Microsoft Reverses "Non-Negotiable" TPM 2.0 Requirement for Windows 11 as Windows 10 Faces Phase-Out - Techopse

guess it was negotiable after all
- Well, would you look at that, if it ain't the consequences of their own actions.
  
  This doesn't end well.
  What if it becomes a requirement of software not available outside of their OS?
  Of the CPU itself?
  DRM intensifies

Ain’t going to stop my folks from switching to Linux mint.
- Linux Mint Gang!
  Are we becoming "I use Mint BTW"?
  
  Yes,
  I use arch BTW.

Well there goes my strategy of turning off tpm to prevent a sneaky upgrade.
What’s the current best way to prevent an unwanted Windows 11 upgrade?
- Linux.
  I say this as someone using Win11. I'm okay with using it, but if you don't want to, then just go to Linux.
- You can still do that, the article is fucking stupid. If you don't have the correct requirements you will never get Windows 11 officially. You can however create a custom install of Win 11 using tools like Rufus to bypass the TPM requirements.
  The point of the change is that now if you install it on an unsupported machine, you won't get any official support; they're not stopping you from messing with the OS installer but you will still NOT get the upgrade officially and if you do upgrade and find some issue they ain't helping you.
  IIRC they used to pester users with this unsupported setup to upgrade to a correct setup and they won't do that any more.
  
  I don’t want Windows 11. It performs like shit. But I guarantee this will lead to sneaky upgrades.
- Many people are going to say Linux. It's probably annoying to hear, but its just the truth at this point. It probably seems daunting to switch over, but let me give you a very brief suggestion from a beginner on how to smooth over the transition.
  Load up youtube and watch a few videos reviewing linux distributions for beginners just to see what's recommended. My personal recommendation is to stick with a distro that uses KDE Plasma as the desktop environment since it will be very familiar coming from Windows. Once you decide what looks best for you...
  Check and see if your computer has an available SATA port on the motherboard. If it does, grab yourself a SATA SSD and put your choice of a Linux distribution on it. Once Linux is up and running, set your BIOS to boot into Linux by default. Use Linux for everything you can and slowly migrate your workflow over to the new OS. Keep Windows as it is on its original drive and boot into it whenever you encounter something that doesn't work or you haven't set up on Linux yet. Don't stress about rushing through this part. You have almost a year before Win10 is unsupported. Take your time and enjoy the process.
  Over time, your Linux OS will become very useful for you as you uncover more ways to use it instead of Windows and Windows will be reserved for those infrequent edge cases where your needs are not met by Linux. This decouples you from the Microsoft ecosystem, making their enshittification less impactful on your life. I followed this exact path and I'm now a near full-time Linux user with Nobara as my chosen distribution and I could not be happier. I love my PC again.
  The only thing I use Windows for now is sim racing games, as I haven't yet dedicated time to find out how to get the expensive sim racing peripherals I own working on Linux yet. Apparently it's possible and some people have had great success with it. This is something I will be actively working on over the coming year. Everything else I own runs perfect on Linux. I run a home studio so that means a lot of audio peripherals and specialized software. For 95% of my use case, Nobara just works.
  The transition will take some work, but in the end if you can get yourself away from dependence on Windows, the options and freedom available to you expand like crazy. Its worth it just to show Microsoft that no, they no longer have a stranglehold on desktop PC users. The more we engage with non-mainstream options, the more the mainstream has to behave itself.
  
  I'm actually doing what you are suggesting for about a month or so now, and i'm also on Nobara!
  Today i booted windows for the first time in 2 weeks, just to change the date format as kde wasn't booting for some weird ansi character problem in the date. Apparently I changed the time on the motherboard and broke something.
  That said, i've been playing games with basically 0 issues so far (many indies, rdr2 and a copule others) and doing what i usually did on windows.
  
  Did the same thing. Finally settled on OpenSUSE Tumbleweed, but Nobara looks good too.
  It's hard to cold turkey jump to Linux, transitioning to Linux should be the default recommendation.
- If you still need/want Windows, get an LTSC certain. 10 is supported through 2028 iirc, and the IoT version through 2032.
  I haven't tried the LTSC version of 11 yet, so no idea if it's worth trying.
- Steve Gibson's InControl probably a no research needed option https://www.grctech.com/incontrol/details.htm
  I've been listening to the security now podcast for about 8 years, so my trust of him and yours might vary. The website looks like web 1.0 because it is.
  
