My Dell system Optiplex 7050 Tower incorporate Windows 11 Pro with legacy TPM 1.2 install. It will not allow any windows updates because of TPM 1.2. How do I change TPM 1.2 to TPM 2.0?

Question

My Dell system Optiplex 7050 Tower incorporate Windows 11 Pro with legacy TPM 1.2 install. It will not allow any windows updates because of TPM 1.2. How do I change TPM 1.2 to TPM 2.0?

Answer 1

Hello,

This Dell model only has 6th and 7th generation of CPU options, and Dell no longer provides driver support for Win11, so even if you can get TPM to 2.0, it is moot point, because you will not pass the PC health check still and computer may not perform correctly if you bypass it.

The TPM upgrade instruction for Dell is shared here: https://www.dell.com/support/kbdoc/en-us/000132... But it also clearly says "

Note: Computers that shipped with Intel 6th and 7th Generation processors (i7-7xxx, i5-7xxx, i3-7xxx, i7-6xxx, i5-6xxx, and i3-6xxx) are not eligible to upgrade to Windows 11. Upgrading to TPM 2.0 does not bypass this Microsoft requirement."

Note: This is not Microsoft website/URL, but it is the official OEM/manufacturer site.

Answer 2

Long ago, did Windows Update upgrade your computer from Windows 10 to Windows 11, after you clicked to allow the upgrade?

Or, does your computer only have TPM 1.2, and you used a "registry-hack" to bypass the requirement to have TPM 2.0, and you manually updated your computer to Windows 11?

Such "forced" upgrades on "incompatible" hardware do allow Windows Update to automatically download & install the monthly security updates. Within Windows Update, click on "update history" to see the dates on which updates have been applied. Other than daily anti-virus updates, did the updates stop after October 2024?

Use the WINVER command to show which release of Windows 11 is running, e.g., "22H2" or "23H2" or "24H2". What do you see?

Note that Microsoft officially ended support for "22H2" in October 2024.

So, if your computer is running "22H2" on what Microsoft calls your "not compatible" system, there have been no updates to "22H2" since the updates in October 2024.

What can you do?

1. for free, download the "24H2" release of Windows 11 from Microsoft, storing the download on either an 8 GB (or larger) USB memory-stick, or onto a dual-layer (stores up to 8.5 GB) DVD-recordable media.
2. Connect the USB stick to your computer, or insert the DVD into your computer.
3. Open Windows File Explorer to the "root" folder of the media.
4. Double-click to run the SETUP.EXE file in that folder.

Answer the prompts, and "24H2" will be installed.

Repeat every 2 years.