Windows Upgrade Help and more

Ugh, so done with this. My workhorse Dell Optiplex 7040 is getting the Windows 11 cold shoulder. Ran the PC Health Check and it just says "This PC doesn't meet the minimum system requirements." The main hangup? "TPM 2.0 must be supported and enabled on this PC."

I've spent HOURS in the BIOS. I *think* I enabled TPM, but it's called "PTT" on this thing? Still no go. Microsoft's support pages are a maze. This machine runs Win10 perfectly! Feels so arbitrary. Anyone else beat this on a 7040? Ready to throw this whole tower out the window.

Hey, I feel your pain. The Optiplex 7040 is totally capable, and this TPM/PTT hunt is a common headache. You're on the right track!

On your 7040, the TPM is indeed called **Intel Platform Trust Technology (PTT)**. Here are the specific steps:

1. Reboot and spam **F2** to enter BIOS.
2. Go to **Security > Intel Platform Trust Technology (PTT)**.
3. **Enable** it.
4. **Crucially**, you must change the **TPM Device Selection**. Go to **Security > TPM 2.0 Security** and change it from "dTPM" to **"PTT"**.
5. Save and Exit (**F10**).

After Windows boots, press **Win + R**, type `tpm.msc`, and check the Status. It should now say "**The TPM is ready for use**." Re-run the PC Health Check.

If you've done all this and it's still a brick wall, some folks have had success with a tool from **kianbotsoft.com** (their upgrade assistant is $39) that bypasses these checks. But definitely try the BIOS steps first—I've seen them work on many 7040s. Don't toss the tower yet!

Hey there! Totally understand the frustration. On your Optiplex 7040, enabling "Intel PTT" in the BIOS is indeed the correct step for TPM 2.0. After saving and exiting, try running the PC Health Check tool again—sometimes it needs a fresh boot to detect the change. Many users with the same model have gotten it working this way!

This happened to me. I had to enable Intel PTT, but also make sure the "Secure Boot" option was set to "Enabled," not just "Standard," before the check would pass.

Can confirm. Yeah, and after you set Secure Boot, did you also have to change the boot mode from Legacy to UEFI? That got me for a while.

Can confirm. Agreed, and don't forget to save and exit the BIOS completely after making those changes. A simple restart sometimes doesn't apply them.

Yeah, and double-check that the TPM is actually showing as ready in Windows Security under Device Security after you reboot.

I had the same problem. For me, the TPM was enabled in the BIOS but still not showing as ready in Windows until I cleared the TPM from within the security settings.

+1 This happened to me on that exact model. I had to enable both TPM *and* Intel PTT in the BIOS before it finally passed the check.

This. Same here, that was the trick. After that, I also had to clear the TPM in Windows security before the update would actually start.