[PSA] Met all the basic requirements but Microsoft's tool still says your PC can't run Windows 11? It might be your CPU, but don't throw them out yet.

[dalekphalm]

Just now, wkdpaul said:

MSI also has a TPM header, and sells TPM modules separately ;

https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/TPM-20-Module

 

Most of the major Mobo manufacturers do this, it seems.

[Quartz11]

Good luck finding one in stock at a reasonable price.  All the ones I've looked for seem to be out of stock.  Asus, Gigabyte, MSI, etc.  My X79 motherboard has a 20-1 TPM socket too.  I wonder if there will be more of them made and popping up for sale after the official Windows 11 release.

[JustAnotherOverClocker]

12 hours ago, D13H4RD said:

 

Windows 11 is finally official, and as is typical for a major release for a desktop-level operating system, there seems to be a buzz of activity surrounding what it brings and what it can run on. Previously, there was quite a bit of buzz over Windows 11's strict requirements over having an enabled Trusted Platform Module (TPM), although it looks like a good amount of computers out there have a firmware-level TPM that is usually disabled inside the BIOS. A quick flick of the switch inside the BIOS usually deals with that assuming other requirements like GPT are met.

 

However, there has also been reports that despite having an enabled TPM and meeting or exceeding all other basic requirements, that Microsoft's PC Health Check tool continues to report a system not being able to run Windows 11. Given that these reports seem to stem from users of first-generation Zen-based CPUs alongside Intel CPUs ranging from Kaby Lake or older, does this mean that those generations of CPUs are worthless? Not necessarily.

 

Microsoft has done a very poor job of communicating this, but there are actually 2 floors of requirements for W11; a SOFT floor, and a HARD floor.

Think of it as something akin to the minimum and recommended requirements of a video game, although, as mentioned before, Microsoft hasn't exactly done a good job of communicating this at all. As such, Microsoft's own PC Health Check tool only reports the requirements as it akin's to the SOFT floor, which in this case, is a TPM module of version 2.0 or later, and a generation of CPU that's Intel 8th gen or later, or Ryzen 2000 series or later.

 

So essentially, so as long as you have a 64-bit CPU that has 2 or more cores, at a clockspeed of 1GHz or higher, assuming you met all the other requirements, you can run and install Windows 11.

 

 

Sources

Compatibility for Windows 11

r/Windows11 thread regarding this

 

I have a Skylake i7 and did not know this. Thank you.

 

Holy, Microsoft botched the communication on this launch on an unimaginable degree. From the TPM supply issues, to the dual booting issues, and TPM confusion in general with no end-user communication. Completely unacceptable for a company of this scale.

[StDragon]

5 hours ago, wkdpaul said:

I have an old optiplex with a Core2Quad ... I might do some tests with the leaked ISO this weekend!

I've got Dell Precision with a Q6600, but it doesn't support UEFI let alone Secure boot. So even if you met the minimum requirements for CPU in terms of cores and frequency along with TPM, you still need UEFI to go along with it.

[Quartz11]

I agree, communication should be better.  If it's something as simple as installing a TPM 2.0 module if a motherboard is compatible, that needs to be communicated.  And hopefully the supply of those modules is increased.  It's also sketchy about firmware updates for those modules.  Some seem to be poorly or no longer supported (the Asus 19-pin, for example, might be out of date).

[WkdPaul]

3 minutes ago, StDragon said:

I've got Dell Precision with a Q6600, but it doesn't support UEFI let alone Secure boot. So even if you met the minimum requirements for CPU in terms of cores and frequency along with TPM, you still need UEFI to go along with it.

I've installed the leaked ISO on a 3rd gen HP workstation that doesn't have UEFI

[WhitetailAni]

If the W10 -> W11 upgrade is done the same war the W7 -> W10 upgrade was done it may be possible to boot W11 on an MBR partition.

 

Before I started Hackintoshing, my Windows install was on an MBR drive. Why? It was an upgraded install from W7, where it was partitioned as MBR. I never changed it until I had to.

 

If the W10 -> W11 does the same thing a Recovery Mode reinstall does, it should be possible to install W11 on MBR. I'm not saying that it is, but it might.

 

 

Also, for people trying to buy TPM modules your CPU might have a TPM built in. Every Ryzen CPU has an fTPM that you can enable.

[StDragon]

8 minutes ago, wkdpaul said:

I've installed the leaked ISO on a 3rd gen HP workstation that doesn't have UEFI

For being development, sure. But not for the final unless MS changes from what is currently known.

