Ever since the first beta version became available, there has been a lot of fuss and uncertainty about installing Windows 11. What requirements does your PC need to meet to upgrade, and how can you make your PC Windows 11-enabled?

On Tuesday, October 5, 2021 Windows 11 is officially released, but Microsoft started the rollout already on Monday evening. As with the last few interim Windows 10 releases, Microsoft will be very cautious about the rollout. If you don't install Windows 11 manually, it may take until 2022 before you're automatically offered the free update through Windows Update. Even those who explicitly search for updates may not be offered Windows 11 right away.

You can install the update to Windows 11 directly using Microsoft's update assistant, which you can download. This allows you to perform the installation on your current system. Want to upgrade another PC by creating a bootable USB stick? Then download the Media Creation Tool. With this tool you can also generate a .iso file.

System requirements for Windows 11

Most of the confusion was caused by Microsoft's communication about the system requirements of Windows 11. In the first instance, there would be a 'hard floor' and a 'soft floor', with the latter requirements only being recommendations. Microsoft came back from that. There is also a compatibility list for processors, which contains far fewer CPUs than the basic requirements - a 64bit CPU with two cores at 1GHz - suggest.

Minimum system requirements for upgrading to Windows 11 are as follows:

Photos by Pixabay

Windows 11

The first thing you notice is that the 'double' system requirements for the 32 and 64bit versions of the OS have been dropped. That has a simple reason, because there will no longer be a 32bit edition of Windows 11. So by definition you need a 64bit processor, The most recent processor that does not support 64bit is, as far as we can tell, the Intel Atom N280 from 2009. Your trusted netbook therefore falls by the wayside.

The rest of the primary system requirements may be somewhat elevated compared to those for Windows 10, but sounds very reasonable for 2021 standards: a dual-core CPU, 4GB of RAM and an SSD or hard drive of at least 64GB. The video card must have at least a WDDM 2.0 driver with DirectX 12 support. In theory, an Nvidia GeForce video card from Fermi (GTX 400) or an AMD Radeon from the HD 7000 series is fine, but in the latest drivers only Kepler (GTX 600) and the RX 400 series and newer are supported. So the limitation here is the driver support from gpu makers.

A notable new requirement is TPM 2.0, a standard for a secure part of a processor to work with disk encryption, for example. It's not the first time Microsoft has tried to accelerate tpm 2.0 adoption; it had already planned to add it to the requirements for Windows 8.1 once before, which ultimately did not go through. All modern processors support a firmware implementation of TPM 2.0, but many DIY systems have it disabled by default.

Is my PC ready for Windows 11?


To verify that your PC is ready to install Windows 11, Microsoft has made a tool available: the . This tool also has a whole history. At first he only said 'yes' or 'no' without explanation, but now he gives a substantiated opinion, with information about what you can possibly change to make your PC suitable.

Windows 11 compatible

The PC Health Check app checks if your PC meets the following system requirements:

Secure boot 

Secure Boot is part of the UEFI standard and prevents your PC from booting up with unsigned drivers and bootloaders. For example, it prevents the installation of a rootkit, which would remain active even after a reinstallation of the OS. Microsoft has been supporting Secure Boot since Windows 8, but Linux distributions such as OpenSUSE, Debian and Ubuntu also support it.


Please note: the check does not check whether you have Secure Boot posed - that is not strictly speaking an obligation - but it does check whether your system could support it. For this you need to use the UEFI boot method, about which more in the box below.

TPM
Tpm 2.0 support is necessary for Windows 11.

Processor support


This check holds your processor against the official compatibility list for Windows 11, which only includes AMD processors with Zen+ or newer (Ryzen 2000 and later) and Intel processors with Coffee Lake or later (Core 8000 and later), plus. Later on, we will go deeper into the question of where these requirements come from.

 

System Memory


For Windows 11, you need 4GB or more of RAM.

 

System Disk

Windows 11 needs a storage medium of at least 64GB.

Number of cores
Windows 11 requires at least a processor with two cores.

Clock speed
A processor with a clock speed of 1GHz or higher is needed to run Windows 11.

 

Why are only new processors compatible with Windows 11?

For starters, Windows 11 only supports 64bit processors, whether it's x86 or Arm chips. If you are now running a 32bit OS, you cannot by definition upgrade to Windows 11. If you have a 64bit processor but you are running a 32bit OS, you need to perform a clean Windows 11 installation.

