Tip: Find Out Why Your PC is Incompatible with Windows 11
- Paul Thurrott
- Jun 28, 2021
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97
It’s the controversy of the year. But a new third-party tool does a much better job than Microsoft at explaining why you can’t upgrade to Windows 11.
I assume everyone is on board with the notion that Microsoft’s hardware requirements for Windows 11, especially its TPM 2.0 requirement, have landed poorly within the community. I still feel that this won’t be a problem for most so-called “normal” people, either because they purchased PCs from big-name companies and don’t need to worry about it or because they simply will never care about any Windows upgrade. But whatever. It’s a problem.
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Microsoft doesn’t have a real solution to the hardware compatibility issues beyond “just buy a new PC.” But it does offer a PC Health Check app that will give you a one-line answer if your PC is deemed incompatible with the Windows 11 upgrade. And that’s kind of the problem: In many cases, you may need to make more than one change to your PC to make it compatible; say, by enabling TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot. And the Microsoft tool, despite a few quick upgrades, is still borderline useless.
Enter WhyNotWin11. This very useful tool will list out all of Windows 11’s hardware requirements and then show you whether your PC passes muster in each case. So if you have multiple issues, you can find out what they are all at once and then, hopefully, address them.
Enjoy.
Conversation 97 comments
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IanYates82
Premium MemberLog in to Reply<p>It’s a shame Microsoft couldn’t be so clear with their own tool</p><p><br></p><p>Even the new version of their tool won’t run for me because my pc is domain joined or something (I need to contact myself, the administrator…)</p><p><br></p><p>My current laptop is fine. My old laptop has a 7th gen Intel CPU but is at least fine. My one prior to that, which is still a very capable machine, is only running 4th gen and I need to enable TPM. Otherwise though it’s a lovely 17" full touch laptop with decent graphics, a fast ssd, and lots of ram. If not for the CPU it’d be great for win 11. I’ll watch the requirements hopefully evolve with great interest. </p>
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dftf
Log in to Reply<p><em>"I’ll watch the requirements hopefully evolve with great interest"</em></p><p><br></p><p>While I think it would be sensible to only be so-strict when it comes to <em>new </em>devices, they have so-far been quoted by other tech news-sites as remaining committed to them for <em>existing </em>ones also</p>
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winner
Log in to Reply<p>Fixed that with "It’s a shame Microsoft can’t be clear on anything…"</p>
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Greg Green
Log in to Reply<p>LOL! ‘<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">I need to contact myself, the administrator…’</span></p><p><br></p><p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">i don’t know how many times I’ve told my pc, But I am the administrator, damn it!</span></p>
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nateham
Log in to Reply<p>Well, this is saying the only problem I have is a CPU that’s to old. Need an 8th Gen I believe, and I have a 7th Gen. Well crap…I even had TPM 2.0</p>
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Usman
Premium MemberLog in to Reply<p>Surface Pro 4 ticks all boxes (including TPM 2.0) but the processor box is yellow. The CPU generation requirements are definitely the bigger problem.</p>
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yaddamaster
Log in to Reply<p>Same – I have a Surface Pro 6 and get the same thing. </p><p><br></p><p>I’ll give MS some time to make this right. But this level of chaos is concerning. Microsoft seems intent on converting people to alternative OS’s. </p>
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zakand
Log in to Reply<p>What they are intent on is selling new PCs at all costs. I suspect if the truth were known, there has been illegal collusion going on between MS, Intel, and OEMs. This should be a massive scandal. </p>
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curtisspendlove
Log in to Reply<p>Or…they feel it’s justified to pull people kicking and screaming into more secure computing. </p><p><br></p><p>Personally, I *like* the TPM and Secure Boot requirements. And I hope this spurs the Linux distros to better support the features. </p>
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dftf
Log in to Reply<p><em>"Or…they feel it’s justified to pull people kicking and screaming into more secure computing."</em></p><p><br></p><p>Will a 2.0 TPM and Secure Boot achieve that though?</p><p><br></p><p>Literally <em>every day </em>at the moment sites like <em>Ars Technica</em>, <em>Bleeping Computer</em> or <em>The Register</em> have yet another story about some massive ransomware attack. I don’t see how such measures protect at-all against a user opening an e-mail and then running a malware attachment, or a software coding vulnerability, or even a hardware-level issue (such as Spectre and Meltdown — can either of those be offset in some-way via a TPM and Secure Boot?)</p>
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yaddamaster
Log in to Reply<p>Sure – but a 2 1/2 year old Microsoft product??? That’s inexcusable.</p><p><br></p><p>I buy a new computer roughly every 1.5 to 2 years. Then I hand mine down to the kid. I’m due for a refresh.</p><p><br></p><p>The chances that I’ll buy a Surface right now are slim. As much as I loathe OSX even Apple’s support is better than two years.</p>