 

https://download.microsoft.com/download/7/8/8/788bf5ab-0751-4928-a22c-dffdc23c27f2/Minimum Hardware Requirements for Windows 11.pdf

 

 

[Dabombinable]

Even going off the hard requirements, the tool would still baulk at my tablets. 0.9GHz base clock on the Core M3...which means nothing as most of its time is spent boosting.

[StDragon]

"Microsoft recognizes that the user experience when running the Windows 11 in virtualized environments may vary from the experience when running non-virtualized. So, while Microsoft recommends that all virtualized instances of the Windows 11 follow the same minimum hardware requirements as described in Section 1.2, the Windows 11 does not apply the hardware-compliance check for virtualized instances either during setup or upgrade. Note that, if the virtualized environment is provisioned such that it does not meet the minimum requirements, this will have an impact to aspects of the user experience when running the OS in the virtualized environment."

 

Great. That means in theory the final release should be able to run on VMWare Player without a virtualized TPM chip. So for those needing provide end-user Win11 support, you should be ok on that front. 

[Kisai]

12 hours ago, D13H4RD said:

 

 

Microsoft has done a very poor job of communicating this, but there are actually 2 floors of requirements for W11; a SOFT floor, and a HARD floor.

Think of it as something akin to the minimum and recommended requirements of a video game, although, as mentioned before, Microsoft hasn't exactly done a good job of communicating this at all. As such, Microsoft's own PC Health Check tool only reports the requirements as it akin's to the SOFT floor, which in this case, is a TPM module of version 2.0 or later, and a generation of CPU that's Intel 8th gen or later, or Ryzen 2000 series or later.

 

So essentially, so as long as you have a 64-bit CPU that has 2 or more cores, at a clockspeed of 1GHz or higher, assuming you met all the other requirements, you can run and install Windows 11.

 

Just FYI, if you have a TPM 1.2 (eg a Dell Skylake laptop/desktop) Dell has a tool to upgrade it to 2.0

https://www.dell.com/support/kbdoc/en-ca/000132583/dell-systems-that-can-upgrade-from-tpm-version-1-2-to-2-0

Quote

Dell systems built between 2015 and 2018 may have shipped from the factory with Trusted Platform Module (TPM) firmware version 1.2.

 

This article lists the system models that may have shipped with TPM 1.2 so you can upgrade the TPM firmware to version 2.0 if needed.

 

Systems released after 2019 support TPM firmware 2.0 without an option to downgrade (Systems that shipped with Windows 10 and have limited or no Legacy support).

 

 

[NumLock21]

Ran that app and it says my processor is not compatible, but I'm running Win11 on a VM just fine.

 

[Foxlet]

14 hours ago, D13H4RD said:

 

Windows 11 is finally official, and as is typical for a major release for a desktop-level operating system, there seems to be a buzz of activity surrounding what it brings and what it can run on. Previously, there was quite a bit of buzz over Windows 11's strict requirements over having an enabled Trusted Platform Module (TPM), although it looks like a good amount of computers out there have a firmware-level TPM that is usually disabled inside the BIOS. A quick flick of the switch inside the BIOS usually deals with that assuming other requirements like GPT are met.

 

However, there has also been reports that despite having an enabled TPM and meeting or exceeding all other basic requirements, that Microsoft's PC Health Check tool continues to report a system not being able to run Windows 11. Given that these reports seem to stem from users of first-generation Zen-based CPUs alongside Intel CPUs ranging from Kaby Lake or older, does this mean that those generations of CPUs are worthless? Not necessarily.

 

Microsoft has done a very poor job of communicating this, but there are actually 2 floors of requirements for W11; a SOFT floor, and a HARD floor.

Think of it as something akin to the minimum and recommended requirements of a video game, although, as mentioned before, Microsoft hasn't exactly done a good job of communicating this at all. As such, Microsoft's own PC Health Check tool only reports the requirements as it akin's to the SOFT floor, which in this case, is a TPM module of version 2.0 or later, and a generation of CPU that's Intel 8th gen or later, or Ryzen 2000 series or later.

 

So essentially, so as long as you have a 64-bit CPU that has 2 or more cores, at a clockspeed of 1GHz or higher, assuming you met all the other requirements, you can run and install Windows 11.

 

 

Sources

Compatibility for Windows 11

r/Windows11 thread regarding this

You may want to update this post as the Compatibility webpage for Windows 11 has been updated today; the old hard floor (that mentioned TPM 1.2) has been removed. Microsoft explicitly says that TPM 2.0 will be required and CPUs outside of the compatibility lists are not supported, putting the new hard floor in line with the results of the PC Health Checker (which was also updated today to point out incompatible CPUs).

