Is my device compatible with Windows 11? In this article, you’ll learn how to check if your PC is compatible with Windows 11 and how to upgrade to Windows 11.
Before Microsoft released the EOS (end of service) of Windows 20H2, lots of users still hesitated with Windows 11 because many users who have upgraded to this new OS complained a lot about the glitches and bugs in it.
However, according to a Microsoft release, Windows 10, version 20H2, will be retired on May 10, 2022. This is true for Windows 10 Home, version 20H2, Pro, version 20H2, Education, version 20H2, and Workstations, version 20H2.
Therefore, if you continue to use older versions in the absence of Microsoft support, all vital data on your Windows PC will be vulnerable to flaws and viruses. It is not worth the risk. As a result, some people wish to switch from Windows 10 20H2 to Windows 11.
But, the requirements of Windows 11 might impede your PC to upgrade. Take a look:
Only if all hardware requirements are satisfied, your PC may upgrade to Windows 11, no matter which version of Windows 10 you’re running now.
To check if the PC is compatible with Windows 11, Microsoft also gives users a tool, PC Health Check, a Windows 11 compatibility test tool, to help users check their devices by themselves. You can directly download it from the official website.
Click “Check now”, and the program will check Windows 11 compatibility, if your device is compatible, then you can open Settings and go to Windows Update to download and install it.
However, if you receive a note showing that your PC doesn’t currently meet Windows 11 system requirements, then, you’ll need to find and fix the problems.
Usually, there are some situations that you can fix and make your PC compatible.
▶ Case 1. Enable TPM (Trusted Platform Module)
One of the prerequisites for installing Windows 11 is that your machine support TPM 2.0. You can follow the steps to check it. If there’s no compatible TPM, your PC can’t upgrade to Windows 11, then we suggest you replace the current motherboard with a new one supporting TPM 2.0.
Step 1. Press the “Windows” and “R” keys on the keyboard to start the running window.
Step 2. Enter “tpm.msc” in the Run window, and then click “OK”.
Step 3. After opening the local computer trusted platform module (TPM) management.
▶ Case 2. Change Legacy to UEFI
This situation is for Legacy users. Windows 11 requires Secure Boot which is a specific feature in UEFI. If you’re using an MBR partitioned disk, you’ll have to convert to the GPT scheme because only GPT can be the system disk for UEFI boot mode.
Instead of using the Windows Command Prompt tool, we advocate using a third-party professional MBR and GPT converter because the Windows tool will wipe all partitions on the MBR drive and cause data loss. You may use AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional to secure the data on the current boot drive. It includes an "MBR to GPT Converter," which allows you to convert your boot/data hard disk from MBR to GPT or GPT to MBR without destroying any partitions or data.
Step 1. Install and launch this tool. Right-click the MBR boot hard drive and select "Convert to GPT".
Step 2. Click "OK" to confirm your operation.
Step 3. Click "Apply" to commit the conversion.
After the conversion, you can go to BIOS to change the boot mode.
▶ Case 3. Insufficient system storage
The requirement of system storage for Windows 11 is 64GB, if your C drive doesn't have sufficient free space or just has 30GB of free space, the upgrade might not be successful. This problem can also be solved by AOMEI Partition Assistant. If there’s not only one drive on your system disk or there’s unallocated space on it, then you can try the “Allocate Free Space” and “Merge Partition” features.
The former can directly share available space from one drive to another, and the latter can merge two adjacent partitions or merge nonadjacent unallocated space to a drive.
Here, we take “Allocate Free Space” as an example.
Step 1. Launch AOMEI Partition Assistant, right-click the partition from which you want to allocate free space, and select "Allocate Free Space".
Step 2. You will get a pop-up window. Type in the size of the free space which you want to cut from the D partition and this free space will be directly added to the destination partition.
Step 3. You can take a preview of the operation result before confirming the start. Click "Apply" to execute this operation.
Note: If there’s a new disk you want to run Windows 11, you can migrate the current Windows to that new disk, then upgrade it to Windows 11 on your new disk.
If you indeed happen to meet the 3 cases we’ve mentioned, now you can upgrade to Windows 11.
Step 1. Go to Start Menu, and click on "Settings".
Step 2. Click "Updates&Security" on the Windows Settings screen.
Step 3. In the Windows Update screen, click "Check for updates". If the free Windows 11 upgrade is available, you’ll see an option to download and install it.
Step 4. Click "Download and install". Follow on-screen prompts and configure Windows 11 settings.
If the update is not available, you need to upgrade manually. You can download a Windows 11 Installation Assistant from Microsoft’s official web, and run its exe file to install Windows 11.
“Is my device compatible with Windows 11?” Now you know how to check your computer. Hope AOMEI Partition Assistant can help you upgrade your PC successfully. It can also check if your PC meets the requirements or not.
What’s more, this versatile tool can also move installed programs, clone disk/partition, securely erase SSD, etc. With this software, you can manage your PC efficiently and safely.