Updating From 10 to 11 Secure Boot & TPM Question

For Christmas I got a new laptop and it passes all the tests and is shown as to be available in Windows Updates to upgrade to Windows 11.

One of my questions is does Windows tell you BEFORE the start of the downloading procedure and installing whether a computer meets the standards, or does it only say it at the end of the download process, or worse still at the end of the installation. Also does secure boot and TPM have to be enabled or just "available" ?

I ask these questions because I use Aomei Backupper and Aomei Partition Assistant (for other uses) on my machine and won't use anything else. I asked Aomei in an email if their software was secure boot compatible and their response was a bit unclear and I have asked for clarification.From what i have read elsewhere it seems that secure boot should be turned off when backing up and restoring but kept on during normal use.

But my main questions are the ones referring to updating from Windows 10 to 11. I.E.: Does secure boot and TPM have to be enabled during the whole process of an upgrade etc.
Thanks.

It will not download and install if it doesn`t meet the standards.
Yes, secure boot and TPM have to be enabled.
I have never turned off secure boot when making a image of W11. If you do, 11 may not run anyway, but give it a try if you want to find out.

AddRAM said:

I have never turned off secure boot when making a image of W11.

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Same here, using MR 8 Home. I've Restored twice, no problems.

england66 said:

But my main questions are the ones referring to updating from Windows 10 to 11. I.E.: Does secure boot and TPM have to be enabled during the whole process of an upgrade etc.
Thanks.

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In order to upgrade from Windows 10 to Windows 11, secure boot and TPM must be enabled. Once Windows 11 is installed and running, you can disable Secure Boot and TPM if you want to, it won't affect booting and running Windows 11 until it is time to do a major upgrade to a new major version of Windows 11. Then you will need to re-enable secure boot and TPM to do the upgrade. But I am curious, why don't you want to just leave Secure Boot and TPM enabled?

^this, I just don't understand all the complaints about secure boot and TPMs. They are there to protect you. I wouldn't own a computer today that did not have a modern TPM and secure boot enabled. Macs Have had a similar technology for years now, and you can't turn it off on a MAC. It should be the same for Windows 11. It's about time they made it a requirement.

In reply to NavyLCDR who says "But I am curious, why don't you want to just leave Secure Boot and TPM enabled?" Its because I don't think Aomei Backupper will boot into Aomei PE environment with secureboot enabled, and I do not want to try it with secureboot on ! On a webpage for Aomei "one key" restore which is a new service that I don't have, it does say that secureboot has to be disabled before restoring images etc but no definitive information regarding the traditional Aomei Backupper programme. All my other Windows 10 machines have MBR, no TPM and no secureboot and get on fine with Aomei Backupper. I am really doubtful about installing Windows 11 on the new machine because its not (IMO) a ground breaking change to Windows 10 and the changes that have been made are again (IMO) mostly negative like no full start menu down the left side of the screen and changes to the control panel, I want the control panel to stay ! I also won't use third party programmes to make it look and act more like Windows 10 assuming such options are available.

Reality has set in , I won't be updating to windows 11 anytime soon.
In addition to the above changes I cannot myself accept the changes to file explorer or the right click menu. As things stand I can't think of anything positive to say about Windows 11

england66 said:

Reality has set in , I won't be updating to windows 11 anytime soon.
In addition to the above changes I cannot myself accept the changes to file explorer or the right click menu. As things stand I can't think of anything positive to say about Windows 11

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Ah.... but you don't have to accept those things...







For example...







Merry Christmas.

england66 said:

Reality has set in , I won't be updating to windows 11 anytime soon.
In addition to the above changes I cannot myself accept the changes to file explorer or the right click menu. As things stand I can't think of anything positive to say about Windows 11

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In your case, maybe it's best to stick with Windows 10 for now and just install Win 11 in a VM. That way you can take your time, get familiar with it, and see if you can get used to the changes. You could also experiment with tools to tweak that installation as Ghot noted. Best of all, all this could be done without committing your system to Win 11 yet.

windoc said:

^this, I just don't understand all the complaints about secure boot and TPMs. They are there to protect you. I wouldn't own a computer today that did not have a modern TPM and secure boot enabled. Macs Have had a similar technology for years now, and you can't turn it off on a MAC. It should be the same for Windows 11. It's about time they made it a requirement.

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You don't get the basis of the complaints -- as these are not about security issues. Instead, they are about the arbitrary requirements that Microsoft has imposed to install Windows 11 on PCs. When Win10 came out, 5-year-old PCs nearly all upgraded to Win10 without issue -- so folks were expecting the same with Windows 11. But PCs that old often may not have or support TPM or Secure Boot. The complaint is about having to buy new hardware, not about making PCs secure.

