"Microsoft Loosens Windows 11 Install Requirements, TPM 2.0 Not Needed Anymore" TechPowerUp

PhilB · Nov 21, 2025

Microsoft Loosens Windows 11 Install Requirements, TPM 2.0 Not Needed Anymore

Microsoft has finally opened the iron gate guarding the Windows 11 upgrade for systems running incompatible hardware, including systems lacking TPM 2.0. This is excellent news for users who are rocking older systems or have been without the TPM 2.0 module in their system but want to upgrade to...

www.techpowerup.com

From last December.

Microsoft Loosens Windows 11 Install Requirements, TPM 2.0 Not Needed Anymore

Microsoft has finally opened the iron gate guarding the Windows 11 upgrade for systems running incompatible hardware, including systems lacking TPM 2.0. This is excellent news for users who are rocking older systems or have been without the TPM 2.0 module in their system but want to upgrade to...

www.techpowerup.com

I always thought of TechPowerUp as a reputable news site. But this story seems wrong. Or am I just colossally out of date? If this story is true, then lots of people don't need to use some kind of workaround or use Rufus to install Windows 11 on older hardware.

Microsoft opened an official support page, noting that "Installing Windows 11 on a device that doesn't meet Windows 11 minimum system requirements isn't recommended. If Windows 11 is installed on ineligible hardware, you should be comfortable assuming the risk of running into compatibility issues. A device might malfunction due to these compatibility or other issues. Devices that don't meet these system requirements aren't guaranteed to receive updates, including but not limited to security updates.

garlin · Nov 21, 2025

This story is trivially easy to confirm. You try installing unmodified W11 on a TPM 1.2 PC, and tell us it works.

That quoted statement is actually several years old by now. It's not saying incompatible HW is now supported. It simply says it's your fault for any problems running Windows on unsupported HW. And don't expect to be offered feature updates.

Steve C · Nov 22, 2025

It's simple to upgrade an 'unsupported' PC from Windows 10 to 11 anyway. Just download the Windows 11 ISO file for your region, mount it and run setup.exe /product server from an admin command prompt.

Celery · Nov 22, 2025

When performing a clean installation, Windows 11 Setup does not check for the presence of TPM 2.0 (although at least TPM 1.2 is required). I have not tested this behavior with Windows 11 25H2, but I have confirmed it with 24H2.

The following text was first published on October 4, 2021, when Windows 11 was released to the public, and was removed from Microsoft’s website on February 4, 2025:

Boot from media to launch Setup. This path is a clean install and will not retain previous files or settings.

Important: You should verify that your device meets minimum system requirements before you choose to boot from media, because it will allow you to install Windows 11 if you have at least TPM 1.2 (instead of the minimum system requirement of TPM 2.0), and it will not verify that your processor is on the approved CPU list based on family and model of processor.

A screenshot of this text can be found at the following link:

Trying to upgrade to Win 11. Keep getting 0x800703ee error or message saying we can't determine if there is enough disk space to complete upgrade. - Microsoft Q&A

Trying to upgrade from Win 10 to Win 11. My PC meets all the upgrade requirements. I have over 200 gb available on my C drive along with a 200 mb EFI partition. I've run check disk, tried to install using Windows Update and Windows Installation…

learn.microsoft.com

NormanF · Nov 22, 2025

x509 said:
Microsoft Loosens Windows 11 Install Requirements, TPM 2.0 Not Needed Anymore

Microsoft has finally opened the iron gate guarding the Windows 11 upgrade for systems running incompatible hardware, including systems lacking TPM 2.0. This is excellent news for users who are rocking older systems or have been without the TPM 2.0 module in their system but want to upgrade to...

www.techpowerup.com

From last December.

Microsoft Loosens Windows 11 Install Requirements, TPM 2.0 Not Needed Anymore

Microsoft has finally opened the iron gate guarding the Windows 11 upgrade for systems running incompatible hardware, including systems lacking TPM 2.0. This is excellent news for users who are rocking older systems or have been without the TPM 2.0 module in their system but want to upgrade to...

www.techpowerup.com

I always thought of TechPowerUp as a reputable news site. But this story seems wrong. Or am I just colossally out of date? If this story is true, then lots of people don't need to use some kind of workaround or use Rufus to install Windows 11 on older hardware.

Microsoft opened an official support page, noting that "Installing Windows 11 on a device that doesn't meet Windows 11 minimum system requirements isn't recommended. If Windows 11 is installed on ineligible hardware, you should be comfortable assuming the risk of running into compatibility issues. A device might malfunction due to these compatibility or other issues. Devices that don't meet these system requirements aren't guaranteed to receive updates, including but not limited to security updates.

Neither of my HP workstations meet the TPM 2.0 requirements and Windows 11 runs just fine on them - still gets all the feature and security updates. None of them, for what its worth, have officially supported CPUs. I refuse to have perfectly good PCs turned into e-waste.

Winuser · Nov 22, 2025

NormanF said:
I refuse to have perfectly good PCs turned into e-waste.

XxXxX · Nov 22, 2025

the thing i find quite amazing is that the new secure boot 2023 cert's are installable on systems with TPM 1.2
so the older TPM 1.2 can have the new secure boot 2023 cert's but were not able to install Win 11 25H2 because the dont have TPM 2.0.

i find that truly amazing
best of luck Steve ..

