To run Windows 11, you may need to tinker with some PC settings you rarely ever see.
On Thursday, Microsoft introduced Windows 11, and revealed the OS actually requires the PC to be installed with a relatively unknown security chip, called the Trusted Platform Module 2.0 (TPM).
The technology is designed to securely store your login information on the machine. However, the TPM chip isn’t always on by default. You’ll have to restart your PC and go into your machine’s BIOS settings to trigger it, which can require some digging to find the TPM function.
The extra steps are bound to confuse consumers, especially those who know little about computers, and have never entered their PC’s BIOS settings before.
PC users with older machines are also out of luck. The TPM 2.0 technology was released back in Oct. 2014. As a result, Microsoft’s own director for OS security David Weston notes only CPUs from the last five to seven years will possess the security chip.
So what is a BIOS? It’s your computer’s “basic input/output system,” and operates as firmware to jumpstart the PC’s hardware during the boot process. The BIOS can also be used to calibrate and configure the RAM and PC fan speeds.
To enter the BIOS, you’ll need to restart your PC. The boot process should briefly display a message that’ll tell you which key to press to trigger the BIOS settings page. (Usually, the key is “Delete” “F2” or “F12”.)
However, TPM may not be mentioned at all in the BIOS. That’s because AMD refers to TPM as “fTPM” while Intel dubs the technology “IPTT,” which stands for Intel Identity Protection Technology.
On our AMD desktop rig, we found the fTPM function under the “Advanced” section. We then clicked “enabled” for the AMD fTPM switch option.
To find out if your PC has the security chip, you can go to the Windows 10 search bar and type in “tpm.msc.” If you have the chip, an option should appear that says “tpm.msc Microsoft Common Console Document.” It’ll then let you know the chip’s version, and whether it’s ready to use.
You can also learn whether your PC meets the requirements to run Windows 11 by using Microsoft’s PC Health Check app. However, the app may not always be inaccurate. We ran it on two PCs that seemed to meet all the requirements for Windows 11, but the app flagged the machines as ineligible, without explaining why.
The other notable requirement for Windows 11 includes Secure Boot, a technology introduced in 2012. However, the feature is often enabled by default. You can also find it in the BIOS settings page.