  He wrote Neuromancer right? Sick book
- Installing XP? I don't think you'll get any upgrades.
- Uninstalling that fucking malware?
- Using something other than windows as your primary OS, and interfacing with windows through a virtual machine where necessary.
  Not really a real solution, though, but some folks make it work pretty well.
- Do not use Windows :D
- https://www.opensuse.org/
- I want to chain myself to this company but... Can I get a pink one? I don't really li-
  MICROSOFT: "NO"

I still cannot understand the utiliy of tpm, except for tricking tech illiterate people to spend money on a new pc.
- It’s OS level DRM.
- It's a way of tying an encryption key to the processor. Depending on how you look at it that's either a good way to ensure your disks aren't readable if they're separated from your machine or a vendor lock-in.
  
  Man, I recently ran into this shit when I bought a computer for my patents. I wanted to upgrade their hard drive and the fucking thing wouldn't boot unless I fully cloned the original hard drive into the new one.
  I never even knew about this fuckery
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trusted_Platform_Module

Where's the source for the supposed U-turn? I only see the article defending TPM.
- TPM is still part of what they're calling "minimum system requirements" but they're allowing you to install without it. There will be big scary warnings though and they're threatening to not provide support.
  https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/windows-11-on-devices-that-don-t-meet-minimum-system-requirements-0b2dc4a2-5933-4ad4-9c09-ef0a331518f1
  Time will tell what happens. I believe if they see a significant portion of Windows 10 users on legacy devices without TPM upgrade to 11 they'll continue to support it because the data they suck up is more valuable to them than the effort to support it.
  
  The OS being unsupported is a terrible idea. Especially is you're relying on Defender for EDR... either switch OS'es or upgrade. There is no sense in running vulnerable devices. You're only creating more attack surfaces. I sympathize with the user that can't afford an upgrade, but they gotta aware and accountable of the consequence. Arch, btw

I'm going to be honest here. If someone asks you for Windows help and you comment to tell them to use Linux, you're an asshole, not clever.
- As someone else said it really depends on what they're actually asking for.
  If they're like "how do I make the screen turn off after an hour?" then telling them to switch to Linux is a bad response.
  If they were like "I cant upgrade to windows 11, and I don't even want to, and I don't want to spend money. I just want a web browser and steam with security updates" then talking about Linux is a viable conversation path.
  
  Yeah, most of the time when I get asked for windows help it's with the subtext that windows is just a piece of shit OS that gets in the way of what they want to do more often than not, and it's like, Linux at this point will handle 95% of what you want to do. As you said, Gaming, at least with newer and mainstream titles, and web browsing are easy money, word processing/spreadsheets are mostly covered with LibreOffice and the like. The GUI's a little different but the fact that most distros have one is enough to convince a lot of people to switch.
  The professional world might be stuck on Windows for a while just because it's the norm and most businesses want plug-and-play, but there's few reasons for personal computing to live in Windows anymore.
- I would say that depends on why they are asking for help, you have got to get to the root of the issue first.
- I’m going to be honest here. If someone asks you for Windows help and you comment to tell them to use Linux, you’re an asshole, not clever.
  If every year people ask for help because they've been weakened by a COVID infection, yet they refuse free vaccinations, then they are the assholes.
  Stop defending tax-evading unethical monopolies who don't give a crap about their users, only their profits. And stop defending lackadaisical people who have the potential to literally change the world by being part of a snowball that could eventually avalanche Microsoft's monopoly away. Instigating change here could be so easy. For goodness' sake we're talking about a change of software, not sacrificing one's life by taking a bullet or shooting one. Stand up for what you believe in. To hell with Windows. To hell with Microsoft.
- Some people can't see the problem because of the trees.
  If your problem is not with windows, but windows at it's core... Then the solution is to move. You also have Mac if that makes you happy
  
