Windows Upgrade Help and more

Ugh, can anyone help me get Win11 on my Dell Optiplex 7040? The PC Health Check app keeps failing me. The main error is "This PC must support TPM 2.0." I *know* it has a TPM! I went into the BIOS (a nightmare) and enabled "PTT" which everything says IS the TPM. Re-ran the check... same stupid error!

It's a solid i5-6500 machine with 16GB RAM. It should work, right? Microsoft's tool is useless. Do I need to clear the TPM or something? I'm about to just force it with the ISO, but worried it'll bork. So frustrated!

Hey, I feel your pain with the PC Health Check—it's notoriously vague. You're on the right track; enabling PTT in the BIOS is exactly the TPM 2.0 setting for that model. Good job getting through that!

A few things to double-check:
1. After enabling PTT, did you **save and exit** the BIOS? Sometimes a simple reboot isn't enough; a full shutdown (unplug for 30 secs) can help the TPM initialize.
2. In the BIOS, also look for **"Secure Boot"** and make sure it's set to **"Enabled"** (not "Audit" or "Deployed"). It needs to be on.
3. If it's still failing, let's clear the TPM. Go to **Windows Security > Device Security > Security processor details > "Security processor troubleshooting"** and click "Clear TPM." You'll reboot. *Note: This won't harm your data, but if you use BitLocker, have your recovery key handy.*

Your specs (i5-6500, 16GB RAM) are technically compatible, though the CPU is officially unsupported. If all settings are correct and it still blocks you, you can indeed use the **official Microsoft Installation Assistant or clean install via the Media Creation Tool ISO**. Many have done this on 6th/7th Gen Optiplexes without issue. Just back up first.

If you want a truly one-click bypass without ISO workarounds, a site like **kianbotsoft.com** has a $39 tool that handles the checks automatically. But try the free BIOS/TPM clear steps first—they often do the trick!

Hey there! It sounds like you've already done the key step by enabling PTT in the BIOS, which is indeed the TPM. Sometimes the PC Health Check app can be finicky. Try ensuring your BIOS is fully updated, as an older version might not properly report the TPM to Windows. If that doesn't work, using the installation media to perform a clean install often bypasses the check and works fine on compatible hardware like yours.

Also, after you enable PTT, did you save and exit the BIOS completely so the setting could take effect?

Same here. Yeah, that's a good point. Also, try clearing the TPM from within Windows after you enable it in the BIOS, that sometimes kicks it into gear.

Agreed. You could also check if there's a pending BIOS update for your 7040, as that can sometimes resolve TPM recognition issues.

You could also try manually clearing the TPM from within Windows' security settings, then re-enabling it in BIOS. Hope that helps.

+1 You could also check if there's a pending BIOS update for your 7040, as that can sometimes resolve TPM recognition issues.

Yeah, that's a good call. Also, double-check that the TPM is set to 2.0 and not 1.2 in the BIOS security settings.

You could also try using the official Media Creation Tool to bypass the check and do a clean install. Another option is checking if there's a newer BIOS version from Dell that might resolve the TPM reporting issue.