F5F Stay Refreshed Software Operating Systems Understanding Windows 11 specs in simple terms Key system needs explained for smooth setup

Understanding Windows 11 specs in simple terms Key system needs explained for smooth setup

Understanding Windows 11 specs in simple terms Key system needs explained for smooth setup

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livtheviking
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11-03-2021, 12:33 PM
#1
OK, so I've noticed an explosion in threads about Windows 11s system requirements. In this thread I will explain all the requirements in full including some pretty technical details of certain things, the intent is to create a system requirements master thread that can be used as a reference to people asking the same questions. What are the requirements? These are what MS have currently released however its important to note they do explicitly state they might change between now and the release WTF is a TPM and why do I need one? So this is a tricky one to explain without going into silly detail. I'll do my best to explain the pertinent information without you needing to finish a compsci degree to understand. A Trusted Platform Module is a hardware cryptographer device. They contain 2 main elements, a random number generator and a key store and they are used by the operating system to both generate and store secure hardware encryption keys (again the compsci degree holders will be rolling their eyes at this explanation but its good enough for this example). Each TPM is burned with a unique key during manufacturing which essentially allows it to act as a lock/key mechanism for hardware verification. As for why you need one? That's unclear, Windows Bitlocker does require a TPM to be enabled however, to my knowledge, nothing in Windows requires a TPM for the OS to function. So how do I get a TPM? You might not need to, a lot of modern motherbaords have support for fTPM (Firmware TPM), this essentially means your motherboard can emulate a TPM using its UEFI firmware. All you should need to do is is enable the option in your boards BIOS. This option usually resides in a tab/page called Trusted Computing". If your board doesn't support fTPM then you'll need to purchase a physical module. There are plenty of places you can buy them from on the web though as you would expect, prices have now skyrocketed as everyone rushes to buy one. One last important point, your board must have a TPM header and there are 2 different versions of the modules available, TPM 14-1 or TPM 17, your boards user manual will tell you which one you need. TPM 1.2 v 2.0 I'm not going to explain that here, if you want to know then see this wikipedia chart on the differences https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trusted_Pl...vs_TPM_2.0 The reason I am bringing this up at all is because its been noticed that Microsoft's official Windows 11 developer documentation actually states the opposite of the system requirements and that Windows 11 will only require a TPM V1.2 module. Source - https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows...quirements Users running a TPM V1.2 device will get a message saying upgrading is not advised, it will still work, WTF is Secure Boot then? Again, basic descriptions here, I'm not doing a thesis. Secure Boot is an extension to the UEFI platform where the UEFI keeps a store of all verified boot loader keys so it can check that the bootloader is genuine and hasn't been tampered with. As well as this it also provides the same functionality to UEFI drivers. The idea is that, if say a virus was to modify the bootloader it would change the hash of the bootloader file which in turn would change the private key and secure boot would detect this before the OS boots causing potential damage to your system. What systems support Secure Boot? Simple, SB is an extension to the UEFI platform, if your motherboard is UEFI then it supports SB. If your board is using a legacy BIOS then it does not. Do I actually need Secure Boot? Yes and no. Important note here, this info is from my testing with the leaked dev build, its entirely possible this will change as development progresses. From my testing you need SB enabled to do a clean install of Windows 11 however you can upgrade from Windows 10 to Windows 11 without SB enabled and actually, once 11 is installed and running you can disable SB entirely with no adverse side effects. OK, there you go. Hopefully this should answer every ones questions.
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livtheviking
11-03-2021, 12:33 PM #1

