Microsoft will allow Windows 11 to ship without the need for TPM in “special purpose” systems. Since Windows 11 was announced last week, a lot of people have been unhappy about the TPM requirement meaning if your PC doesn’t support it then you won’t be able to install Windows 11.
Spotted by Tom’s Hardware in a PDF document, Windows 11 can be shipped without TPM under the approval of Microsoft for certain systems such as OEM’s for special purpose commercial systems, custom order and customer systems with a custom image.
Taken from Tom’s Hardware… Microsoft infused Windows 11 with an onerous new requirement that blocks any system without Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 2.0 tech from installing the new operating system, but it turns out the company will allow some systems to ship without the feature enabled. Unfortunately, normal users probably won’t have access to the installation ISOs or workaround used for those builds, though it’s conceivable that we could see them leak to the public. Instead, these special builds are likely tailored for use in countries that don’t use Western encryption technologies, like China and Russia.
Windows 11 requires either a physical TPM key, resulting in an almost instant shortage of the devices and rampant scalping, or support for fTPM, excluding a large swath of relatively modern systems from receiving the update. And for those that thought Microsoft would bend under public pressure over the unpopular new TPM requirement, the company has doubled down — At first, Microsoft only listed support for TPM 1.2 as the baseline, but it has since clarified that Windows 11 would only support the newer 2.0 revision. That requirement further restricts the number of computers that can use Windows 11.
Read more @ Tom’s Hardware