In addition, Microsoft maintains a list of officially compatible processors, which are published on the software maker's website by brand: , and . In short, you're in the right place with an AMD Ryzen 2000 processor or newer, or an Intel Core 8000 processor or newer. Some older processors are also on the list, provided they are in a system that is equipped with . For example, it concerns the Core i7-7820HQ - very useful for Microsoft, because otherwise the latest -all-in-one would not be Windows 11 compatible.

Microsoft has two main reasons for ensuring Windows 11 compatibility only for these processors. The first of these is stability. Anyone was allowed to participate in the Insider Program for Windows 11, including those who didn't meet the system requirements. As a result, Microsoft that users who do not meet the system requirements received an average of 52 percent more crashes than users who do have an officially compatible PC. Especially no longer updated drivers would be behind many of those crashes.

In addition, all processors on the official support list support mbec, which can be used to run hardware-wise. Older CPUs need to emulate this, giving this security feature a greater impact on performance. Microsoft advises OEMs to activate this feature on new PCs, but doesn't do so automatically if you upgrade an existing PC.

Enable TPM 2.0


One of the most common reasons why you can't install Windows 11 on your PC yet will be the lack of TPM 2.0 support. On many separately sold motherboards this is off by default; there is a good chance that this is also the case on your DIY system. By the way, you don't need a hardware TPM module. The virtual TPM implementation in modern processors from AMD and Intel is sufficient.

In general, you can assume that your system supports TPM 2.0 if you have an Intel processor with Skylake cores (Core 6000 and later) or an AMD Ryzen processor. To activate TPM 2.0, you need to look in your bios for the option to do so. With Intel motherboards it is usually just called TPM 2.0 or PTT, with AMD processors the name fTPM is common.

Each bios is laid out slightly differently, but based on the bios screenshots we've taken for our motherboard reviews, we've laid out general guidelines below on where to find this option. The latest bios versions have (f)TPM by the way.

Motherboard with Intel chipset
ASUS: Advanced -> PCH/FW Configuration -> PTT & TPM Device Selection (firmware)
ASRock: Security -> Intel Platform Trust Technology
Gigabyte: Settings -> Miscellaneous -> Trusted Computing -> Security Device Support
MSI: Settings -> Security -> Trusted Computing -> Security Device Support

Moederbord met AMD-chipset
ASUS: Advanced -> AMD fTPM Configuration -> AMD CPU fTPM
ASRock: Advanced -> CPU Configuration -> AMD fTPM Switch
Gigabyte: Settings -> Miscellaneous -> AMD CPU fTPM
MSI: Settings -> Security -> Trusted Computing -> Security Device Support & AMD fTPM Switch

 

Switch from legacy/MBR to UEFI/GPT

For about ten years now, UEFI has been the successor to traditional bios. The boot method that is part of UEFI is both faster and more secure than the legacy option. This option is related to the type of partition table that is present on your hard disk or SSD. A UEFI uses GPT, a traditional bios of MBR. MBR has several limits, such as a maximum disk size of 2TB.

If you were to perform a new Windows installation now, your storage media will be formatted with GPT by default. So you will only use MBR if you have upgraded from an older Version of Windows or you have your bios on CSM.

A bios in UEFI mode cannot boot from an MBR partition table. That's why you'll need to convert these two properties at the same time if you want to switch to UEFI and GPT to make your PC Windows 11 compatible.

From Windows 10 version 1703 you can convert a partition table from MBR to GPT afterwards, without the need for separate (often paid) tools. However, it is advisable to make a good backup before you do this; if something goes wrong, you may find yourself in a situation where you can no longer start Windows. You can read about check Assistant to upgrade from Windows 10 and also download Windows 11 from Microsoft Official website for free  here: Assistant

Make sure you're using an MBR partition table now. To do this, right-click on the start button, go to Disk Management/Disk Management, right-click on your startup disk (usually disk 0) and choose Properties -> Volumes. Under 'Partition style' you will find the type of partition table that is currently used.

Check if you can switch to UEFI boot mode in your bios, either by changing boot mode from 'legacy' to 'UEFI' or by disabling CSM. Don't do this right now.

Open a command prompt with administrator rights and run the following command:
mbr2gpt.exe /convert /allowfullOS
Restart your computer to the bios. Change the legacy boot mode to UEFI in the way you found before, and/or disable CSM.