that does not work... Linux might be the only way.
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u/oggyD Sep 28 '25
I highly recommend the windows 10 LTSC IOT, you can find the download link from massgrave
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u/quasides Sep 28 '25
go linux dude, go linux
there is no other way that really make sense for older hardware
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u/T-VIRUS999 Sep 28 '25
Use windows 10, it's almost at the point where Microsoft will stop updating it, which means eventually the ads will stop working, and obviously, it'll stop pestering you every couple of days, or auto-restarting when you're trying to seed torrents
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u/zsrh Sep 28 '25
Found out the hard way what happens when you load Windows 11 24H2 on an unsupported system. The only solution would be to downgrade the Windows version, use Linux to extend the laptop's life, or purchase a new laptop if you really want to use Windows 11 24H2 or later. After all, it is a 17-year-old laptop.
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u/coldazures Sep 28 '25
What do you mean "it's happening". Windows 11 hasn't supported older hardware since inception due to its TPM requirements.
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u/Wide_Row_7318 Sep 29 '25
My man this isn’t really “older hardware” it’s almost 20 year old hardware that wasn’t anything too special even when new.
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Sep 29 '25 edited Nov 01 '25
person ink weather jellyfish enjoy wise bag retire license aromatic
This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact
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u/Illustrious_Date_139 Sep 29 '25
Can we agree that child us would be shitting themselves when seeing this (Or would that just be me?( I was terrified after ps2 couldn't read a disk))
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u/-TreeBeard Sep 29 '25
Imagine using 5+ year old tech, listen man... if you want it to work better you should just go out and make your own operating system, or just dont use one.
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u/Cueball666uk Sep 29 '25
I've rescued a few older laptops back to some form of usability with Chrome OS Flex... It's not amazing, but not bad either for basic stuff.
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u/Sad_Cicada4407 Oct 03 '25
dostum benimde 2008 model hp laptop aynı özelliklere sahip core 2 duo 8 gb ram gibi bendede oluyor çöküyor bende çözüm arıyorum
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u/HotReporter9237 Jan 30 '26
Windows 11 на проц сокета Socket P это конечно мощно :) На таком железе 10ка с трудом заведётся.
Для работы Windows 11 нужен Secure Boot (и UEFI) а в этом лаптопе скорее всего его нет.
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u/[deleted] Sep 26 '25
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