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Microsoft announced Windows 11 tonight, and users can already download their PC Health Check to see if their PC meets the minimum hardware requirements of the new operating system in order to qualify for the free ugprade. However, many users with relatively new PCs (myself included) come up with big angry red crosses when they run the app and say, « No, sorry buddy, your 10th Gen Intel CPU, Z590 motherboard, and RTX 3070 Ti are easy not good enough. » Which of course is crazy.
It turns out that it’s probably not a problem with your hardware at all. It’s up to your motherboard’s BIOS settings.
According to Tom Warren at The Verge, you need to have Secure Boot enabled in your motherboard BIOS and one with a TPM 2.0 chip (that’s the Trusted Platform Module, if you have it don’t know).
In fact, a TPM 2.0 chip is one of the minimum hardware requirements of Windows 11 and is related to many different security functions. However, the minimum specification only says “Secure Boot capable” and not “has to be switched on, you idiot”.
To check if Secure Boot is enabled on your PC, restart it and open your motherboard’s UEFI menu by pressing Erase (or F2 or F11 depending on your motherboard) before it boots into Windows . The exact location will depend on your motherboard manufacturer (mine was in the boot menu), but hopefully it should be pretty easy.
As for the TPM 2.0 chip, you can check if it’s enabled by You press the Windows R key to open Run and type tpm.msc. Hit Enter and a window should appear showing whether the TPM chip is enabled or not. If it doesn’t, it may also be disabled on your motherboard. To turn it back on, go back to your motherboard’s UEFI menu and browse for it again.
To be fair, there’s also a great chance your PC simply doesn’t have a TPM 2.0 chip if you have it have built yourself. While I have Secure Boot enabled, I can’t find any hiding places or hairs of a TPM chip on my own PC, and yes, after consulting my motherboard’s manual, my Asus ROG Maximus XIII Hero Z590 board has a header for a, but the actual module is ‘sold separately’. Well I’ll be damned. Turns out they’re not really common on consumer motherboards which, if you ask me, is a real pain in the ass.
It’s possible to install TPM chips on your motherboard, but it’s a bit fiddly and you’ll likely have to consult your motherboard’s manual to see where the correct header is. It’s just a lot of unnecessary nonsense and a real crap for us PC people. I’ll keep this situation in mind as we near the Windows 11 upgrade rollout later in the year, but I hope Microsoft drops the requirement so we don’t get unnecessarily penalized as PC makers.
Catherine Castle
Hardware editor
Katharine writes about all the things that come with your PC so that you can keep playing all those beautiful games that we love to talk about. Very partial to JRPGs and getting quests. She is also the harbinger of RPS’s resident deals.
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