Yesterday, Microsoft released windows 11 build 22621 to windows insiders registered on the release preview channel, marking another step towards universal availability of windows 11 22h2. This version is planned to be released later this year. However, according to the report on reddit, users who do not support hardware are also provided with upgrades, even those who use windows 10.
It must be noted that windows 10 also has a release preview channel. It will receive cumulative updates before the public release of windows 10, but the supported hardware will still see the prompt "windows 11 and 22h2 are ready". The problem here is that it also seems to be offered to unsupported hardware.
The screenshot shows that reddit user acerimmer412 received the windows 11 22h2 upgrade prompt provided by his windows 10 device on an unsupported processor (i5-7200u). The specific model is HP X360. This user copied the steps by installing the latest optional cumulative update (kb5014023), which also updated me to 19044.1741. Then I joined the release preview channel, but my laptop does not provide windows 11 22h2 upgrade. Windows update also shows that my device is incompatible with windows 11. Maybe this is because I have already run the PC health check application.
Coincidentally, other users are also proposed to upgrade the latest 22h2 version when using older hardware:
My old Dale OptiPlex 7040, i7-6700 3.4GHz, 16GB, Intel HD 530 has become a qualified product today, and I have upgraded it.
It is not clear whether these users have joined the windows 10 release preview channel, but it seems likely. It doesn't seem to be available to everyone on the same old hardware, but it may also be related to the way Microsoft staggers feature updates.
Another possibility is that someone forgot to turn on a switch to prevent windows 11 from being installed on unsupported hardware through the windows insider channel. The original preview version of windows 11 allows this, and it may be possible to do this again on unsupported hardware because this is a new feature version of windows 11.