How to install Windows 11 on unsupported hardware as a blind or visually impaired computer user

Introduction

As most people who follow tech news are aware, Microsoft will be ending support for Windows 10 on October 14, 2025. For some users, that means they will no longer receive updates. For others who want to upgrade but can’t, financial barriers make it hard to justify spending hundreds of dollars on new hardware.

My goal in writing this guide is to help anyone who wants to upgrade to Windows 11 complete the process as smoothly as possible. This guide may also help users already on Windows 11 who want or need to perform a clean install for any reason, though some steps are not required if your hardware is supported.

What you need

Before installing Windows 11 on your machine, make sure you have the following items ready:

• The computer you are installing Windows 11 on.
• If using a laptop, the power cord.
• A cloud service or external media to back up important files.
• A USB flash drive with minimum 8GB of storage to create bootable media.
  Note, make sure any important data on your flash drive is backed up. The drive will be formatted in this process, and all files will be lost.
• A tool for creating bootable media. I personally recommend Rufus.
• On some computers, an external USB soundcard for Narrator speech during setup.
• A smartphone running Be My Eyes and/or Aira. (More on this later).

What to do

Confirming if your PC is officially supported.

Before beginning this process, I recommend using Microsoft’s free PC Health Check application to determine if your system is officially Windows 11 compatible. If it is, you may want to install through Windows Update or the Windows 11 Installation Assistant. If your device is not officially supported by Windows 11, the steps in the sections that follow are for you.

Creating your bootable installer

• If you have not already done so, Download Rufus using the link above and store it in a desired location on your computer.
• Connect your USB drive and launch Rufus. If user account control is enabled, press Alt Y to agree to the prompt.
• When Rufus opens, you will see any connected USB devices. If your flash drive is the only connected external media, it will automatically be selected.
• Once you have confirmed the desired device is selected, press Tab to move to the boot selection box. By default, it will be set to Disk or ISO image. We do not need to change anything here, so tab until you hear SELECT subMenu.
• When you reach this option, press the down arrow key. you will have a select and a download option. Select is already checked, so move to Download and press Enter.
• You will be brought back to the main Rufus screen, and the submenu will now say Download. Press Enter or space to activate the button.
• When Download is activated, you will be placed in a screen that asks what you want to download.
  By default, Windows 11 is selected, but it may not be obvious if using NVDA since you have to hear “@{Index=0; Version=Windows 11; PageType=windows11} collapsed”. So, if you arrow around and feel like you are not finding what you want, just stop and listen.
• Once you activate Continue, you will be placed in a screen that lets you choose which version of Windows 11 you want to download. At the time of this writing, 24H2 is the latest version, and this is the only option Rufus lists.
  Note that just like the previous screen, you will hear index information if using NVDA. I do not have JAWS, so I cannot say how it behaves with this application.
• The next screen will be asking you to choose which edition of Windows you want to use. Rufus has one standard ISO for Home, Education, and Pro. Like other screens in the download process, NVDA will announce extra information, so you will hear “@{Id=System.Object[]; Edition=Windows 11 Home/Pro/Edu} collapsed”. Locate the continue button and move to the next screen.
• The next screen will ask you to choose your language. By default, it is set to English International. Like other boxes in this download screen, NVDA announces extra information, so just stop and listen when going through the languages. To access the languages in this box, press Alt Down Arrow to expand, then use up and down arrows until the desired language is located. To select a language, press Enter.
• Once you select a language and hit Continue, you will be asked to choose if you are installing on ARM or X64. X64 will be selected by default, so repeat the steps from the previous step if you need to change to ARM. The next option will allow you to download from a browser. By default, this option is unchecked. Once your desired Windows version is selected, Tab to the download button and activate it. A standard File Explorer save dialogue will appear. Use standard navigation commands to choose a location and activate the Save option with Alt S.
  Note, the ISO is a large file, so download times will vary depending on your network speed.
• Once the download is complete, you will be returned to the main Rufus window. When using NVDA, I have found that you do not get speech when first returned to this window. Press Alt Tab to return to the window, and NVDA should speak normally.
• Once back in the window, you will have options to select your partition scheme. The available schemes are GPT and MBR. GPT is the most common for modern systems, but if you are unsure if your computer uses UEFI or BIOS, MBR will work.
• Once your partition scheme is set, press the Tab key until you locate the Select option. Press Space, and you will be asked to select your file. Locate it in the File Explorer window that pops up and select it with Enter.
• When the file is selected, locate the Start button. You will be presented with the following options:
  • Remove requirement for 4GB+ RAM, Secure Boot and TPM 2.0
    Note, you will want to make sure this option is checked. If it is not, the install will not work properly.
  • Remove requirement for an online Microsoft account
  • Create a local account with username
  • A field that will be filled in with the username for the active user on the computer.
  • Set regional options to the same values as this user’s
  • Disable data collection (Skip privacy questions)
  • Disable BitLocker automatic device encryption
  • Ok
  • Cancel
• Once your settings are chosen, activate the Ok button. You will be warned that this will completely erase the drive. If you want to continue, press Ok, and if you do not want to press Cancel.
• Once you select ok, Rufus will begin formatting the drive. When the format is complete, eject your drive and move to the next section.

