Rhino 5 for Windows was developed and tested on Windows 8 and Windows 10. These are the only supported operating systems. See our other system requirements for Rhino 5.

Rhino 5 for Windows was not developed for Windows 11, and therefore, it is not supported. However, Rhino 5 can possibly work with earlier versions of Windows 11 24H2, according to some customers–but not all.

In the Fall of 2025, when Windows 11 25H2 shipped to new computers, Rhino 5 for Windows customers reported increased validation problems with Rhino 5, specifically not being able to reach our Rhino validation server. Basically, Rhino 5 on Windows 11 is considered a security risk.

The internet standards & regulatory bodies have deprecated or are not allowing the TLS versions 1.0 and 1.1 due to several security issues. Microsoft has stated that support for legacy TLS versions 1.0 and 1.1 may be removed completely in the future.

With Windows 11's 25H2 security update, Rhino 5 can not reach our Rhino validation server, so it can not get a validation code.

If a customer has an earlier version of Windows 11 24H2, with Rhino 5 installed & validated, then they upgrade to Windows 11 25H2, Rhino 5 runs since it already has been given the validation code and the license files have already been created.

Rhino 5 customers with computers using Windows 11 25H2 or later, will not be able to validate Rhino 5.

If Rhino 5 fails to validates on Windows 11, you are welcome to try using our offline validation method. However, we are no longer recommending or supporting this for Rhino 5 on Windwos 11 operating systems. The details are here.

With an offline validation you will:

• Only get one offline validation per computer
• Be required to call McNeel's Sales Department sales@mcneel.com to manually ignore or remove the offline validation before installing Rhino 5 on another computer.

Microsoft offers registry key workarounds here. We have been unsuccessful getting these to work on a couple customers' computers.

Let us know by emailing tech@mcneel.com, if these suggestions work for you.

MAF Last edit:10/8/2025