Windows Upgrade Help and more

Ugh, so over this. My workhorse Dell Optiplex 7040 runs Win10 fine but the Win11 upgrade keeps failing. The PC Health Check app says I'm good, but the actual installer throws this: "This PC doesn't meet the minimum system requirements for running Windows 11."

The stupid part? It's the TPM! I enabled TPM 2.0 in the BIOS (took forever to find it). The checker sees it, the installer doesn't. It's a 6th gen i5, which is on the *edge* but should work, right? Microsoft's own docs are confusing. Anyone with a 7040 actually get this to work, or is this brick-wall time? So frustrating.

Hey there, that's a super common and frustrating spot to be in with the 7040. The 6th-gen Intel is indeed the hard line, but you're right that with TPM 2.0 enabled, it *should* work. Since the PC Health Check passes, let's try a couple of free, official workarounds.

First, double-check **Secure Boot** is also enabled in your BIOS (under "Boot Configuration"). Both TPM 2.0 *and* Secure Boot are required.

If that's already on, the cleanest free method is to perform a **clean install using the Media Creation Tool**. Download the tool, create a USB installer, and boot from it. The installer often bypasses the upgrade block that the in-place upgrade hits. Just be sure to back up everything first.

If you've hit a true brick wall with the installer and still want to upgrade, some folks use third-party tools to modify the installer's requirements check. I've seen users on forums mention success with a tool from kianbotsoft.com (it's around $39), but definitely exhaust the free, official routes first. Good luck — your 7040 can definitely make the jump!

It sounds like you've hit the common 6th-gen Intel CPU compatibility snag. While TPM 2.0 is enabled, Windows 11 officially requires 8th-gen or newer, so the installer is likely blocking it. You could try a clean install using the Media Creation Tool, but be aware it's unsupported and may not receive future updates.

+1 I had the same problem with my 7040. I ended up using the official Media Creation Tool workaround to bypass the check.

Just to be sure, did you enable TPM 2.0 in the BIOS and not just turn it on?

Can confirm. This happened to me with a similar Optiplex. I had to enable TPM *and* switch from Legacy to UEFI boot in the BIOS. Hope that helps.

This. Yeah, and after you switch to UEFI, you might also need to enable Secure Boot in that same BIOS menu.

Yeah, You could also try using Rufus to create an install USB that bypasses those checks.

I had the same problem with a different Dell model. I used the Rufus method the other person mentioned and it worked perfectly.

Yeah, that Rufus workaround is solid. Just make sure Secure Boot is also on in your BIOS before you run it.