 

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/compatibility/windows-11/

 

CPU Compatibility Lists:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/design/minimum/supported/windows-11-supported-amd-processors

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/design/minimum/supported/windows-11-supported-intel-processors

[NumLock21]

So my board actually has a TPM module header, but the problem is there are no TPM module in stock anywhere. That sucks

Also there are 2 types 14 pins and 20 pins depending on the board that you have.

[Spotty]

6 hours ago, D13H4RD said:

Based on what has been said, having something like a 7th gen Core i7 doesn't mean you can't install Windows 11. It just means while installing, a message asking if you'd like to proceed as it "might not provide the best experience" would pop up. 

Even if that is the case, don't you think it's weird that a quad core 4.2GHz i7 7700k would be warned for not being the best experience for not being in the supported CPU list but a dual core Celeron N4000 1.1GHz CPU is in the supported CPU list and supposedly offers the full experience?

 

I wonder if it's not actually an issue with the CPU but actually a motherboard issue. Maybe Intel made a change from 8th gen onwards saying that all 8th gen compatible motherboards must support TPM 2.0? My Z170 motherboard supports TPM but maybe there's a bunch of H110M motherboards that don't support it and Intel/Windows can't guarantee support for CPUs on those older boards?

Though holes are shot in that theory pretty quickly since the tool actually checks if TPM is enabled or not.

 

I think much like everyone else I really would like to know what it is exactly about pre-8th gen CPUs that makes them 'unsupported'.

 

13 minutes ago, Foxlet said:

You may want to update this post as the Compatibility webpage for Windows 11 has been updated today; the old hard floor (that mentioned TPM 1.2) has been removed. Microsoft explicitly says that TPM 2.0 will be required and CPUs outside of the compatibility lists are not supported, putting the new hard floor in line with the results of the PC Health Checker (which was also updated today to point out incompatible CPUs).

Downloaded the updated tool, ran it. Still not compatible but at least now tells me why it doesn't meet the requirements (CPU). Also if you downloaded the older version and try to run the older version of the tool it will force an update to the latest version when you open it.

 

i7 6700K

[theswweet]

So many people are parroting that you need Secure Boot enabled, when the requirements themselves state "capable", and right now the health check app will give a pass if you're using a UEFI install with TPM enabled but Secure Boot off. You've gotta imagine MS aren't exactly upset about that, though, since it'll make dual-booting a pain in the ass!

[Oshino Shinobu]

The quote in the OP is outdated BTW. Microsoft removed the soft and hard floor requirements and have just said TPM 2.0 now. They make no mention of TPM 1.2 anymore. So they've made it more confusing to people than it already is.

 

https://mspoweruser.com/microsoft-does-away-with-soft-floor-updates-minimum-windows-11-specs-with-tpm-2-0-requirement/

[Kisai]

Looks like the requirements aren't as real as they first seem. So the question is "what aspects of the user experience" require an 8th gen intel, Ryzen 2xxx+ part, and a TPM 2.0 ?

 

[Foxlet]

41 minutes ago, Spotty said:

Even if that is the case, don't you think it's weird that a quad core 4.2GHz i7 7700k would be warned for not being the best experience for not being in the supported CPU list but a dual core Celeron N4000 1.1GHz CPU is in the supported CPU list and supposedly offers the full experience?

 

I wonder if it's not actually an issue with the CPU but actually a motherboard issue. Maybe Intel made a change from 8th gen onwards saying that all 8th gen compatible motherboards must support TPM 2.0? My Z170 motherboard supports TPM but maybe there's a bunch of H110M motherboards that don't support it and Intel/Windows can't guarantee support for CPUs on those older boards?

Though holes are shot in that theory pretty quickly since the tool actually checks if TPM is enabled or not.

 

I think much like everyone else I really would like to know what it is exactly about pre-8th gen CPUs that makes them 'unsupported'.

 

Downloaded the updated tool, ran it. Still not compatible but at least now tells me why it doesn't meet the requirements (CPU). Also if you downloaded the older version and try to run the older version of the tool it will force an update to the latest version when you open it.

 

i7 6700K

The reason that 7th gen/Zen 1 CPUs and under are considered incompatible is mainly because the upstream vendors (Intel and AMD) no longer support these older CPUs with firmware updates. Microsoft is just taking advantage of the opportunity to eliminate them from the roster by following the vendor's direction.

