WINDOWS 11
Prepare your rig for Microsoft’s next OS
YOU’LL NEED THIS A PC WITH THE CORRECT CPU See Step 1 for details.
THERE’S A NEW OS IN TOWN, you can get it for free, and you’re going to want it. Windows 11 is a handsome beast, reminiscent of Windows 10, yet still its own thing, with more to recommend it than a centered taskbar and rounded corners on its windows.
Anyone on the Windows Insider Dev Channel will already have had a build of 11 arrive through Windows Update. It is, at the time of writing, quite stable, but is not exactly what you’d call feature-complete. Still, it makes an interesting thing to have in a virtual machine or installed on a spare PC so you can bring it out at parties and impress your friends.
There’s a snag, however. It’s not yet implemented in the preview build, but Microsoft says this new OS will rely more heavily on hardware security features than any before it. Specifically, we’re talking TPM (Trusted Platform Module) 2.0. This can be added to a compatible motherboard with a dongle, or enabled in the BIOS of others. For many self-built PCs, however, it will be a headache. Let’s find out about that, and what else you should do before upgrading. –IAN EVENDEN
1 IS YOUR CPU UP TO IT?
Microsoft has published lists of CPUs that are compatible with its latest baby. They’re short, but include AMD Ryzens back to the 2XXX series (Zen+, though Microsoft often refers to “Zen 2”) and Intel Cores back to eighth-gen (Coffee Lake), plus a handful of Athlons and Celerons unlikely to be of interest to readers of MaximumPC. There’s a list of Qualcomm chips, too, paving the way for the inevitable takeover of everything by ARM designs (a version of Windows 11 is already running on the Raspberry Pi 4, but currently lacks Wi-Fi functionality). This limited selection of CPUs is probably something to do with their compatibility with the new Windows Driver Model, and if yours is on the list, great. If it isn’t, well, Microsoft says it will keep on updating Windows 10 for some time, but you’ll miss out on the ability to run Android apps on your PC, the implementation of Direct Storage (a direct link between SSDs and your GPU for faster loading in games) from Xbox-land, and rounded corners on your windows.
2 THE DREADED TPM
Even if your CPU is on the list, it doesn’t mean you’re completely in the clear. You need a GPU capable of dealing with DirectX 12 (which is most of them) and you need hardware security. No one knows why Microsoft has gone so hard for TPM this time around, but it has, and PC builders are being left to deal with it. There’s good news, though: If your motherboard has a TPM socket, you can add it with a $10 dongle [ Image A]. (As we write, price-gougers are out in force preying on the panic-stricken, but Windows 11 isn’t here yet, and more stock will surely arrive.) Many mobos actually have it built in, and you can activate it in the BIOS—which must be UEFI—under “Advanced Mode > Settings > Security Device Support,” or something similar [ Image B].
There’s a quick way to check whether yours is activated: Within Windows, open a Run window or hit Win-R, and type tpm.msc . The window that opens will give you a quick yes/no answer about whether hardware security is on, and what level it’s at [ Image C]. Remember you need TPM 2.0; the previous 1.2 standard won’t cut it. The various mobo makers have been publishing lists of their compatible chipsets, too, so you should be able to find out fairly quickly if you can upgrade, or need to buy a new PC.
3 HEALTH CHECK
Once upon a time, Microsoft released a little app called PC Health Check that claimed to tell you if your PC was ready for Windows 11. It did this, but in an enragingly vague way that didn’t actually tell you why your pride and joy had failed the test. As we write, Microsoft has withdrawn the app, but its replacement has yet to appear. We await more detailed information about our PC’s failings with bated breath.
4 A FEW OTHER BITS
Got 4GB of RAM? How about 64GB of storage? Screen greater than 720p? You’re all set. The minimum requirements for Windows 11 just happen to be the same as those for Microsoft Office and Teams, making it look like MS is going for some sort of synergistic joined-up experience.
5 GETTING READY FOR AN UPGRADE
Windows 11 is similar enough to Windows 10 that we expect an in-place upgrade will be possible, keeping all your documents, and possibly all your installed apps, where you left them. The way it was rolled out to Dev Channel users supports this—it appeared in Windows Update in exactly the same way a new version of Windows 10 would. Getting a new OS, however, can be an opportunity for a few other upgrades, and a new, fast, SSD boot drive wouldn’t be out of place to make Windows 11 feel even more responsive. Especially now the prices of PCIe Gen 4 models have fallen to levels normal humans can afford.
6 SERIAL NUMBERS
Reinstalling all your apps is a pain, but it goes far more smoothly if you’ve got your serial numbers backed up. This goes for Windows itself—we don’t know what the punishment will be for running an unactivated build of Windows 11, but it’s not outside the realms of possibility that it will be harsher than just not being able to change your desktop background. If you’ve used your Microsoft account for activation, it might just be a case of logging in and selecting the serial number you want to transfer. We won’t know until the retail build is here. Adobe apps let you manage installations from the Adobe account management website, so you can deactivate your old Win 10 PC and activate the new Win 11 one, though you can have a CC subscription on two PCs at once with no penalty.
7 BACKUPS
You are already backing your documents up, aren’t you? Cloud storage systems such as OneDrive and Google Drive make it easy to keep a rolling off-site backup of your documents, while Windows’ own File History will do the job if you prefer an external hard drive or NAS. File History even restores the latest versions of your files to their original locations on your hard drive if you select “Settings > Backup settings > More options > Restore files from a current backup” [ Image D]. Why this isn’t just called “File History” is beyond us, as it makes searching for the settings far more difficult, but perhaps Win 11 can fix this. You’re shown your backedup folders as they are on your backup drive, and you can restore them all or a folder at a time [ Image E].