Info Installing Windows 11 23H2 on AM3 pre-UEFI

[mikeymikec]

Personally I think trying to install Win11 on pre-UEFI hardware is tacking the mick a bit regarding the system requirements, but hey ho It installed fine, but what I was utterly unprepared for was that Windows instantly and consistently BSOD'd whenever I plugged in a network cable to the run-of-the-mill Realtek gigabit network controller. I just fed it the Realtek NIC driver that I normally use for my AM4 board of choice, no more BSOD.

Board: Asus M4A89GTD PRO/USB3 (I installed the latest BIOS as a precaution)

The next hurdle I expect will be the latest updates for 23H2, we shall see!

 

[mikeymikec]

Update:

Windows updates all installed fine, however I've noticed two issues that likely both stem from the woefully out-of-date graphics driver (ATI 4290 onboard graphics, driver that came with Windows is dated 2015, works ok on Win10 - there is a driver to download from amd.com but it's even older):

1 - Intermittently, the desktop context menu would show up blank (I worked around this by putting in the classic context menus registry tweak)
2 - Intermittently, the address/toolbars on File Explorer show up blank. This one only showed up on the day I installed the computer on-site. I suspect that if I put the workaround registry tweak to bring back the Win10 File Explorer ribbon that this issue would go.

Another thought I've had is to put a graphics card in.