[Foxlet]

1 hour ago, Kisai said:

Looks like the requirements aren't as real as they first seem. So the question is "what aspects of the user experience" require an 8th gen intel, Ryzen 2xxx+ part, and a TPM 2.0 ?

 

Probably a combination of vendors no longer supporting these older CPU products, and Windows's Device Attestation (for the TPM) and Kernel DMA Protection (for older chipsets).

 

Microsoft goes more into detail about the TPM and Device Attestation in https://www.microsoft.com/security/blog/2021/06/25/windows-11-enables-security-by-design-from-the-chip-to-the-cloud

[Spotty]

12 minutes ago, Foxlet said:

The reason that 7th gen/Zen 1 CPUs and under are considered incompatible is mainly because the upstream vendors (Intel and AMD) no longer support these older CPUs with firmware updates. Microsoft is taking the opportunity to eliminate them from the roster by following the vendor's direction.

Is that the actual reason (stated by Microsoft/Intel/AMD) or is that what you're speculating the reason is? Source?

Seems like a pretty stupid reason if it is. Eventually 8th gen CPUs and newer are all going to go EOL and no longer receive support just like all previous CPU generations.

[Kisai]

Just to step back to the "can I use the firmware tpm?"

 

 

That's from the manual for my board. Note the warning that if the BIOS ROM is replaced, the system is hosed. So that's not entirely different than how it would be on a laptop.

 

That said, I went back and picked a 300-series AMD board manual to check and there is no mention of TPM at all on the A320 board. So it's likely AMD boards might not have the TPM. Intel 300 series boards have 14-pin TPM headers. However the manual for those budget boards don't suggest there is a firmware option for TPM.

 

As for 14-pin or 20-pin

 

 

 

https://dlcdnets.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/Add-on_card/E14029_TPM-M_R2.0_TPM-L_R2.0_card_QSG_V2_web.pdf

 

 

[Foxlet]

46 minutes ago, Spotty said:

Is that the actual reason (stated by Microsoft/Intel/AMD) or is that what you're speculating the reason is? Source?

Seems like a pretty stupid reason if it is. Eventually 8th gen CPUs and newer are all going to go EOL and no longer receive support just like all previous CPU generations.

To clarify, the vendor reason is speculation based mainly based on Intel EOLing 7th gen CPUs and related chipsets at the end of 2020, leaving it in extended support, with 8th gen and higher remaining as the only active products in their existing product stack (matching Microsoft's compatibility list).

 

https://www.anandtech.com/show/14968/intel-to-discontinue-nearly-all-desktop-kaby-lake-cpus

 

Certain older motherboards also lack support for Kernel DMA Protection, which is a new requirement for Windows 11, and was introduced around the launch of 8th gen systems.

[D13H4RD]

2 hours ago, Spotty said:

Even if that is the case, don't you think it's weird that a quad core 4.2GHz i7 7700k would be warned for not being the best experience for not being in the supported CPU list but a dual core Celeron N4000 1.1GHz CPU is in the supported CPU list and supposedly offers the full experience?

Hot Take on my end (100% speculation): I think this might be related to security. IIRC, newer generation CPUs have started employing hardware-level fixes for known exploits. Given the big push for security with W11, this might be plausible.

 

Of course, the cynic in me feels like this is a way to push PC upgrades. The incredibly poor level of communication surrounding this doesn't help.

[darkdarkdrag0n]

i see 1 of 4 things happining with this hardware requierments of 2018 or newer and tpm 2.0
1. MS will have to extend windows 10 past 2025
2. ms will have to support older hardware and make tpm 2.0 a recomended requierment not a hard one
3. users start running windows 11 in a vertual enviernment to by pass these blocks on older but still powerfull hardware
4. more users come 2025 jump ship off windows over to linux
.
there is ppl that all ready went to linux becouse of some of the headacks and data mining conserns of windows 10
now i think more ppl will with adding this to the same headacks and data mining isues and to top off the fact that

there are many ppl that have just recently bought new 6th or 7th gen pc's and even ppl that just finaly got 4th gen i5 or i7 systems

[example: my mother just bought a i7 4790 system 4 months ago and her and i were expecting it to last her at a minumum of 5 years for web, email, video chat]

heck ppl like my mom cant just go buy a new pc so often specialy how the market is currently 
this is a real D--k move by ms i get that thay whant to offer more security with the os but thay could just make it optional and give a disclamer about not useing that feature aka like with bit-locker
like all thay have to do is say ok we have included these new security tools and options but it is up to you if you want them to be enabled by having hardware that support it
honisly in my opinion this is just a move to push sales with there partners hell thay even hinted at that in there anouncment video!!