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anderb
Premium MemberLog in to Reply<p>My PC is incompatible with Windows 11 because I don’t want advertisements in my Start menu and a mandatory Microsoft account.</p>
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mattbg
Premium MemberLog in to Reply<p>It sounds like the user is incompatible with Windows 11, rather than the PC :)</p>
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dftf
Log in to Reply<p>You’ll only get a mandatory <em>Microsoft Account </em>on the <em>Home </em>edition… upgrade to <em>Pro </em>if you don’t want that</p>
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mog0
Log in to Reply<p>Cool, my Lenovo Legion gaming laptop is compatible (no surprise) and even my Surface Go 2 hits all the requirements.</p>
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cubkyle
Premium MemberLog in to Reply<p>As others are saying here, it looks like unsupported CPUs will be the real issue for Windows 11 upgrades as it’s VERY narrowly set right now.</p><p>My 7th Gen Core i7 CPU far exceeds the performance requirements but isn’t on their list, so I’m ineligible.</p><p><br></p><p>Maybe we’ll find they expand it as the beta progresses, or that it’ll still install and run just fine but missing features like the Intel Android bridge. I guess we’ll see.</p>
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LocalPCGuy
Log in to Reply<p>I expect that 0patch.com will offer updates their micro-patch updates to Windows 10, like they do now for Windows 7. In fact, 0patch often patches zero days faster than Microsoft itself does. I use it on one workstation with Windows 7 workstation. It’s a very nice system that is easy to sign up for and offers a free and paid ($30/year) tier for users. I’ve never received spam from them.</p>
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dftf
Log in to Reply<p>You won’t need it until after October 2025, though — Windows 10 will continue to get security-updates until then. It’s not dead yet (despite people on here suddenly acting like it is!)</p>
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bettyblue
Log in to Reply<p>The problem is Microsoft communication…..which is always the problem.</p><p><br></p><p>Broken tool, patched broken tool, CPU lists disclosed that cut off lots of people and then Microsoft employees saying on Twitter and other places that you only really need TPM 1.2 for it to work but it will warn you (SHA1 issues). What is it then?</p><p><br></p><p>All that said I think this is getting way too much drama. Outside of seekers what % of the population even knows about Windows 11, enough to want to run it now?? No-one outside of tech cares about this in a world where the smartphone is your first and most used computer for Joe consumer/cubicle user. NO enterprise is going to rush this thing out. We still have Windows 7 computers in our enterprise, not many but they are still on the schedule to get 10. </p><p><br></p><p>Also I would be that Microsoft at leasts gets the tool fixed for the first beta or backs down and changes the requirements.</p>
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dftf
Log in to Reply<p><em>"Microsoft employees saying on Twitter and other places that you only really need TPM 1.2 for it to work but it will warn you … what is it then?"</em></p><p><br></p><p>Officially, TPM 2.0 is the lowest. They published a document where it said TPM 1.2 was the "hard floor" and TPM 2.0 the "soft floor", but have since revised it and removed all-references to TPM 1.2.</p><p><br></p><p><em>"All that said I think this is getting way too much drama"</em></p><p><br></p><p>I agree there! Most commentators on here seem obsessed now with Windows 11, and act like Windows 10 is now immediately dead and they cannot cope between now and when they get W11 installed. Others say they are "so excited", others "it’s a monumental Windows release".</p><p><br></p><p>And I cannot understand why. To me, it just seems like "Windows 10.1", overall. I mean the only massive new-features are running <em>Android </em>apps, the <em>DirectStorage </em>addition (which will only really affect AAA-title gamers, and possibly CAD users), and the revamped <em>Microsoft Store</em> (which they’ve already said will come to <em>Windows 10 </em>also).</p><p><br></p><p>So… what else has everyone losing-their-minds over it and needing to upgrade ASAP? The <em>Snap </em>improvements? A <em>unique wallpaper </em>on each virtual-desktop? The <em>start-up sound </em>being brought-back? The <em>Widgets </em>pane? The new <em>Start Menu </em>panel and centred <em>Taskbar</em>?</p><p><br></p><p>Is all of that really worth (in some cases) buying a new device for… really?</p>
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Greg Green
Log in to Reply<p>I think it’s more that people are saying Here goes MS again, with a bad idea and bungled messaging making the situation even worse.</p>
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mattbg
Premium MemberLog in to Reply<p>I’m not all that anxious to know today if I can run Windows 11 later this year.</p><p><br></p><p>However, when I did try the Microsoft tool, it simply told me I’d have to check with my organization to see if I would be allowed to run Windows 11. Presumably because my personal PC is attached to a private domain. So, it sounds like it’s up to me… and I say yes!</p>
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paull90
Log in to Reply<p>I had to reinstall Windows 10 using UEFI and then enable TPM in the bios, kept me busy on a Saturday afternoon.</p><p>I’m just glad that a reinstall nowadays is fairly painless compared to earlier Windows versions, and with all my docs in OneDrive I was all up and running again quickly and I now have the green tick saying my machine is compatible. </p>
