You're looking at the inside of a desktop computer I built in 2018. It was high-end at the time, and in fact, it still works beautifully in 2025. But with Windows 10 nearing end of support, it fails Microsoft's compatibility test for Windows 11, saying its hardware doesn't meet the requirements. 🤔 Seriously?
Not enough memory? Hah! Tons of that. Out of date processor? Nope. Why then?
Here's where the scandal comes in. This gets geeky, but stick with me. The detailed test results say it lacks something called a "Trusted Platform Module" - or TPM - which is a requirement for Windows 11's security system. I wasn't so sure that was truly the case, and a few well-honed Google searches revealed that my motherboard does indeed include a TPM - disabled by default. This, it turns out, is very common with systems from just a few years ago. In the computer world, "disabled" equals "not present", so the system fails the check! In my case, I had to get into the system setup (BIOS), find the setting for the TPM, and change it to "enabled". Restart, and now it's fully compatible!
This is the reason for the vast majority of fails for Win11 readiness. Is Microsoft telling anyone about this? Not that I've seen, and many people are buying new computers for a completely bogus reason. If your 3-6 year old computer failed the Windows 11 test, find yourself a capable geek, or if you're good with such things, Google your computer model and "TPM" and you may find instructions for doing what I did. I had two computers that initially failed, and now they both pass with no issues. No money spent. Just a few minutes time.