  The problem is that Linux just isn't usable for the largest home computing demographic.
  Linux users can't even agree on anything significant to make progress on the distros because they'd rather abandon it and try again in a new setting. It feels like a modpack of the month, year, etc, at this point. Unstable, filled with crashes and bugs, even fedora. Incomplete documentation with half defined terms and uses due to the constant splintering. It makes it worse to learn than whatever the fuck is Microsoft's shit documentation.
  I guess you too only see the trees. A solution is not to leave the forest but to bend the trees to your will. Wherever the forest is, instead of cowering before it. A shoddy tradesman blames his tools and all that.
- The headline is incorrect Microsoft has not reversed the TPM requirements. Soon the advice from people who help those with PCs who don’t meet TPM requirements will be either to buy a new computer or move to linux.
  I don’t like this answer anymore than you do. It’s an eco-waste nightmare.
  (You can bypass TPM requirements but it could end up being a huge headache as Microsoft makes no guarantee that they won’t randomly break things.)
- What if I tell them to use Haiku?
- Windows user asking for help with Windows != Windows user complain about Windows overall.
  The first case, ok: you're being an asshole, answer to questions not made just because you want to feel clever.
  Second case, well, we need to check the specific wording/complains. But generally speaking, if someone complain about train or how train make them sick, you may as well introduce them to the concept of airplane/bus/carsharing/teleport or whatever.
  In Linux case, I'll go with sort of reply: "give it a try with this live [reliable] Linux disrto, if like the experience, you may as well try dual booting"
- Mhh your opinion is wrong, probably because you are running Windows. I would suggest switching to a Linux based system.
- "There's no elephant in this room."
  Windows is the problem. There's the elephant. Your choice.
  If not, I guess just keep waiting it out. I'm sure it will get better any day now.
  
  Just like using gas cars is your choice when you coulda been using something open source like rickshaws
  
  I'm not the one seeking help here, just calling out poor behavior. You're helping no one with this constantly being posted.

Lol

This is misleading, tech linked did an explanation about this the other day https://youtu.be/Jio-Wq11K80

I think this is the source for the article
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/windows-11-on-devices-that-don-t-meet-minimum-system-requirements-0b2dc4a2-5933-4ad4-9c09-ef0a331518f1
- That page does not mention tpm, and on the requirenments page TPM 2.0 is still listed:
  https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows/windows-11-specifications
  EDIT: OK I see it now, it says that the requirenments are still in place, but that they are not enforced. But it also notes that future updates may not be available to computers that does not fullfill the requirenments
  
  I think it's just scare tactics to get people to buy a new computer. I really doubt that Microsoft will withhold updates because it will cause huge security problems.
  
  A non enforced requirement sounds like it is not a requirement.
  
  I guess it's fine. I was concerned because of the processor requirements, but the real quality bottleneck was spinning drives.

You bet they make it a requirement again, after most Win10 users downgraded?

As a result, some consumers resorted to purchasing TPM modules for their existing hardware, while others turned to customized Windows 11 ISOs that bypassed the TPM requirement entirely.
Who is doing this?!? If you are a business user, your company should pay for a new PC. If you are a gamer, you have a year to upgrade your MB. Everyone else has a year to figure out if Linux is right for them. At this point, Linux can perfectly cover most non-business users or those who are not multiplayer online gamers.
- The amount of corporate environments running old builds, 3+ patches behind or pro/home versions would shock anybody with an inkling of security awareness.
  If you're going to run Windows as a business and especially if you're going to rely on Defender, you gotta be on top of shit. Most are woefully far outside of that
- I got the notice to update to 11 a long time ago, then months later a notice my work laptop did not comply with requirements of TPM, but CPU OK.
  For my HP workstation it had TPM 1.x and there was a firmware update that brought chip up to TPM 2.0. After I did that the W11 then said CPU doesn't pass.
  Then recently CPU is fine. LOL
  They don't even know what they want.
  For home stuff everything is moved to Linux.
- I play Xonotic btw. You can play minecraft and terraria on Linux too.
  
  I play tons of games on Linux. I was mainly referring to AAA online multiplayer games with anti-cheat like COD, Valorant, Apex Legends, etc.
- No, it can't, because it is not even remotely as user friendly - and even if it was, the mere fact that its user experience is extremely different makes a switch quite difficult to anyone but the most basic users (who need little more than a web browser).
  
  LOL. Linux is what I install for elderly family members precisely because, depending on the distro, it is moron proof. Not every distro is Arch or SuSE.