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dwolfman
Log in to Reply<p>FYI, you could have avoided that reinstall. Look up the mbr2gpt tool that is built in to Windows. I used that to convert two of computers from legacy to UEFI boot, took about a half hour each but only because the conversion left some unused space around the partitions that I needed to clean up.</p>
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waethorn
Log in to Reply<p>Who knew that Apple would actually come out ahead with a better computer support lifecycle than Microsoft. ;)</p>
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thejoefin
Premium MemberLog in to Reply<p>I would say it is easier when you control your own hardware… but the Surface line is a mess with compatibility issues. I guess Microsoft just doesn’t have the capability to do anything well.</p>
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waethorn
Log in to Reply<p>Yeah, they already control the Surface line, and 4 year old machines are off the compatibility list. Meanwhile, there are 6 year old machines that will get the latest macOS Monterey, and even after support ends for new OS upgrades on those machines, they’ll still be supporting those machines for another 2 OS versions after that with security updates.</p><p><br></p><p>You read that right: there are Mac systems dating back to 2015 that will be supported on macOS Monterey. And Apple supports computers with 2 OS versions out of date from the latest one too, so those machines have a while left on overall support for software updates.</p><p><br></p><p>But Microsoft can’t support upgrades on their old systems that are 4 years old? C’mon!!</p>
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dftf
Log in to Reply<p><em>"… there are Mac systems dating back to 2015 that will be supported on macOS Monterey. And Apple supports computers with 2 OS versions … so those machines have a while left on overall support …"</em></p><p><br></p><p>As of now, any device running <em>Windows 10 </em>have around 4 years and 4 months left of updates: given how-quick Apple release macOS versions thesedays, I’m sure that period will be longer. Not-to-mention there will be PCs older-than 2015 on the Windows side still running Windows 10: most Windows 7-era devices should run W10, and I’m sure many Vista-era ones are capable, too…</p>
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zakand
Log in to Reply<p>TPM is NOT the biggest problem here, it is the insane CPU requirements. The vast majority of "normal" people will not be allowed to run Win11 for totally arbitrary reasons. Ridicule it all you want, but I’ve seen more devoted Windows users swear off MS in the past week than I ever saw with Win10. </p>
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scoop
Log in to Reply<p>I do not plan to swear off MSFT, but I will swear off on buying a new PC just for the sake of running Win 11. The earliest date that could possibly happen is October 2025, when Win 10 goes EOL. Till then, I am fine dual-booting Win 10 and Linux on multiple PCs. I would like to try Win 11 if I could, but I will not pay for the privilege. </p>
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dftf
Log in to Reply<p><em>"I would like to try Win 11 if I could, but I will not pay for the privilege"</em></p><p><br></p><p>Once it becomes available as an ISO image as part of the <em>Windows Insider Preview </em>program, download it, and use it to install <em>Windows 11 </em>inside of a virtual-machine (such as <em>Hyper-V, VirtualBox </em>or <em>VMWare Player</em>).</p><p><br></p><p>Then you can indeed test it for free, on you existing <em>Windows 10 </em>device (or even under Linux, or on macOS, providing they offer an ISO of the ARM64 version)</p>
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yaddamaster
Log in to Reply<p>I have a Surface Pro that is 2 1/2 years old. Got a message saying I meet the minimum requirements but my processor isn’t supported. I mean – if that’s not contradictory I don’t know what is.</p><p><br></p><p>I get it if my pc is like 8 years old. But an official Microsoft product that isn’t even three years old?</p><p><br></p><p>I hate Macs but if this nonsense continues I’ll be switching to Linux full time or a Mac.</p><p><br></p><p>Unacceptable.</p>
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anoldamigauser
Premium MemberLog in to Reply<p>The Microsoft tool flagged my CPU, but not the fact that the machine is using TPM 1.2. WhyNotWin11 flagged the TPM version and questioned CPU compatibility…after a lot of warnings on download and execution that it could harm my machine.</p><p>No Windows 11 for me.</p>
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red.radar
Premium MemberLog in to Reply<p>Great App. The Native Microsoft checker will not run on my work PC because "Updates are being managed by my IT department". </p><p><br></p><p>Curious to why Microsoft doesn’t give you visibility. I get that the update is managed by my IT department but that has no relevance to the question at hand. I need to know: Can my Hardware handle Windows 11. </p><p><br></p>
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dftf
Log in to Reply<p>"… will not run on my work PC because "Updates are being managed by my IT department"."</p><p>"… I need to know: Can my Hardware handle Windows 11."</p><p><br></p><p>Ask your IT Department then… that’s their job!</p>
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wbtmid
