The "System requirements not met" watermark in Windows 11
Windows 11 has raised the hardware bar compared to previous systems like Windows 10, including minimum compatible CPUs and TPM certifications, but many people have bypassed these restrictions and upgraded to Windows 11, and now Microsoft is taking action against these non-compliant devices by forcing a watermark on the desktop.
As previously reported, Microsoft was testing a watermark that reads "System requirements not met" on Windows 11, and the changes have been introduced in Windows 11 Release Preview 22000.588. If your device is not eligible for the upgrade, but has been upgraded to Windows 11 by bypassing the relevant checks via modifying the registry, then this watermark will appear on your desktop. It is positioned above the taskbar clock, similar to "Active Windows ", but does not affect applications, windows, or web browsers, for example.
In addition to the desktop, an alert will also appear in Settings that does not meet the needs of Windows 11, so you may see this alert when performing various actions. Of course, this has no functional impact, but it is bound to irritate some users.
The solution to this problem is not unavailable, in fact, similar situations have existed before. Cracking Microsoft's mandatory watermark can be achieved by modifying the registry, which can be found in the following actions.
How to remove the Windows 11 desktop watermark
1. Right-click the Start menu and select Run or use the shortcut key Win + R to open Run and type "regedit" in the input box to open the registry.
2. Then go to the following registry path:
3. Check if the following entries are present in this path:
If not, right-click on the Control Panel folder and select New > Key to create one, and rename it to the above text.
Tip: If you are worried about modifying the registry causing errors, you can right-click on the key and and "Export" it before proceeding. Thus if something goes wrong, you can restore the saved file through "File" > "Import".
4. Then open the DWORD 32-bit value SV2, change its key value from 1 (enable desktop watermark) to 0 (disable desktop watermark) and save it.
If there is no SV2 value can create a new DWORD32-bit value and rename it to SV2.
5. After the operation is complete close the registry and restart your computer to apply the changes. Then you can see if the watermark is successfully removed.
Does removing the "System requirements not met" watermark have any affect?
The above action only disables the desktop watermark, it does not essentially make the computer comply with the system requirements. In other words, the risks that Microsoft has warned about when installing Windows 11 on unsupported computers still exist, such as not receiving subsequent updates, not being able to use some security features, encountering compatibility issues, etc.
Also you can see that Microsoft's current attitude is to push users to upgrade on supported computers, and other initiatives may be taken to restrict unsupported computers in the future. So if you just want to try the new system temporarily, you can use the above method to remove the "System requirements not met" watermark. However, if you want to use Windows 11 for a long time, it is still recommended to install it on a supported computer.