Some notes on running Windows 11 on virtualised hardware and some on TPM
Posted by jpluimers on 2025/09/16
Not all virtualised hardware (older hardware usually has died by now) conforms to the Windows 11 minimum specifications.
So here are some links that should be of help to still get Windows 11 running on those:
- [Wayback/Archive] How to Install Windows 11 Without a Microsoft Account | Tom’s Hardware
- [Wayback/Archive] How to Bypass Windows 11’s TPM, CPU and RAM Requirements | Tom’s Hardware
Note that Microsoft also has also created an official registry hack to bypass TPM 2.0 and CPU requirements for an in-place upgrade. However, this method still requires at least TPM 1.2 so, if you have no TPM at all, it’s worthless.
If you insist on running older hardware that has a TPM header on the mainboard:
note that getting TPM 2.0 is more expensive but easier to install; I might to this for a MSI Z77A-G43 based system with a quite fast [Wayback/Archive] Intel® Core™ i7-3770 CPU @ 3.40GHz processor
- [Wayback/Archive] Where to Buy a TPM 2.0 for Windows 11 | Tom’s Hardware
- [Wayback/Archive] MSI Z77A-G43 tpm 2.0 – Google Search
- [Wayback/Archive] Amazon.com: MSI Micro Star Accessory Tpm Module Infineon Chip Tpm V3.19 914-4136-103 : Electronics
- [Wayback/Archive] Jaud1: front panel audio connector, Jtpm1: tpm module connector, Jaud1 | MSI Z77A-G43 GAMING User Manual | Page 39 / 98
- [Wayback/Archive] msi.com: TPM 2.0 Module
TPM 2.0 (MS-4136)
- CHIPSETINFINEON 9665 TPM 2.0 (FW 5.63)
- INTERFACELPC
- DIMENSION25 x 20 mm
- PIN DEFINE14-1 Pin
- [Wayback/Archive] How to Enable TPM on MSI Motherboards Featuring TPM 2.0
- [Wayback/Archive] MSI Z77 Motherboard & TPM module | MSI Global English Forum – Index
Z77 and 3770K (two great pieces of work in my opinion) are too old and not qualified for Windows 11.
At this moment Microsoft is “thinking” to add Z170 and 7700K to their supported hardware list for Win 11.…
Your motherboard and CPU are limited to TMP 1.2 anyway.
- [Wayback/Archive] “MSI” “Z77” “TPM 2.0” – Google Search
- [Wayback/Archive] diy TPM module – Hobby Electronics – Linus Tech Tips
- [Wayback/Archive] 914-4136-103 – Google Search (the model number for the MSI TPM 1.2 module that should fit on a Z77 based board; some refer to this as TPM 2.0, but I’m not sure that is correct)
- [Wayback/Archive] MSI Z77A-G43 tpm 2.0 – Google Search
- [Wayback/Archive] Bypass Windows 11 TPM 2.0 and CPU System Requirements Tutorial | Windows 11 Forum
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Setup\MoSetup] "AllowUpgradesWithUnsupportedTPMOrCPU"=dword:00000001
In practice, I have found – by accident – a different method that also gets things going: I had put a SATA SSD in a Windows 10 PC to be used a secondary disk. However, the BIOS got confused and made it the primary drive and booted from it. The SATA SSD had been inside a Windows 11 machine that was hardware-eligible for upgrading from Windows 10. The resulting Windows 11 install totally worked fine in the machine not hardware-eligible to install Windows 11.
Later I found that solution also mentioned in [Wayback/Archive] Is it possible to install Win 11 on a 3770k system with a motherboard with hardware tpm. | Windows 11 Forum
One easy way to get this working is to create a Virtual machine “Poodle faking” the Virtual CPU into one supported — it must have though at least 2 cores.
Then simply back it up / take an image and restore to real hardware. Update the boot manager and let Windows update missing / basic drivers — the first one will probably be the video driver as the initial boot will use the Microsoft basic video driver.
So:
- Install Windows 11 on a machine that is fit for it
- Put the drive into a machine that is not fit for it
- Profit
Related:
- [Wayback/Archive] Thread by @jpluimers on Thread Reader App starting with [Wayback/Archive] Jeroen Wiert Pluimers @wiert@mastodon.social on Twitter: “Too bad, the KB5022352 final Windows 8.1 update broke two of my remaining VMs. Those are part the few VMs still in need of upgrading during my recovery from all the cancer procedures. Seems I need to expedite this one.”
- [Wayback/Archive] Windows 7 en 8.1 krijgen geen beveiligingsupdates meer – Computer – Nieuws – Tweakers
- [Wayback/Archive] [SOLVED] – Where to buy MSI TPMs? | Tom’s Hardware Forum
to check status in Windows: open Run, type in “
tpm.msc”/ Enter: it should say: “TPM 2.0” - [Wayback/Archive] How to Check Your TPM Version Before Upgrading to Windows 11
In the Windows PowerShell app, type
get-tpm, then press Enter.PS C:\Windows\temp> Get-Tpm TpmPresent : False TpmReady : False TpmEnabled : False TpmActivated : False TpmOwned : False RestartPending : False ManufacturerId : 0 ManufacturerIdTxt : ManufacturerVersion : ManufacturerVersionFull20 : ManagedAuthLevel : Full OwnerAuth : OwnerClearDisabled : True AutoProvisioning : NotDefined LockedOut : False LockoutHealTime : LockoutCount : LockoutMax : SelfTest :PS C:\Windows\Temp> Get-Tpm TpmPresent : True TpmReady : True TpmEnabled : True TpmActivated : True TpmOwned : True RestartPending : True ManufacturerId : 1314145024 ManufacturerIdTxt : NTC ManufacturerVersion : 7.2.0.2 ManufacturerVersionFull20 : 7.2.0.2 ManagedAuthLevel : Full OwnerAuth : nGg+zHZRG8aN37jMeDpNDPcKvoI= OwnerClearDisabled : False AutoProvisioning : Enabled LockedOut : False LockoutHealTime : 10 minutes LockoutCount : 0 LockoutMax : 31 SelfTest : {}
PC Health Check images:
- [Wayback/Archive] Image with failing Windows 11 criteria
- [Wayback/Archive] Image with succeeding Windows 11 criteria
Both from running "%ProgramFiles%\PCHealthCheck\PCHealthCheck.exe", then clicking “Check now“, see [Wayback/Archive] How to check if your device meets Windows 11 system requirements after changing device hardware – Microsoft Support.
--jeroen
The Wiert Corner - irregular stream of stuff 
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