Premium MemberLog in to Reply<p>The REAL PROBLEM here is NOT TPM, for the most part! I can’t speak to Intel products, but so far ALL the laptops (2) and desktops (3-self assembled) I checked, have had AMD chips, and all of them have PASSED THE TPM TEST (via tpm.msc). THE REAL PROBLEM is the COPATIBILITY LIST! This was clearly, and elegantly explained in a YouTube post by Brad Sams, over the weekend ("the only BS here is the Compatibility List".) The CPU limits are arbitrary, ridiculous, and have NOTHING to do, as far as I can tell, with security, features, or anything. When one fails the Health Check and clicks for more information there are lead to a page suggesting you can buy a new computer (which you may not need or want) from several vendors, Best Buy, etc. Another concern is are they now going to ratchet up the requirements with each annual update to support more sales of new computers. Further, as others have said elsewhere, IF YOU ARE NOT PAYING, YOU ARE NOT THE CUSTOMER, YOU ARE THE PRODUCT! Personally I am at the frustration point with Windows advertising, distracting fluff features, distracting news, popups, etc. Also, I am personally TIRED of being the product to Google, etc. and NOW Microsoft. Sigh. I’d be willing to go back to paying a reasonable price for updates, and allow MS to actually improve their products by FIXING the security problems in their code!</p><p><br></p><p>Sorry for the rant, but this compatibility list has been bugging me all weekend!</p>
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mattbg
Premium MemberLog in to Reply<p>Would you be OK with paying for a new Windows 11 license if it let you install on pre-cutoff hardware?</p><p><br></p><p>I haven’t paid for Windows since Windows 8, and even then I only paid because I needed Pro, so it’s hard to call myself a customer at this point.</p>
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nkhughes
Log in to Reply<p>Yes, I’m glad people are waking up to the AMD CPU requirements. I bought a fairly low-end HP laptop Feb 2020 ahead of a trip to Ireland (which of course never happened) because I needed a PC that just did simple web browsing/email and development work at a push, rather than take my bigger laptop*. It runs Windows 10 fine even with only 4GB RAM. It has TPM 2.0, DirectX 12, but the pre-Ryzen A9 CPU is not supported for Windows 11.</p><p><br></p><p>The argument that, if you have a recent laptop (2020) from a big name (HP) and it runs Windows 10 fine (check) it’ll upgrade to 11 automatically, isn’t turning out to be the case. Interestingly all of the cheaper AMD A-series laptops that were still on the HP UK online store the last time I checked seem to have disappeared. Windows 11 or chip shortages?</p><p><br></p><ul><li>- which also cannot run Windows 11 but is much older so I’m not surprised.</li></ul>
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winner
Log in to Reply<p>Windows 11 – Free</p><p>Advertising – Included</p><p>Telemetry – In place</p><p>Microsoft account – required</p><p>Conclusion: You are the product</p>
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harmjr
Premium MemberLog in to Reply<p>I can understand the TMP 2.0 for security but why the processor? Surface Pro 3,4,5 are out. Really! SP4 is the most widely used surface out in the market and they want to stop it. Microsoft you need to explain. Tell me why those intel processors or are such an issue. </p><p><br></p><p>Of course this is all about selling new PC’s. </p>
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dftf
Log in to Reply<p>They’re still selling the <em>Surface Pro 2 </em>right-now for £3,549 in the UK… despite the CPU not being supported by Windows 11. That’s a lot of money to spend on a device that will drop-support in October 2025…</p>
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Alastair Cooper
Log in to Reply<p>It’s about what I’m considering for my new desktop (that price, not the Surface Studio 2) so it’s frankly unnerving that Microsoft would cut the CPU requirements like that. My new machine will run Windows 11, but I don’t want to find that Windows 12 in two years’ time is not supported.</p>
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crunchyfrog
Log in to Reply<p>I just built a Ryzen gaming rig less than two years ago with an ASUS X570 mobo and apparently no TPM onboard, so I can’t upgrade…huh…</p>
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wright_is
Premium MemberLog in to Reply<p>Have you tried enabling the AMD fTPM? I enabled it on my Ryzen 1700 board from Asus in the UEFI settings (it was under Advanced settings, <em>not</em> security). It enabled the TPM, but it still isn’t compatible with Windows 10 or 11. But yours is newer, so should be okay.</p><p><br></p><p>Although I did note that around 1/3 of all Asus boards currently sold don’t have TPM capabilities!</p>
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Sihaz
Log in to Reply<p>I had to do that with my Asus B-450 Prime. After that my Ryzen 3600 system passed the test…</p>
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tonchek
Log in to Reply<p>Do you have a TPM header on your MB? </p>
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wright_is
Premium MemberLog in to Reply<p>Ran it on my Ryzen 1700, no surprise, processor is not supported.</p><p><br></p><p>fTPM is turned on on the motherboard (UEFI settings) and appears in Windows Device Manager, WhyNot11 says that there is <em>no</em> TPM module.</p>
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javial
Premium MemberLog in to Reply<p>My $8K computer, 2.5 years old, <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">is not compatible with Windows 11,</span> with an Intel Core i9 7940X, with 14 cores with Hyperthreading running at 4,2 GHz. all cores with overclocking, 128 GB. RAM at 3600 MHz, TPM 2.0, 2 x 2 TB. NVME Samsung 970, Graphics Card NVIDIA GTX 1080 Ti with 11 GB of VRAM, Dual 10 Gbps. Intel NIC connected to the switch with Link Aggregation to make a 20 Gbps. connection.</p><p><br></p><p>But a simple Celeron or Pentium is capable.</p><p><br></p><p>My $12K server with an Intel 7980x <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">with 18 cores with Hyperthreading running at 4,0 GHz. all cores with overclocking, 256 GB. RAM at 3000 MHz., TPM 2.0, etc. is also not compatible with Windows 11 or Windows Server 2022.</span></p><p><br></p><p>Do you really think that a software company that is unable to perform a decent verification tool, that anyone is capable of developing in one day on Github, a software company that is unable to seamlessly stream their most important event in his own streaming platform, is it capable of making or maintaining an operating system like Windows?</p><p><br></p><p><br></p>
