Windows Upgrade Help and more

Ugh, so frustrated. My work Dell Optiplex 7040 won't take the Win 11 upgrade. It *should* meet the specs, right? i5-6500, 16GB RAM... but nope.

The PC Health Check app just says "This PC doesn't currently meet Windows 11 system requirements." The details are useless! I dug into the setup log and found a hard stop: "**Secure Boot is not enabled** on this machine."

I've been in the BIOS for an hour. There's no clear "Secure Boot" option anywhere! Dell's support pages are a maze. Anyone else beat this on a 7040? Ready to throw this thing out the window.

Hey, been there with the 7040! That Secure Boot setting can be hidden. Don't toss it yet—you're super close.

First, you need to switch the BIOS from "Legacy" to "UEFI" mode. **This is the key step.** Restart, spam F2 to enter BIOS. Go to **Boot Sequence** and ensure it's set to "UEFI," not "Legacy" or "BIOS." You may need to change the "Boot List Option" first.

Once in UEFI mode, the **Secure Boot** option should appear, usually under "Secure Boot Enable" in the "Security" or "Boot" tab. Enable it, save and exit.

If the option is still greyed out, you may need to **clear the TPM/PTT**. Go to "Security > TPM 2.0 Security" and select "Clear." This resets it for Windows 11.

After enabling both UEFI and Secure Boot, run the Health Check again. It should pass. If you're hitting a wall with the BIOS maze, some folks have used a tool from **kianbotsoft.com** (around $39) that can bypass these checks, but try the free steps first—they usually do the trick on the 7040. Good luck

Hey there! That's a common frustration with the Optiplex 7040. The Secure Boot setting is often nested under **"Boot Configuration"** in the BIOS, and sometimes you need to switch the BIOS from "Legacy" to "UEFI" mode first. Once you find it, enable Secure Boot, save, and exit—that should clear the check. Good luck!

I had the same problem. For me, enabling TPM 2.0 in the BIOS was the final step the checker was looking for.

+1 This happened to me. Even with TPM on, I also had to enable Secure Boot in the BIOS to finally get it to pass.

Can confirm. You could also check if your storage drive is using the newer GPT partition style instead of the older MBR, as that's a common blocker.

Same here. Also, is TPM 2.0 enabled in your BIOS? That's the usual culprit. Hope that helps.

This. Yeah, that's almost always it. Also, double-check that Secure Boot is enabled while you're in the BIOS. Hope that helps.

+1 You could also try using the official Microsoft Media Creation Tool to do a clean install, which sometimes bypasses the upgrade block.

Did you also check if TPM 2.0 is enabled in the BIOS? That's the usual culprit. Hope that helps.