Windows 10 has less than a year left before it hits its end of support deadline. Starting in October 2025, youll have to pay for security updates if you want to keep using Microsofts nearly-nine-year-old operating system. That means now is the time to think about upgrading any Windows 10 PCs youre still working with to the current Windows 11 OS.If you believe the viral headlines, things are getting messy: Microsoft, the rumors say, is actually trying to stop people from grabbing free upgrades to Windows 11, and the company is even eliminating a workaround that made that path possible. Could that really be true?Ill make it easy for you: That isnt actually the case. You can absolutely still upgrade old and officially unsupported Windows 10 PCs to Windows 11, just as you could years ago when Windows 11 was released. Not much has changed.So lets look at whats actually going on with Windows 11 upgrades in 2025. Ill show you how you can still upgrade to Windows 11 even if Windows Update says a system isnt compatible and Microsoft doesnt want to help. Ill even explain why Windows 11 might not be the right fit for your PC. Thats right: Even if you can, you might not want to upgrade after all and that last part is what the controversy is really about.Want to stay on top of whats happening with Windows? Sign up for my free Windows Intelligence newsletter. Ill send you free Windows Field Guide downloads as a special welcome bonus!Windows 11 upgrade workarounds, explainedFirst things first: The newest Windows 10 PCs can easily upgrade to Windows 11 with no workarounds needed. If your PC is officially eligible for an easy upgrade, just open the Windows Update settings page on your Windows 10 PC. Youll see a big message encouraging you to upgrade with a few clicks.The oldest Windows 10 PCs, on the other hand, genuinely cant upgrade to Windows 11 at all. They just dont have the required hardware. Windows 11 needs Trusted Platform Module (TPM) hardware in order to operate, for one example, as it relies on that for certain hardware-based security functions. If your PC doesnt have it, Windows 11 cant run.But theres a mysterious third category of PCs in the middle. These PCs arent officially eligible for a supported upgrade, and Windows Update will never offer it. But they can run Windows 11. All you have to do is use a special registry hack while installing the software.Consider the TPM hardware situation:A PC without a TPM cant upgrade to Windows 10.A PC with TPM 2.0 hardware can upgrade to Windows 11 in the normal way.But a PC with TPM 1.2 hardware? That PC can upgrade to Windows 11 but only with the AllowUpgradesWithUnsupportedTPMOrCPU registry hack.Microsoft has always warned that PCs upgraded using this registry hack workaround are technically unsupported. Microsoft says your PC may not work properly if you take that route and that it may one day stop offering Windows 11 updates to PCs that used the hack to upgrade. These warning messages date all the way back to the release of Windows 11. Theyre nothing new.Meanwhile, its worth noting that Microsoft is the one that made this registry hack workaround in the first place! Its an officially unofficial way to get many Windows 10 PCs onto Windows 11 without Microsofts guaranteed support and with a your mileage may vary warning but with Microsofts help, in a roundabout way.Microsofts hack-breaking mix-upTo be clear, Microsoft never encouraged average PC users to use the registry hack trick and upgrade their Windows 10 PCs to Windows 11. That path was intended more for Windows geeks and other technically inclined people. But, again, the company did create the registry hack, and it even provided instructions for following the procedure on its website complete with warnings, naturally.Even so, Microsoft doesnt want to help people follow this path anymore. As spotted by Neowin earlier this month, Microsoft removed instructions for using the registry hack from its website. Thats it!To be crystal clear, the registry hack still works. If you want to upgrade a Windows 10 PC to Windows 11, you can use the same registry hack you couldve used two years ago. Youll just have to find it from another source not Microsoft.com.Is it possible Microsoft might get rid of the workaround entirely? Sure. But theres no indication that will happen. Instead, it just doesnt want to encourage average PC users to try this tactic.If youre an average person looking to keep getting security updates for your Windows 10 PC after October, Microsoft would much prefer you buy a new Windows 11 PC or pay $30 for another year of security updates. There was also a recent story about Microsofts Defender antivirus blocking a tool that helps bypass these Windows 11 system requirements. For a few days, the Flyby11 tool was flagged as malware. Thats changed: Defender doesnt block this application anymore. And, even if it did, this tool is only one of many ways to upgrade an unsupported Windows 11 PC.The reality of Microsofts Windows 10 upgrade warningsIn an update to the official support page in question, Microsoft explains its position:This support article was originally published on September 30, 2021, when Windows 11 was first released to the public. At the time of publication and still today, the intention behind this support page is to detail ways of installing Windows 11 on devices that meet system requirements for Windows 11. If you installed Windows 11 on a device not meeting Windows 11 system requirements, Microsoft recommends you roll back to Windows 10 immediately.Windows 11 minimum system requirements remain unchanged.See? Theres nothing really new here. Microsoft hasnt changed anything about Windows; all it did was modify a web page. Yes, it recommends you roll back to Windows 10 if youve upgraded a PC with the registry hack. Its always recommended you do so and, as the official guidance goes, avoid this registry hack.Even so, countless people upgraded their old Windows 10 PCs to Windows 11 with this workaround. And Ive yet to hear a single person whos experienced a major issue after doing so.If Microsoft were to change things in the future, the move would instantly break lots of existing Windows 11 PCs. Thatd be a huge deal and the kind of controversy the company would likely rather avoid.All this being said, you might want to at least think twice before rolling the dice on an unsupported upgrade. Theres a strong argument to be made for shielding yourself from even a potential mess, especially when it comes to a work-connected system. You could instead consider getting a new Windows 11 PC, sticking with Windows 10 and paying for security updates, or installing Linux or ChromeOS Flex to keep your PC running.How to upgrade a Windows 10 PC to Windows 11If, in spite of Microsofts warnings, you do want to upgrade an unsupported Windows 10 PC to Windows 11, the simplest way is to use the convenient Rufus tool to create a USB drive thatll handle the installation and use the registry hack to skip the compatibility check at the same time.Rufus offers a user-friendly way to use the Microsoft-created upgrade workaround.Chris Hoffman, IDGThis wont work with all Windows 10 PCs, but it will work with many of them even if Windows Update tells you otherwise.At the end of the day, remember: Microsoft may warn you that youre on your own if you do this, but its always issued that warning. Its up to you to decide which path you want to take, just as it has been since the start of this situation.Lets stay in touch! 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