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waethorn
Log in to Reply<p>I guess Microsoft wants everyone using ARM now LOL! This is just too funny.</p><p><br></p><p>According to the PC Health Check, I can successfully run Windows 11 in Parallels Desktop Pro VM on a 2020 Intel MacBook Air. Parallels Desktop Pro and Enterprise have support for an emulated "vTPM" in software and it doesn’t throw up any other errors so long as Secure Boot is turned on in the VM and you throw enough RAM at it (4GB minimum).</p>
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dftf
Log in to Reply<p>When <em>Windows 11</em> detects it is running inside a VM, certain hardware-requirements are simply ignored and don’t have to be met</p><p><br></p><p>Source: download.microsoft.com/download/7/8/8/788bf5ab-0751-4928-a22c-dffdc23c27f2/Minimum%20Hardware%20Requirements%20for%20Windows%2011.pdf , page 16</p>
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winner
Log in to Reply<p>So that means you can run W11 on an unsupported hardware configuration that runs W10 instead, but inside of a VM?!</p><p>That’s funny.</p>
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dftf
Log in to Reply<p>Indeed, yes!</p><p><br></p><p>I think <em>Oracle VM VirtualBox </em>still supports <em>Windows 7 </em>(as the host OS), as of now. So install <em>Windows 11 </em>inside of it, and you can run it on not-only unsupported hardware, but inside of an unsupported OS as-well!</p>
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waethorn
Log in to Reply<p>The 4GB RAM, Secure Boot, and TPM requirements are still there – I tested this with Parallels Desktop 16 Pro. Once they’re met, the PC Health Check says it’s good to go.</p>
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StagyarZilDoggo
Premium MemberLog in to Reply<p>New computer I built last year, with one old piece of hardware – an AMD Radeon HD6850 graphics card. WhyNotWin11 correctly says it’s not compatible – doesn’t support DirectX 12. The MS PC Health tool says it’s all OK…</p>
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gregsedwards
Premium MemberLog in to Reply<p>My Surface Pro 4 failed the check due to the CPU (Core i5, <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">6th-gen</span>). <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">I was expecting to get a little more mileage out of such an expensive device as the Surface Pro 4. </span>I couldn’t tell you that last time I owned a device that wasn’t able to upgrade beyond the major version of Windows that shipped on it. I have a 14-year-old Dell OptiPlex with a Core2 Duo that shipped with Vista and is current humming along fine with Windows 10 (yes, I’ve upgraded the RAM, storage, and graphics over the years, but the CPU and board are original). Even the budget 8" Dell tablet I bought in 2014 was able to upgrade from Windows 8 to Windows 10.</p><p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">I’m going to hold judgment until I see what happens closer to release, because I have a feeling that Microsoft will back off on these aggressive system requirements. But if not, then I’ll say it’s going to be extremely disappointing that relatively new devices with decent specs don’t qualify for a simple Windows upgrade because Microsoft arbitrarily decided more PCs need to be sold. </span></p>
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dftf
Log in to Reply<p><em>"Even the budget 8" Dell tablet I bought in 2014 was able to upgrade from Windows 8 to Windows 10."</em></p><p><br></p><p>If it was <em>Windows 8 RT </em>on that device, it definitely wouldn’t be supported now as most of those ran 32-bit ARMv7 CPUs, and 32-bit kernel support has been dropped. And even if not, it might have a 32-bit x86 CPU, as many tablets of that time were low-spec devices, shipping with only 1GB or 2GB or RAM.</p><p><br></p><p><em>"… I have a feeling that Microsoft will back off on these aggressive system requirements"</em></p><p><br></p><p>Time will tell, but so-far when questioned they’ve said they’ve no plans to. But if many choose not to buy new devices, and market-share for Windows 11 stagnates, it may mean having to extend support for Windows 10.</p><p><br></p><p><em>"… because Microsoft arbitrarily decided more PCs need to be sold"</em></p><p><br></p><p>I’m still a bit puzzled how many PCs are able to be sold. Assuming businesses suddenly all do decide "sure, let’s replace tens-of-thousands of our PCs" (which, as many have lost a lot of money during the pandemic seems unlikely) you still have the question of whether supply can meet demand. Until just recently we’re hearing Xbox Series and PS5 consoles will have stock-shortages until possibly late 2022, due to the worldwide silicon shortages — same reason why lots of new cars are sitting-around waiting for on-board chips to be fitted before they can be sold. So, when it comes to Windows laptops and desktops, why does the silicon-shortage not seem an issue there?</p>
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polloloco51
Log in to ReplyI ran the PC Health checker on my ThinkPad T470 with an I5-7300, a Dell All in One 3275, and Dell XPS 8700 with an I7-4770. It said, all three PCs cannot run Windows 11, despite running Windows 10 perfectly.
