Upgrading from Windows 10 to Windows 11 for free

I have three Intel Macs which have Windows 10 Pro installed. Windows is activated with a digital license linked to my Microsoft account. All three Macs also have macOS High Sierra or newer installed. This means the firmware in each Mac is capable of UEFI booting from ExFAT formatted volumes on GPT or MBR partitioned drives. Some additional relevant specifications for these Macs is given in the table below. |Specification|iMac (21.5-inch, Mid 2011)1|iMac (21.5-inch, Late 2013)|Mac mini (Late 2018)| |-|-|-|-| |Model Identifier|iMac12,1|iMac14,3|Macmini8,1| |Memory|16 GB 1333 MHz DDR3|16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3|8 GB 2666 MHz DDR4| |Windows Boot Method|64 bit BIOS|64 bit UEFI|64 bit UEFI| |Type of Partitioning|GPT/MBR Hybrid|GPT|GPT| |Internal Drive|500 GB SATA HDD|1 TB SATA HDD|256 GB PCIe SSD| |Processor2|"Second Generation" 2.5 GHz Intel Core i5 "Sandy Bridge" (I5-2400S)|"Fourth Generation" 2.9 GHz Intel Core i5 "Haswell" (I5-4570S)|"8th Generation" 3.0 GHz Intel Mobile Core i5 "Coffee Lake" (I5-8500B)| |Cores|4|4|6| |T2 Security Chip3|No|No|Yes| |Graphics Card|DirectX 12 Compatible with WDDM 1.0 Driver|DirectX 12 Compatible with WDDM 1.3 Driver|DirectX 12 Compatible with WDDM 2.0 Driver|| |Display4|1920x1280 (1080p)|1920x1280 (1080p)|1920x1280 (1080p)| |Keyboard|Wired Apple A1048|Wireless Apple A1314|Wired Apple A1048| |Mouse|Wired Logitech M110|Wireless Apple A1296|Wired Logitech M110| 1 Windows 10 Pro was installed using this answer . 2 Only the Mac mini (Late 2018) has a Windows 11 compatible processor. 3 A T2 security chip implies secure boot. No Intel Mac models have a TPM. 4 All displays are assumed to be at least 9” diagonally and have at least 8 bits per color channel. None of these Macs meet all of the Windows 11 minimum system requirements given below. |Hardware/Software|Minimum System Requirement| |-|-|-| |Processor|1 GHz or faster with 2 or more cores on a compatible 64-bit processor or System on a Chip (SoC).| |RAM|4 GB.| |Storage|64 GB or larger storage device. |System firmware|UEFI, Secure Boot capable.| |TPM|Trusted Platform Module (TPM) version 2.0.| |Graphics card|Compatible with DirectX 12 or later with WDDM 2.0 driver.| |Display|High definition (720p) display that is greater than 9” diagonally, 8 bits per color channel.| Microsoft has publish the article Ways to install Windows 11 . Under the heading "Other ways to install Windows 11 (not recommended)" there is a method which is repeated below. >**Create an image install** > >Use DISM or 3rd party tools to directly apply an existing Windows 11 image to the disk. > > >**Important:** An image install of Windows 11 will not check for the following requirements: TPM 2.0 (at least TPM 1.2 is required) and CPU family and model. I have the following related questions: - Is it possible to do a clean install of the current Windows 11 Pro release (Version 22H2) on any of these Macs by using the method above? In other words, reformat the Windows 10 volume and install Windows 11 Pro. - Will Windows 11 be automatically activated for free? - Can the install be done with only tools provide by Microsoft and Apple? In other words, without the use of any other 3rd party tools from URLs that are not Microsoft or Apple. - Does the WDDM driver for Windows 11 (Version 22H2) have to be at least 2.0? - Does the Mac have to have a Windows 11 (Version 22H2) compatible 64-bit processor ? - Can the latest release of the Windows Support Software (Boot Camp Support Software) provided by Apple for each Mac be used?