Josey Wales · Nov 22, 2025

Windows 11 on devices that don't meet minimum system requirements | Microsoft Support

Installing Windows 11 on devices that do not meet minimum system requirements is unsupported and is not recommended by Microsoft.

support.microsoft.com

garlin · Nov 22, 2025

XxXxX said:
the thing i find quite amazing is that the new secure boot 2023 cert's are installable on systems with TPM 1.2
so the older TPM 1.2 can have the new secure boot 2023 cert's but were not able to install Win 11 25H2 because the dont have TPM 2.0.

Secure Boot certs don't require the presence of TPM. They only perform verification of signed files that are presented to the UEFI for booting.

BitLocker on the other hand, does care about TPM levels, because of how the encryption key is stored/retrieved.

SecureNerds · Dec 27, 2025

The TPM 2.0 requirement has stopped a lot of perfectly good computers from upgrading to Windows 11. The good news is there are actually several workarounds you can try to get past this limitation.
First - Check if You Actually Have TPM:
Before trying workarounds, it's worth checking if your PC already has TPM but it's just disabled:
Press Win + R, type tpm.msc and hit Enter
If it shows TPM 1.2 or 2.0, you just need to enable it in BIOS
Important: Many manufacturers actually added firmware-based TPM (fTPM for AMD or PTT for Intel) to their motherboards, but it's disabled by default. You might just need to:
Enter your BIOS settings (usually by pressing F2, F10, Del, or F12 during startup)
Look for "TPM", "fTPM", "PTT" (Platform Trust Technology), or "Security Device" in the settings
Enable it and save changes
Also worth trying: Update your BIOS to the latest version from your manufacturer's website. Sometimes older BIOS versions don't show the TPM option at all, but updating makes it visible in the settings. This is especially common on systems from 2016-2018.
If TPM Really Isn't Available - Registry Method:
If your system genuinely doesn't have TPM hardware, you can bypass the check during installation:
When you hit the "This PC can't run Windows 11" error, press Shift + F10 to open Command Prompt
Type regedit and hit Enter
Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Setup
Right-click Setup → New → Key, name it LabConfig
Inside LabConfig, create these DWORD (32-bit) values (right-click → New → DWORD):
BypassTPMCheck with value 1
BypassSecureBootCheck with value 1
BypassRAMCheck with value 1
Close everything, hit back, and continue the installation
Alternative - Pre-Installation Registry Edit:
If you're trying an in-place upgrade, you can also:
Press Win + R, type regedit
Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Setup\MoSetup
Create a DWORD called AllowUpgradesWithUnsupportedTPMOrCPU and set it to 1
Run the Windows 11 setup again
I actually came across this helpful article that covers the whole process in detail: Win 11 Upgrade - they explain the TPM situation pretty well and offer some solutions if you're not comfortable doing it yourself.

Steve C · Dec 27, 2025

SecureNerds said:
The TPM 2.0 requirement has stopped a lot of perfectly good computers from upgrading to Windows 11. The good news is there are actually several workarounds you can try to get past this limitation.
First - Check if You Actually Have TPM:
Before trying workarounds, it's worth checking if your PC already has TPM but it's just disabled:
Press Win + R, type tpm.msc and hit Enter
If it shows TPM 1.2 or 2.0, you just need to enable it in BIOS
Important: Many manufacturers actually added firmware-based TPM (fTPM for AMD or PTT for Intel) to their motherboards, but it's disabled by default. You might just need to:
Enter your BIOS settings (usually by pressing F2, F10, Del, or F12 during startup)
Look for "TPM", "fTPM", "PTT" (Platform Trust Technology), or "Security Device" in the settings
Enable it and save changes
Also worth trying: Update your BIOS to the latest version from your manufacturer's website. Sometimes older BIOS versions don't show the TPM option at all, but updating makes it visible in the settings. This is especially common on systems from 2016-2018.
If TPM Really Isn't Available - Registry Method:
If your system genuinely doesn't have TPM hardware, you can bypass the check during installation:
When you hit the "This PC can't run Windows 11" error, press Shift + F10 to open Command Prompt
Type regedit and hit Enter
Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Setup
Right-click Setup → New → Key, name it LabConfig
Inside LabConfig, create these DWORD (32-bit) values (right-click → New → DWORD):
BypassTPMCheck with value 1
BypassSecureBootCheck with value 1
BypassRAMCheck with value 1
Close everything, hit back, and continue the installation
Alternative - Pre-Installation Registry Edit:
If you're trying an in-place upgrade, you can also:
Press Win + R, type regedit
Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Setup\MoSetup
Create a DWORD called AllowUpgradesWithUnsupportedTPMOrCPU and set it to 1
Run the Windows 11 setup again
I actually came across this helpful article that covers the whole process in detail: Win 11 Upgrade - they explain the TPM situation pretty well and offer some solutions if you're not comfortable doing it yourself.

No need to modify the registry. Just mount the Windows 11 ISO file and run setup.exe /product server

"Microsoft Loosens Windows 11 Install Requirements, TPM 2.0 Not Needed Anymore" TechPowerUp

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