This is just insane to the highest levels! Microsoft needs to reverse course and ease the requirements!
A top of the line, relatively new 2017 Lenovo Thinkpad T470 with an i5-7300? Microsoft has really lost their marbles!
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dftf
Log in to Reply<p>It does seem mad that at a time there are worldwide silicon shortages, Microsoft seem to think the industry will be able to fulfil millions of new laptops and desktops. New cars are sitting-around unsold as they’re awaiting chips; games-consoles are facing production issues… yet Windows PCs seem immune and can meet demand?</p><p><br></p><p>Not to mention the obvious environmental issues around rendering devices suddenly obsolete…</p>
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hrlngrv
Premium MemberLog in to Reply<p>Tangent: is there anything about Windows some 3rd party hasn’t done better than MSFT?</p>
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dftf
Log in to Reply<p>Maybe <em>Windows </em>itself? The last-time I looked at <em>ReactOS</em>, at-least, it still looked like Windows 2000 and was trying to add features from that era…</p>
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winner
Log in to Reply<p>Unfortunately it’s about software availability. If I could run all of my main apps on Linux, I’d be fully switched over.</p>
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Dale Griffin
Premium MemberLog in to Reply<p>I got a note the other day when checking insider updates that said that my computer did not meet the minimum specifications for W11and they would keep me on W10 Dev. Now today I checked with their Health Check App and it says congratulations your PC meets all the requirements. We’ll let you know when its ready. ??????????? What do we do when even the manufacturer of the software doesn’t agree about what the minimum requirements are??????</p>
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dftf
Log in to Reply<p>I’m totally puzzled what is happening with the <em>Insider Preview </em>now. They’ve said anyone currently in it will be updated in the next few weeks to running <em>Windows 11</em>, even if the device doesn’t meet the specs, yet when the final <em>Windows 11</em> gets released, you have to clean-install and revert to <em>Windows 10</em>?</p><p><br></p><p>Seems real-dumb to me… surely only PCs which meet the requirements for the eventual final-version of W11 should run the previews of it? All other devices should remain on <em>Windows 10</em> preview-builds.</p>
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cnc123
Log in to Reply<p>In this entire CPU obsolescence debacle, is Microsoft considering that if you force hundreds millions of people to buy new computers to maintain support, a significant percentage of them will decide they don’t need something as complex or expensive as a Windows PC and instead will buy a Chromebook? Even better (worse?) maybe Google allows an installable or USB stick version of Chrome OS, so people can keep the PC they have.</p>
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dftf
Log in to Reply<p>I wonder if <em>Microsoft </em>has also remembered there is a global silicon-shortage right now, too — can the industry suddenly fulfil orders on something like, what, 300 million new PCs?</p><p><br></p><p>As for booting live from a USB: you can already do this with many <em>Linux </em>distros. Google "Pen Drive Linux" and see which that tool supports.</p>
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nyghtfall
Log in to Reply<p>Just ran it. Sure enough, no TPM detected / enabled.</p><p><br></p><p>My custom Core i7-4770K is 8 years old. Last night, I bought a 10700K to get ahead of potential scalpers. It’ll be here this week. Now I just need a new motherboard and RAM.</p>
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waethorn
Log in to Reply<p>Should’ve bought a Ryzen…</p>
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nyghtfall
Log in to Reply<p>I prefer Intel.</p>
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waethorn
Log in to Reply<p>You should pay more attention to benchmarks and value than being brand-loyal.</p>
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voolproof
Log in to Reply<p>I’m in the same boat, but I think I’ll worry about scalpers at Win 10’s EOL in 2025. Anyway, I’ll wait until Windows 11 is actually out before making any decisions. Who knows how the requirements change until then..</p>
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matsan
Log in to Reply<p>Will VMware’s vTPM (claiming to be TPM 2.0 compatible) work?</p>
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dftf
Log in to Reply<p>Inside a VM, Windows 11 won’t require a TPM to be present, nor certain-other hardware checks (e.g. a DirectX 12 compliant GPU) as it simply ignores such requirements.</p><p><br></p><p>You can find this on page 16 of this PDF: download.microsoft.com/download/7/8/8/788bf5ab-0751-4928-a22c-dffdc23c27f2/Minimum%20Hardware%20Requirements%20for%20Windows%2011.pdf</p>
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thretosix
Log in to Reply<p>With Windows 10 almost any PC could run the OS. I have yet to find a PC that at my work or home that is compatible with Windows 11. I get security concerns, but Windows 10 support only until Summer 2025 seems like it’s going to make a lot of people unhappy. At least at work it will keep me really busy replacing PCs.</p>
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dftf