OK, so I've noticed an explosion in threads about Windows 11s system requirements. In this thread I will explain all the requirements in full including some pretty technical details of certain things, the intent is to create a system requirements master thread that can be used as a reference to people asking the same questions. What are the requirements? These are what MS have currently released however its important to note they do explicitly state they might change between now and the release WTF is a TPM and why do I need one? So this is a tricky one to explain without going into silly detail. I'll do my best to explain the pertinent information without you needing to finish a compsci degree to understand. A Trusted Platform Module is a hardware cryptographer device. They contain 2 main elements, a random number generator and a key store and they are used by the operating system to both generate and store secure hardware encryption keys (again the compsci degree holders will be rolling their eyes at this explanation but its good enough for this example). Each TPM is burned with a unique key during manufacturing which essentially allows it to act as a lock/key mechanism for hardware verification. As for why you need one? That's unclear, Windows Bitlocker does require a TPM to be enabled however, to my knowledge, nothing in Windows requires a TPM for the OS to function. So how do I get a TPM? You might not need to, a lot of modern motherbaords have support for fTPM (Firmware TPM), this essentially means your motherboard can emulate a TPM using its UEFI firmware. All you should need to do is is enable the option in your boards BIOS. This option usually resides in a tab/page called Trusted Computing". If your board doesn't support fTPM then you'll need to purchase a physical module. There are plenty of places you can buy them from on the web though as you would expect, prices have now skyrocketed as everyone rushes to buy one. One last important point, your board must have a TPM header and there are 2 different versions of the modules available, TPM 14-1 or TPM 17, your boards user manual will tell you which one you need. TPM 1.2 v 2.0 I'm not going to explain that here, if you want to know then see this wikipedia chart on the differences https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trusted_Pl...vs_TPM_2.0 The reason I am bringing this up at all is because its been noticed that Microsoft's official Windows 11 developer documentation actually states the opposite of the system requirements and that Windows 11 will only require a TPM V1.2 module. Source - https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows...quirements Users running a TPM V1.2 device will get a message saying upgrading is not advised, it will still work, WTF is Secure Boot then? Again, basic descriptions here, I'm not doing a thesis. Secure Boot is an extension to the UEFI platform where the UEFI keeps a store of all verified boot loader keys so it can check that the bootloader is genuine and hasn't been tampered with. As well as this it also provides the same functionality to UEFI drivers. The idea is that, if say a virus was to modify the bootloader it would change the hash of the bootloader file which in turn would change the private key and secure boot would detect this before the OS boots causing potential damage to your system. What systems support Secure Boot? Simple, SB is an extension to the UEFI platform, if your motherboard is UEFI then it supports SB. If your board is using a legacy BIOS then it does not. Do I actually need Secure Boot? Yes and no. Important note here, this info is from my testing with the leaked dev build, its entirely possible this will change as development progresses. From my testing you need SB enabled to do a clean install of Windows 11 however you can upgrade from Windows 10 to Windows 11 without SB enabled and actually, once 11 is installed and running you can disable SB entirely with no adverse side effects. OK, there you go. Hopefully this should answer every ones questions.

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ByrRoZz
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11-03-2021, 03:27 PM
#2
It feels unusual about TPM. Could be a failure involving BitLocker or something similar, and the temporary solution is to enable it—which isn’t unexpected at this stage Smile
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ByrRoZz
11-03-2021, 03:27 PM #2

It feels unusual about TPM. Could be a failure involving BitLocker or something similar, and the temporary solution is to enable it—which isn’t unexpected at this stage Smile

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RattenFanger
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11-17-2021, 06:54 PM
#3
It has been demonstrated that the TPM requirement is completely unimportant. You can exchange several files from an ISO 10 to one 11 and still boot and install on unsupported hardware without any problems. As I mentioned earlier, we only have a very early leaked development version; it’s likely the company will fix this as they move toward the final release.
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RattenFanger
11-17-2021, 06:54 PM #3

It has been demonstrated that the TPM requirement is completely unimportant. You can exchange several files from an ISO 10 to one 11 and still boot and install on unsupported hardware without any problems. As I mentioned earlier, we only have a very early leaked development version; it’s likely the company will fix this as they move toward the final release.

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SuperTigresss
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11-18-2021, 03:08 AM
#4
Hello, I built two PCs myself in the last nine months. The first is an AMD Ryzen 5 3600 with 32 GB DDR4 at 3200 MHz, and the second is a more gaming-focused Ryzen 5 5600 with 32 GB DDR4 at 3600 MHz. After running a Windows PC health check and using Whynotwin11, both indicated that TPM was missing or disabled. When I went into MSI Bios and enabled FTPM on both systems, the check still showed TPM as missing or disabled. Anyone have any ideas?
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SuperTigresss
11-18-2021, 03:08 AM #4

Hello, I built two PCs myself in the last nine months. The first is an AMD Ryzen 5 3600 with 32 GB DDR4 at 3200 MHz, and the second is a more gaming-focused Ryzen 5 5600 with 32 GB DDR4 at 3600 MHz. After running a Windows PC health check and using Whynotwin11, both indicated that TPM was missing or disabled. When I went into MSI Bios and enabled FTPM on both systems, the check still showed TPM as missing or disabled. Anyone have any ideas?

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