News Windows 11 won’t work on your PC without a TPM — how to check

rv7charlie

Prominent
Jun 24, 2021
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What about the rest of us, who had the good sense to avoid Win8 & Win10? Soldier on with 7? (If XP is still good enough for my local hospital....)
 
What about the rest of us, who had the good sense to avoid Win8 & Win10? Soldier on with 7? (If XP is still good enough for my local hospital....)
As all previous versions of Windows are no longer supported, each day you continue to use them, you are more and more at risk of your system being compromised. If you're good with that, then nothing changes with the intro of Windows 11. "Soldier on" with Windows 7 (or XP).

If you are looking to upgrade update to Windows 11, then I'd recommend you first upgrade to Windows 10 and then make the switch to 11. Not sure if you can go straight from 7 to 11 (no free Slurpee).

-Wolf sends
 
Jun 24, 2021
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Hi!

I did all the checks, and even pulled the manual and looked at my mobo, pins are empty, nothing there!
So what next? Is this a chip I can buy? I have a Gigabyte GA-Z77X-D3H rev. 1.0, and I'm having a hard time finding a TPM chip to buy or if I do, even if it's compatible!
I see lots of info with the Win11 reveal on how to check but nothing on how to find/purchase one.

Thanks!!
 

halfey

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Feb 14, 2013
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Is this a chip I can buy? I have a Gigabyte GA-Z77X-D3H rev. 1.0, and I'm having a hard time finding a TPM chip to buy or if I do, even if it's compatible!

TPM chip can be bought separately. Asus, Gigabyte, MSI, they all do sell them to consumer. Unfortunately I couldn't find one from Gigabyte right now but last I checked on Amazon there were options for Asus and MSI mobo. And no, TPM is not exclusive to business and enterprise users. My consumer grade Dell Inspiron came with TPM 2.0. I guess it is installed by default on OEM brand PCs like Dell and HP but optional for DIY systems.
 
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henrytcasey

Senior Writer
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May 1, 2015
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What about the rest of us, who had the good sense to avoid Win8 & Win10? Soldier on with 7? (If XP is still good enough for my local hospital....)
I mean, ask the local hospital workers if they actually enjoy Windows XP? I bet they do not.

Everytime I use an older system, I just know I'm running some security risks — MS ended support for W7 in January 2020, and it's a risk that you're taking by using it.
 

henrytcasey

Senior Writer
Herald
May 1, 2015
1,030
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19,245
Hi!

I did all the checks, and even pulled the manual and looked at my mobo, pins are empty, nothing there!
So what next? Is this a chip I can buy? I have a Gigabyte GA-Z77X-D3H rev. 1.0, and I'm having a hard time finding a TPM chip to buy or if I do, even if it's compatible!
I see lots of info with the Win11 reveal on how to check but nothing on how to find/purchase one.

Thanks!!
I'd reach out to Gigabyte for their advice. Wish I could tell you more.
 
I mean, ask the local hospital workers if they actually enjoy Windows XP? I bet they do not.
My mother has been a hospital worker for the last 28+ years. I'd take that bet!

It's not so much the new OS that bothers them as it is the changes to how they've been operating for so many years. The program they've been using for years doesn't work under the new OS, so it has to be upgraded. Along they way, they change the way everything use to work (making it better???). My elderly mother (who is not computer literate) has to try and relearn how to do her job every time this crap happens. So yes. If the hospital was still working on XP (and she didn't have to relearn how to do her job), she WOULD be happy.

So what next? Is this a chip I can buy?
Can't speak for Gigabyte, but I have an MSI motherboard and there is a TPM module for sale online (in some locations). Others have indicated that more recent motherboards have a setting in BIOS that will avert any issues with the update.

It's still way too early to be overly concerned about Win11. I'm certain that many changes will be forthcoming that will either exasperate or relieve many of the issues us users will have.

-Wolf sends
 
Jun 25, 2021
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The problem I see with the options to verify is in how to determine (1) if you are truly TPM 2.0 and (2) the PC Health Check tool not being specific as to why you may not be compatible. Following your guide, I checked everything I could on my PC:
3.9 Ghz processor (1 socket, 8 cores)
64-bit OS, x64-based processor
16 GB RAM
1 TB storage (742 GB available)
GeForce GTX 960 - DirectX version 12.0
TPM.MSC shows "TPM Ready for use"

Yet, the PC Health Check says my machine is not compatible for Windows 11. Why, specifically? While I have TPM, is it that it is not 2.0?
 

COLGeek

Cybernaut
Moderator
The problem I see with the options to verify is in how to determine (1) if you are truly TPM 2.0 and (2) the PC Health Check tool not being specific as to why you may not be compatible. Following your guide, I checked everything I could on my PC:
3.9 Ghz processor (1 socket, 8 cores)
64-bit OS, x64-based processor
16 GB RAM
1 TB storage (742 GB available)
GeForce GTX 960 - DirectX version 12.0
TPM.MSC shows "TPM Ready for use"

Yet, the PC Health Check says my machine is not compatible for Windows 11. Why, specifically? While I have TPM, is it that it is not 2.0?
What specific CPU?

 

rebelloVW

Distinguished
Apr 22, 2013
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18,510
What a drag - My Dell T7500 (dual quad core xeon processors) 128GB RAM, SSD is running so well - latest Windows 10 with all updates - no TPM though - Windows 11 health check says - can't run it - but will continue to get Windows 10 updates. I knew the TPM would be an issue since I've encrypted all my drives - and that was a requirement of bitlocker - I used a different encryption method.

Guess I'm on Windows 10 for a while. Hopefully there is some workaround for this old baby.
 
Jun 28, 2021
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AMD Ryzen 7 3800X 8-Core Processor

It also depends on your motherboard - I've checked mine and I don't have a 'physical' TPM 2.0 chip (and in the UK they're now sold out everywhere or going for 5x + retail secondhand) but as an MSI B450 gaming pro carbon (terrible name, decent motherboard though) it does have AMD's fTPM which is a firmware based TPM chip. Using the TPM.msc check tool (after activating the feature in the BIOS) it lists the TPM as ready to use with the TPM Manufacturer Information as AMD, Version 3.37.0.5 and Specification Version as 2.0 so is considered valid without a separate physical chip.

TL;DR - If you've got an AMD chip, check the motherboard BIOS for fTMP, turn it on and see if that gets listed in TPM.msc as 'Ready to use'
 
Jun 28, 2021
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What about the rest of us, who had the good sense to avoid Win8 & Win10? Soldier on with 7? (If XP is still good enough for my local hospital....)

Its time for you to try Linux, I use mint and with all of the free software, I have not found much that I cannot do as well as on Winblows.
 
Jun 30, 2021
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Hi. I have checked my laptop and it has TPM 2.0 but why when I checked on Windows PC Health Check it says that "This PC can't run Windows 11" and "The processor isn't supported for Windows 11"? I am very sure that all the requirements to run Windows 11 is in my laptop as the minimum requirement. By the way, my processor is Intel Celeron Processor N3350 1.10 GHz with 4GB RAM, 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor and has TPM specification version 2.0.