Log in to Reply<p><em>"… but Windows 10 support only until Summer 2025 …"</em></p><p><br></p><p>In the tech news, they always say this applies only to <em>Home </em>and <em>Pro</em>. Yet if I look at this page (<strong>docs.microsoft.com/en-us/lifecycle/products/windows-10-enterprise-and-education</strong>) it says both <em>Education </em>and <em>Enterprise</em> also end-support in October 2025. I assume that is correct?</p><p><br></p><p><em>"At least at work it will keep me really busy replacing PCs"</em></p><p><br></p><p>We’re pulling audit-reports at the moment to see how-many we may need to replace and take a decision from there on what to do next. Aside from buying new <em>Windows 11</em> devices, there are two other options: (1) wait until <em>Windows 12</em>, and look at new devices then — given <em>Windows 10 </em>is no-longer "the last version", why would anyone expect <em>Windows 11</em> to also be? And (2) consider moving machines to the 2019 LTSC edition of <em>Windows 10</em>, which is supported until Jan 2029…</p>
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winner
Log in to Reply<p>Just like Win 7, they will probably continue to support Win 10 on your company PCs for "a small fee PER MACHINE". </p><p>Sounds like a great revenue opportunity to me.</p>
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dftf
Log in to Reply<p><em>"</em><em style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Sounds like a great revenue opportunity to me"</em></p><p><br></p><p>I can’t believe Microsoft has revealed itself to be a for-profit corporation, and dropped its charity facade… 😉 </p>
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waethorn
Log in to Reply<p>My prediction, judging by the comments here: Windows 11 will be the new Windows Me.</p><p><br></p><p>It’ll look pretty and it’ll work great on new, or otherwise certified hardware, but users will swear it off in favour of Windows 10 because of upgrade woes.</p><p><br></p><p><br></p>
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dftf
Log in to Reply<p>While it’s true that, in my experience, <em>Windows Me </em>ran fine on pre-built machines, but blue-screened loads on existing ones, <em>Windows 11 </em>will be as-stable as <em>Windows 10.</em></p><p><br></p><p>I think a better-comparison would be <em>Windows 8</em>: it’ll introduce new UI elements, improve tablet users’ experiences, continue to evolve the "Modern UI" apps, revamp or remove old Windows apps and parts of the UI, etc… but in a few years, we’ll be seeing a similar market-share story of it being on something like 20% of all global PCs, while <em>Windows 10 </em>continues on the vast-majority</p>
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lvthunder
Premium MemberLog in to Reply<p>I wonder if the chip requirements are due to the Intel bridge to run the Android Apps. Since Windows 11 isn’t coming out until the fall there is still time for Microsoft to change its minds. Especially since Microsoft is selling expensive Surface hardware that won’t run Windows 11 (Surface Studio 2).</p>
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dftf
Log in to Reply<p>Yeah… around £3550 for the <em>Surface Studio 2</em>, which cannot be upgraded due to its CPU. And no warning or anything on the official sale-page for it. At the very-least they should add a disclaimer to the effect of: <strong>"This device cannot be upgraded to Windows 11, and will be supported only until October 2025 on Windows 10</strong>".</p><p><br></p><p>If they’re so comfortable with the new requirements for Windows 11, at-least be upfront on your own devices for sale right-now and let consumers know which won’t be supported!</p><p><br></p><p>(To Apple’s credit: at-least ahead of a new version of macOS, they do list what the earliest model in each product line-up / category that can run it will be…)</p>
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omen_20
Log in to Reply<p>At this point I’m not too fazed by all this. Windows 11 is basically just Windows 10 Spit-shine Edition anyways. The ChromeOS/Mac visuals are all welcome changes, but whatever.</p><p><br></p><p>The fact that I won’t be able to move the taskbar when in use on my ultrawide means I wouldn’t want it installed anyways. This coming from someone who bought Vista and Windows 8 day one. I upgraded through 8, 8.1, and then 10. I’ll just stick with 10 and maybe go back to Ubuntu full time like in college. All a desktop OS is these days is a desktop environment to house a browser anyways.</p>
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marvz
Log in to Reply<p>My relatively new desktop is not compatible according to MS health check. It does have TPM and secure boot but win10 is installed on an MBR drive, not grt, csm is being used and not uefi and it is using legacy boot method. I think all are fixable if I do a clean win11 install. I can switch to uefi, turn on secure boot and reformat to grt. Bitlocker and whynotwin11.exe do detect tpm 2 even if MS’s health check does not. I suspect this describes the problems for a lot of more recent pcs that are thought to be incompatible. </p>
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dftf
