Microsoft has finally announced Windows 11, and even though it won’t launch until later this year, the software giant did release the compatibility requirements for the new Windows version.

Windows 11 will be a free upgrade, and the minimum requirements for your system to be able to install it aren’t that far off from Windows 10. But there’s a big catch that may put off many old Windows PCs from the Windows 11 compatible devices list — Trusted Module Platform requirement.

Minimum System Requirements

The basic requirements for installing Windows 11 is as follows:

  • Processor: 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster with 2 or more cores on a compatible 64-bit processor or System on a Chip (SoC)
  • RAM: 4 gigabytes (GB)
  • Storage: 64 GB or larger storage device
  • System firmware: UEFI, Secure Boot capable
  • TPM: Trusted Platform Module (TPM) version 2.0
  • Graphics card: Compatible with DirectX 12 or later with WDDM 2.0 driver
  • Display: >9” with HD Resolution (720p)
  • Internet connection and Microsoft accounts: Microsoft account and internet connectivity required for setup for Windows 11 Home

What is TPM 2.0

Among these requirements for Windows 11 is a very curious requirement for TPM 2.0. What exactly is this TPM 2.0? TPM, or Trusted Platform Module, is a chip in your computer that provides hardware-based, security-related functions on your system.

It is a secure crypto-processor that carries out cryptographic operations on your computer. And most people are undoubtedly wondering if their system has this TPM 2.0 chip.

Note: Even though Microsoft recommends TPM 2.0, it’s not the actual minimum requirement. As long as a system has at least TPM 1.2, TPM will not be a problem in installing Windows 11.

You can easily check if your system is compatible without going into the details of TPM on your computer.

Checking System Compatibility

The fastest way to find out if your system is compatible is to use the PC Health Check App from Microsoft. Click here to download the app.

Go to your downloads and double-click the app to run the installation wizard. Follow the steps on the wizard to install the app.

Once the installation is complete, make sure the box for ‘Open Windows PC Health Check’ is checked, and click the ‘Finish’ button.

The app will run. Click the ‘Check now’ button to see if you can install Windows 11 when it rolls out.

You’d get one of the two messages from ‘This PC can run Windows 11’ or ‘This PC can’t run Windows 11’. If it’s the former, there’s nothing else to do. But if it’s the latter, the culprit in most cases is the TPM chip.

Sadly, the Windows Health Check app does not provide any information on this front. But you can see if your system has a TPM chip and whether it’s enabled or not.

Press the ‘Windows + R’ keys from your keyboard. Then, type tpm.msc in the Run windows and press the Enter key.

The TPM Management on your Local computer window will open. Go to Status and see if TPM is enabled. Also, go to TPM Manufacturer Information and check the version for TPM.

If the TPM version is compatible but it is disabled, you’d have to turn it on in BIOS. Contact your system manufacturer for details on how to do it as the process is different for every system.

It could be that your system is TPM 2.0 compatible but still cannot run Windows 11. One of the reasons could be the minimum processor requirements for Intel, AMD, and Qualcomm processors.

For Intel Core chips, the support for Windows 11 starts at the 8-th generation. So, PCs running 7-th gen and older Intel Core chips won’t be compatible with Windows 11. You can find the complete list for Windows Client Edition Processors released by Microsoft for Windows 11 here.