Microsoft stubbornly sticks to Windows 11’s TPM security requirement – and risks annoying Windows 10 users
- Microsoft has stated that requirement for TPM 2.0 is ‘non-negotiable’
- This clarification came as part of a blog post for businesses
- It looks like there’s no chance of consumers being let off the hook either
Those with Windows 10 PCs who are blocked from upgrading to Windows 11 due to a lack of TPM 2.0 may have been hoping Microsoft might relent on that requirement – but the software giant has clarified that this won’t happen.
Neowin noticed that in a post addressing IT admins, Microsoft explained that TPM 2.0 is a ‘non-negotiable’ element for the future of Windows computers running Windows 1
To rewind briefly, TPM stands for Trusted Platform Module, and this hardware security measure can be present as a standalone module in your PC, or more commonly, it’s simply enabled in your motherboard firmware (meaning diving into the BIOS, and we explain what to do here).
The problem arises when you have an older chipset and there’s no TPM 2.0 capability (and indeed Windows 11 requirements rule out older CPUs too). That leaves you with a potentially tricky and expensive upgrade to perform in order to get Windows 11.
Microsoft is firm on the need for TPM 2.0 (and complementary security features like secure boot) because it implements a tighter level of security for Windows 11 PCs, something the company feels is necessary.
As the blog post tells us: “From supporting more intricate encryption algorithms to adding cryptographic functionality, TPM 2.0 is essential to counteracting present-day cyber risks.”
Microsoft adds: “By instituting TPM 2.0 as a non-negotiable standard for the future of Windows, we elevate the security benchmark.”
Analysis: No hope of Microsoft budging an inch
Of course, this is all about businesses, which are obviously in much greater need of defenses against the ‘present-day cyber risks’ flying around than your average consumer sat at home with their PC.
However, the use of language like ‘non-negotiable standard’ makes it seem extremely unlikely that any exceptions are going to be made for consumers (especially given other moves Microsoft is busy making, which we’ll come back to shortly). Even though those consumers are likely much less bothered about super-tight security than business organizations are.
You might be wondering: why would Microsoft make any exceptions, anyway, all this time after the launch of Windows 11? Well, with Windows 10 End of Life arriving next year, in October 2025, quite a lot of negative noise has (understandably) been made about hundreds of millions of PCs that don’t qualify for Windows 11’s requirements potentially ending up in landfill.
So, given that, perhaps there were still embers of hope that Microsoft could change its mind about Windows 11’s spec requirements in some way – but it’s looking very much like the company won’t budge. Also backing that up is the fact that Microsoft has, for the first time ever, given consumers an option to pay for extended support (security updates) for Windows 10 for an extra year, through to October 2026.
That appears to be Microsoft’s sole compromise in terms of consumers with Windows 10 PCs, while it busily badgers them about buying a new Windows 11 computer (preferably a Copilot+ PC, of course).
We should note that there are unofficial workarounds to get Windows 11 on a PC that doesn’t have TPM 2.0 (or falls short of other requirements), but they aren’t recommended – and Microsoft very much cautions against this route.
In fact, Microsoft just added an ugly watermark on the desktop (yes, the same as when running an unactivated copy of Windows) and an annoying pop-up for those using Windows 11 on an unsupported PC, having leveraged one of those aforementioned fudges to get the OS installed. If you needed more evidence of Microsoft’s apparently concrete stance on Windows 11’s upgrade requirements, well, there it is.
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