Log in to Reply<p>"… but win10 is installed on an MBR drive, not grt"</p><p>"csm is being used and not uefi and it is using legacy boot method"</p><p><br></p><p>I wasn’t sure what "CSM" was for a moment, as I always just call it "BIOS mode".</p><p><br></p><p>There is a Command Prompt tool called <strong>MBR2GPT </strong>you can use to convert a drive to GPT format, and it is (though awkward to do) change the motherboard mode from BIOS to UEFI without reinstalling Windows… but if you can just reinstall, it would certainly be the easier way to go, yes.</p><p><br></p><p>Only UEFI is supported by Windows 11, so if you’re using CSM for the "legacy boot" option (e.g. to use a SATA type SSD) then you’ll need to check that under UEFI it will boot off that device. If not, you’ll have to get an M.2 drive to install onto — my own laptop won’t boot from SATA in UEFI mode.</p>
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marvz
Log in to Reply<p>boot drive is m.2</p>
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jlariviere
Log in to Reply<p>It is so not surprising that a 3rd party tool does better. </p>
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spraly
Premium MemberLog in to Reply<p>I was thinking of getting an LG Gram. I’m not seeing anything regarding TPM. I did find one at Costco and check and it show 1.2. I also read somewhere that TPM 1.2 was upgradeable to 2.0 via firmware. Prior to this announcement, TPM was never a thought. Now its a big deal that affects future purchases. </p>
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bleeman
Premium MemberLog in to Reply<p>I find it extremely frustrating that my 4 year old 16GB, i7, Surface Pro 2017 (5), doesn’t meet the requirements. It says my processor isn’t supported. Really sad when the same processor list shows support for Celeron and Atom processors. Thanks for nothing Microsoft! You’d think Panos would have at least made sure his beloved Surface products would have been supported. As someone else mentioned this will be the first time in the 30 years I’ve been running Windows that I won’t be able to upgrade with my existing hardware.</p>
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grabaclue
Log in to Reply<p>I was very disappointed to see that my Surface Go, which is ONE generation old, isn’t compatible because of the CPU. Microsoft even took the device off the Dev channel of the Insider Program. However, I put it back on the Dev channel and Win 11 is installing right now. So we’ll see how well it works…</p>
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grabaclue
Log in to Reply<p>Well, the upgrade on my Surface Go (first edition) completed last night and, so far Windows 11 seems to be working just fine. I have not yet encountered any issues at all.</p><p><br></p><p>Which makes me wonder even more why my device was considered not compatible.</p>
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dom2907
Log in to Reply<p>upsetting to see my surface pro 3 potentially unable to be updated. it runs really well even today. i managed to get the dev preview of windows 11 and runs amazing. shame it wont last too long though, unless they ease on the strict requirements. since this is a Core i5 Model</p>
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blindbuddy53
Log in to Reply<p>hi. and a totally blind computer user. have a assuss vivo book x 540 uar and use jaws for windows as my screen reader. and do have only tpm 1.0. and no way withouth sighted help to change the bios to tpm 2.0. and yes, not much info. thanks. </p>
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JH_Radio
Premium MemberLog in to Reply<p>Heh. yeah. I’d need help to change it too. Also got JAWS here. But i don’t care to run Windows 11 right now . But at the same time come 4 years from now, when W10 isn’t supported, I’d like to be able to upgrade what I have to run Win11.</p>
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uk user
Premium MemberLog in to Reply<p>Compared to the replies posted already a thicko is now posting. My Dell 8900 is no good, except for running Win 10 apparently, but Win 11 is only the start of the ‘New’ windows is it not? So fast forward to 2025 will Win 11 become Win 12, 13, or whatever and the machines ok for now be still functioning but not compliant? And so we have this scenario all over again? By the way reading an article on ZD Net the other day and one of their lead writers wrote that after 40 or so years of Windows he is done with Microsoft. Apple is now his computer companion of choice even though he will still use Office.</p>
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ebraiter
Log in to Reply<p>Unsure why they didn’t leave all this security stuff left as is… </p><p>I just re-installed W10 [because of a friggen winload.exe error that I couldn’t fix].</p><p>I have a 4th gen CPU [top of the line]. No issues with slowness.</p><p>Mobo has a TPM pin location but good luck in finding one for my mobo [not all TPM cards created equally]. </p>
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boltie
Log in to Reply<p>I love how Windows Defender detects the WhyNotWin11_x86.exe as a serious threat.</p>
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Alastair Cooper
Log in to Reply<p>Just wait until it discovers the YesWeCanWin11_x86.exe for the final release that turns off the ‘Hardware Compliance Check’.</p>
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amnaamir
Log in to Reply<p>Truth behind of not compatibility windows 11 is China manufecture xeon motherboad for older xeon processor and now they are leading on that market. America wants stop that chinese bussiness. Only way to do that to make windows cannot compatible with older xeon cpu and other older processors. I think some clever people make crack windows11 and run for older pc.</p><p><br></p>