Two minutes with Microsoft's own checker replaces hours of guessing. It reads your processor, TPM, Secure Boot, RAM and storage, and names exactly which requirement your PC meets and which one stops the free upgrade.
Before any upgrade - free or otherwise - one question decides whether your afternoon ends with Windows 11 or with an error message: does this PC actually qualify? Microsoft publishes a tiny free tool that answers it precisely. This page shows how to run it, how to read every line of its report honestly, and which failures are settings you can fix versus the one verdict that is truly final.
Example PC Health Check result screen - values shown are examples; your report names your own hardware line by line.
PC Health Check is Microsoft's own free app, published on Microsoft's Windows 11 page. Download it only from there - copycat sites wrap it in junk installers. Install it and open it; the Windows 11 section sits right at the top with a Check now button.
The headline is either This PC meets the requirements or it is not. Click See all results either way. Each requirement gets its own line with a pass or a fail, and that list is the useful part: it tells you exactly which door is closed instead of leaving you to guess. A single failing line is common and often fixable - several failing lines usually mean the PC is simply too old, and it is better to hear that from the list than from a failed upgrade.
TPM failures split into two very different problems. Many PCs have a TPM 2.0 chip that is merely switched off in the BIOS, often under a name like PTT on Intel boards or fTPM on AMD boards. To see what Windows currently detects, press Windows + R and run tpm.msc - it reports whether a TPM is present and its version. If the console says a compatible TPM cannot be found and your processor is from the last several years, a BIOS visit to enable PTT or fTPM is the honest first step - that is normal setup, not a bypass.
Run msinfo32 and look at two lines: BIOS Mode and Secure Boot State. If BIOS Mode says UEFI, Secure Boot is normally just a BIOS switch waiting to be turned on. If BIOS Mode says Legacy, the disk is likely in the old MBR layout, and that is a bigger conversation - converting it is possible but belongs in its own careful guide, not squeezed into an upgrade afternoon.
RAM can be added and storage can be freed, but if PC Health Check rejects your processor, that verdict is final for the official upgrade. Microsoft supports a defined list of CPUs, and a processor below that line is the single most common reason older PCs cannot take the free upgrade. Your honest options at that point are to keep Windows 10 running safely - it still works, and Microsoft sells extended security updates for it - or to plan a hardware replacement. Anyone promising a checker that says otherwise is selling something.
See the full free upgrade done live, step by step, for complete knowledge of the process.
Watch Full VideoFrom Microsoft's own Windows 11 page on microsoft.com - it is linked from the system requirements section. It is a small free app. Avoid any other site offering it, because repackaged checkers are a common way to smuggle adware onto a PC.
Probably not lying - just reporting that the TPM is switched off. Many motherboards ship with firmware TPM (Intel PTT or AMD fTPM) disabled. Run tpm.msc to see the current state, then check your BIOS settings for PTT or fTPM and enable it. After that, run PC Health Check again; the line usually turns green.
Yes - RAM and storage are the two upgradeable requirements. If your only failures are 2 GB of RAM or a nearly full small drive, a memory upgrade or a larger SSD can turn the result around. The processor is the exception: if the CPU itself is not on Microsoft's supported list, no part swap short of a new motherboard and CPU changes the answer.