Completing the installation

Now that your installation media is ready, it’s time to begin the upgrade process. With your computer plugged into power, shut id down completely and insert your flash drive.

Important notes

If you do not already have Be My Eyes and Aira, Download one or both of them now and sign up with free accounts. You can Download Aira on the AppStore, Download Aira on the Play Store, Download Be My Eyes on the AppStore, download Be My Eyes on the Play Store. During the next steps, we will have no auditory feedback, so we will need to either rely on the AI functionality of these applications or call for human support. For Seeing AI users, the app will be able to scan the screen, but it will not be able to tell you what is selected, so this option will not be practical for this task.

It is also important to remember that if you set a password for your UEFI screen, you may be unable to boot into your installer. You should also keep in mind that on some computers, Windows may not recognize your computer’s internal drive as an install location. When this happens, power off your computer, turn it on normally, and access the website of your computer manufacturer. On their website, you will need to find storage drivers. You will have the option to directly install the drivers or copy the contents to another location. In our case, we want to copy them to a folder on our installation drive or another drive. If you successfully found the needed drivers and applied them, continue with the installation.

Once your computer is fully powered off, press the Power button to turn it back on. As it boots, repeatedly press one of your function keys. This varies by computer, but in most cases F12 will bring you into UEFI. There is unfortunately no auditory feedback when UEFI loads, so you may have to try this process a few times to see what works for your computer.

Once in your UEFI screen, you can navigate using Tab or the arrow keys, and select options with Enter. The layout of UEFI screens will vary across computers and manufacturers, so a full guide to these screens is not possible. In my experience, HP may be more challenging to work with, but it can still be done. The HP I performed this process on required you to rearrange the boot devices. Using your AI, Aira agent, or Be My Eyes volunteer, take a photo of the screen to determine which option is currently highlighted and where boot device selection is. If you want the ability to ask for specific options in advance, you may prefer Aira’s Access AI. Access AI also gives you the ability to verify its responses with an Aira agent, so if you want to confirm that you are where you need to be but don’t want to talk on a call with someone you can do that. On some computers, selecting your boot device may be as easy as pressing Tab or an arrow key two or three times, then pressing Enter. On the HP I used, I had to press Space to highlight the option, and use the arrows to drag it. Once your desired boot device is selected or positioned correctly in the list, the computer will boot into the standard Windows setup screen. If using computers that require you to rearrange boot devices, remember to go back into UEFI and set your internal drive as the primary boot device.

Once in Windows setup, press Control Windows Enter, and Narrator should start. Follow the prompts, and you will be good to go. If you have no speech, this is where your external soundcard comes in. After the install, make sure to download your manufacturerer’s audio drivers through Windows update or their website.

For those who run into the issue with their internal drive not showing up as an install location, there will be an option to add the needed driver. The option is a link, but Microsoft did not make this option easily discoverable, so finding this option will take some exploration. The file selection part is mostly straight forward as well. When you find your drive, press Space, then arrow up and down through the vertical list of files and folders, using Space to select what you need. When finished, look for an open or continue button. Assuming you found the correct files, you can continue the installation.

Additional notes and links

For those who would like an audio walkthrough of the process for using Rufus, you can listen to the following video by Chris Wright on YouTube. While the tutorial is targeted toward users wanting to set up a virtual machine, he does briefly discuss some of what is in this guide for those who prefer audio format.

It is also important to note that when major Windows versions are released, Windows update will not find them. When 25H2 comes out, those who upgraded using this method will need to create another bootable. Thankfully most of the steps for booting into the UEFI screen and selecting your USB device are not required. On the USB drive, there is a file called setup.exe. Run this file, and you will be able to perform an in place upgrade.

Conclusion

I would like to thank you for taking the time to read this article, and I hope it was beneficial to you. If there was anything I missed or something you think I should add, please let me know in the comments below, or use one of the methods on my contact page.