PC Processors

[MCordeiro]

I have a pc with ryzen 5 1600 processor and would like to upgrade to windows 11. Saw on the Microsoft site that my processor is not supported though when I go to AMD site it says I can download drivers to said OS.

What should I do? Get a new processor for my motherboard(A320m-HD R4.0)? Update windows? If so, how do I do that? Help please.

[FunkZ]

Here is the Windows 11 update checklist:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/how-to-check-if-your-device-meets-windows-11-system-requ...

There is a link to download and run the Health Check. It will tell you what you need to fix. It is probably failing on TPM, Secure Boot or GPT.

[MCordeiro]

When I run the health check it fails at The TPM 2 check and says my processor is not supported

[elstaci · Accepted solution]

You have a ZEN AMD processor which is not supported by Windows 11. You will need to upgrade to a ZEN+ or newer processor to officially install Windows 11.

Here is your ASRock Motherboard's CPU SUPPORT List that shows mainly ZEN+ or newer CPU processors you can upgrade to: https://www.asrock.com/mb/AMD/A320M-HD%20R4.0/index.asp#CPU

Just pick a 2000 series or higher processor but verify that the 2000 series processor is Zen+ if that is what you decide to upgrade to. You can check to see which generation your processor is at CPU WORLD: https://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/Zen/AMD-Ryzen%205%201600.html

NOTE: you can install unofficially Windows 11 on your Desktop PC using Registry Hack or Windows Installation Hacks but according to Microsoft any Unsupported Windows 11 PCs will not be supported with Windows Updates.

[MCordeiro]

Thank you very much, kind person

[guruMarkB]

You can for now use the Rufus utility. Just download Windows 11 and save it as an ISO file. Then run Rufus and use it to create a Windows 11 flash drive or DVD. The Rufus utility brings up a screen before it creates the Windows 11 installation media that has some items that you can check on or off. One of them is to skip the processor check so that you can go ahead and install Win 11 anyway so you should be able to run setup from your Windows 10 and it will allow you to upgrade. Just understand that Microsoft reserves the right to use the hardware functions of the 8th gen or high cpu in the future at which time you will be forced to upgrade your cpu. Right now Windows 11 will run on any cpu if the processor check is turned off with the Rufus utility (I watched a video a couple of years ago where just as an exercise to see if it could be done someone installed Win 11 to run on a very old Intel 486 and it worked).

So maybe Microsoft will wait until the fall of 2025 (the current official EOL of Windows 10) to start using the new cpu instructions and that will buy you another year of time to plan your cpu upgrade but at least this will work for you now.