Microsoft offers mysterious Windows 11 upgrade on incompatible PCs

So many people haven’t been able to upgrade their older Windows computers to Windows 11 because of the latter’s TPM 2.0 hardware requirement. (Learn more about why you need TPM 2.0 for Windows 11, why TPM 2.0 makes PCs better, and why Microsoft is adamant about not letting older PCs without TPM 2.0 run Windows 11.)

Some users, however, are saying that they’ve been offered upgrades to Windows 11 on older PCs that don’t meet the TPM 2.0 hardware requirements, reports Neowin.

It’s a bit of a head-scratcher since Microsoft hasn’t announced anything official about lowering the system requirements for Windows 11, but this isn’t the first time the company has offered Windows 11 upgrades on incompatible computers that don’t meet the requirements.

It’s highly likely that this is a bug or an exception. Some users have reported that their system theoretically had TPM 2.0 but was manually disabled it before the update was offered. Whether Microsoft makes a distinction here, however, is questionable.

So far, Microsoft has not deviated from its strict hardware requirements for Windows 11. However, users who want to receive an additional year of security updates on Windows 10 can now sign up for the ESU program.

If we hear anything official about relaxed requirements, we will inform you accordingly. Until then, however, you should assume that TPM 2.0 will continue to be a requirement for all Windows 11 PCs.