Mark Phelps said:

You don't get the basis of the complaints -- as these are not about security issues. Instead, they are about the arbitrary requirements that Microsoft has imposed to install Windows 11 on PCs. When Win10 came out, 5-year-old PCs nearly all upgraded to Win10 without issue -- so folks were expecting the same with Windows 11. But PCs that old often may not have or support TPM or Secure Boot. The complaint is about having to buy new hardware, not about making PCs secure.

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Well, Microsoft is giving those who cannot or don't wish to upgrade at this time until late 2025 to do so. That is, Windows 10 is still being supported until then. No one is being forced to upgrade today. I believe the transition period Microsoft set is reasonable.

england66 said:

Reality has set in , I won't be updating to windows 11 anytime soon.
In addition to the above changes I cannot myself accept the changes to file explorer or the right click menu. As things stand I can't think of anything positive to say about Windows 11

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That's perfect. You have until October 2025 to continue using Windows 10 in a safe manner. That is, it will continue to be supported by Microsoft until then.

You also need to look at this from a few other angles:

1) The business world: IT admins are getting sick and tired of all the security issues. Ensuring that systems certified for Windows 11 meet these new requirements is going to be something that this market segment welcomes.

2) OEMs: These requirements are largely aimed at OEMs, guaranteeing that any systems shipping with Win 11 will meet these more stringent requirements.

3) The end user purchasing new hardware: Don't forget that these benefits will also help the end user who is purchasing new hardware.

4) The end user wanting to upgrade: For "enthusiasts" who insist on upgrading older hardware, pretty much all of the requirements can be bypassed. You don't need a TPM, secure boot, or even UEFI firmware (old BIOS works just fine). Microsoft has made concessions to allow you to run Windows 11 although they simply won't guarantee that it will run, and you would be considered to be in an unsupported configuration. I have not had a single system yet that isn't running 11 fine, including a couple 10+ year old systems. Admittedly, your milage may vary.

Finally, my opinion only, I'm sure some will want to flame me for this: Before any of us heard that a Windows 11 was about to unleashed, I'll bet most people were perfectly content with Windows 10, aside from tweaks or minor improvements that could be made. But now suddenly that a new OS has been announced, everyone freaks if they can't run it on hardware that they specifically purchased to run Windows 10. If Windows 11 didn't exist, you'd probably be perfectly happy to still be running Win 10.

What I find especially humorous is the users that upgrade to Windows 11 and then install all kinds of hacks and apps to make it look like/act like Windows 10

NavyLCDR said:

What I find especially humorous is the users that upgrade to Windows 11 and then install all kinds of hacks and apps to make it look like/act like Windows 10

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Huh! So true, I didn't even think about it that way. Great observation.

NavyLCDR said:

What I find especially humorous is the users that upgrade to Windows 11 and then install all kinds of hacks and apps to make it look like/act like Windows 10

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I see it this way. Sooner or later I will have to switch to Windows 11.
If I switch now (and also keep Windows 10), I can play around with Windows 11, so I'll have it just the way I want it, in 2025.
Which ofc, is when they'll be leaking rumors of Windows 12.

I prefer the added security that TPM and secure boot give with W11 and would steer clear of any software company that wants me to turn off security, it sounds like they haven't bothered to keep up to date.

I decided to succumb to the requirements. I managed to install 11 on a non compliant computer but it wouldn't do updates. It understood UEFI but had not clue about secure boot and TPM I went back to win 10, I had a computer fail last week. It was either the ATX motherboard or processor. I didn't bother to find out. I just pitched the guts of the computer. Since the system is 10 years old with a 1 year old SSD, I decided to make it right. I ordered an 11 compatible motherboard, DDR4 memory, an i5 10400 processor and new power supply. Everything other than the motherboard has arrived and it is due tomorrow. The old case is cleaned up and ready to go with a working DVD drive and memory card reader. I should have it up and running on win 10 tomorrow. I will replace my own computer with it and let my current computer become a backup system running win 10. I will let MS upgrade the upgraded one to 11 for me. I'm tired of fighting it. Assuming it goes as planned, I'll upgrade a couple more systems that are younger but not current at all. It isn't all that expensive to do it.

fmw, just out of curiosity, why install Windows 10 and then upgrade to Win 11? Since you are doing a new installation of Windows already, why not simply start with Windows 11 right from the start rather than having to go through all that upgrade nonsense?

Apologies if I'm missing something or not properly understanding the scenario.

I tried my 8th Gen I7 gaming desktop first, and it failed the test.
I had to do the research to find out why. Luckily it just needed changes in the BIOS.
The HP laptop passed muster on first check.

Microsoft could have done a better job explaining the requirements to those who weren't on this forum.