Microsoft has dashed all hopes of lowering hardware requirements for Windows 11. With the end of Windows 10 support approaching in October 2025, the software giant has said that the Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 2.0 requirement for Windows 11 is “non-negotiable.”
This is reported by RBC-Ukraine (Styler project) with reference to the American computer technology website The Verge.
Details of restrictions from Microsoft
In a blog post titled “TPM 2.0 – A must for a secure and future-proof Windows 11,” Microsoft made it clear that it is not going to relax the strict hardware requirements of Windows 11 to encourage users to upgrade from Windows 10.
TPM was an unexpected requirement for Windows 11 when it was announced in 2021, and now almost every modern PC ships with TPM 2.0. It is a hardware chip or firmware capability that helps encrypt or decrypt data, verify digital signatures, and assist with any number of other cryptographic operations.
“TPM 2.0 plays a key role in improving the protection of identity and data on Windows devices, and in maintaining the integrity of your system,” said Stephen Hosking, senior product manager at Microsoft. “TPM 2.0 also helps ensure the future of Windows 11. One way to do this is to help protect sensitive information as more AI capabilities come to the physical, cloud, and server architectures.”
Microsoft details how TPM integrates with new security features in Windows 11, such as Credential Guard and Windows Hello for Business, as well as BitLocker drive encryption. TPM 2.0 also supports Secure Boot, a key technology that protects the boot process from unauthorized changes.
Hosking claims that Microsoft has implemented TPM 2.0 as a “non-negotiable standard for the future of Windows”, and that there is no way to remove these hardware requirements.
Microsoft also requires Windows 11 devices to support virtualization-based security and hypervisor-assisted code integrity (HVCI), which means that Windows 11 will only be supported on processors released since 2018.
Despite these requirements, workarounds have existed for several years that allow Windows 11 to be installed on unsupported hardware. Microsoft initially did not implement hardware compatibility checks for virtualized versions of Windows 11, but in recent years the company has gradually blocked the upgrade and installation process, especially with the 24H2 update.
The improved compatibility checks in 24H2 have forced tools like Flyby11 to use the Windows 11 installation feature, which uses the Windows Server boot option to bypass hardware compatibility checks.
Companies can also use Microsoft's official Windows 11 LTSC 2024 edition, which makes TPM an optional requirement but still requires compatible processors.
Now Microsoft is trying to convince Windows 10 users to buy a new PC with full-screen prompts. The latest hints come after warnings about the Windows 10 end of support date were announced earlier this year.