Asus rolls out Windows 11 support on older Intel CPU motherboards, contradicting Microsoft's...

Daniel Sims

Daniel Sims

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In context: Asus recently started rolling out BIOS updates to its motherboards to help users get ready for Windows 11. Those updates are beginning to extend to motherboards for Intel CPUs older than any of the ones Microsoft currently lists as being compatible with Windows 11. This could end up making the already controversial system requirements even more confusing.

Ever since Microsoft listed its system requirements for Windows 11, there's been some degree of uncertainty surrounding its requirement of Trusted Platform Module (TPM) and the need for a relatively recent CPU.

Motherboard makers like Asus have started issuing new BIOS firmware to help users out, mainly by automatically enabling TPM. Asus even set up a page listing the Windows 11 compatibility status for all its motherboards, which it continues to update as it tests and releases more BIOS patches.

Microsoft's list of officially supported Intel CPUs says Windows 11 requires 8th-gen Core processors (Coffee Lake) and newer. However, Asus shows that it's updating motherboards for seventh (Kaby Lake) and sixth (Skylake) generation Intel processors to add Windows 11 compatibility.

A number of Z270 motherboards, which are designed for Kaby Lake and Skylake processors, received a beta BIOS on August 10 for Windows 11 compatibility. The same happened with some H270 and B250 motherboards. These and many others fall under a section of Asus' compatibility list with the message "The following motherboards are compatible with Windows 11 under current testing. The upgrability [sic] is subject to the support from operation system or 3rd party drivers availability."

Microsoft has acknowledged some of the confusion, saying 8th-gen Core is the oldest processor series that it's sure to meet Windows 11 requirements, but that they plan to at least test things out with Kaby Lake CPUs.

It seems Microsoft isn't entirely sure how far it wants to extend Windows 11 compatibility yet, while meeting its security goals. Hopefully everyone will have a clearer picture by the time the OS releases to the public late this year.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/90970-asus-releases-bios-firmware-kaby-lake-skylake-processors.html

 
Oddly enough I was expecting this move to come first from Asrock and not Asus since they're usually the more defiant and adventurous one (HEDT sockets on mitx boards, thunderbolt 3 support on AM4 boards, etc) but hey, the more the merrier.
 
Microsoft already has different versions of Windows, why not create one for people who don't care about things like bitlocker.
 
It sounds like Asus did their own testing and is waiting for the official go ahead from MS to make it official.

"The upgrability [sic] is subject to the support from operation system or 3rd party drivers availability."
 
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MS is full of BS again
so lets see the requirements
CPU: 1Ghz with 2 cores - already proven not to be a requirement
RAM 4 GB - already proven not to be a requirement
storage 64 GB - already proven not to be a requirement
bios - UEFI, Secure boot capable - questionable with 3rd party boot loaders
TPM: 2.0 - already proven to work with older TPM and without TPM 2.0
GPU - DX12 compatible with WDDM 2.0 - already proven to work with others too
display 720p 9" - the physical size is irrelevant
Internet connection for first use - still able to activate over the phone

so you do not have to worry, if you are running windows 7/8/10 you will be able to run windows 11 too
the secure boot is the least usable security technology and the tpm 2.0 has already proven design flaw which can be exploited
 
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I think they are using the TMP port as a way to describe them "compatible".

Looking at a random Asus Z270 I found in a google search I found this in the this in the spec sheet: "1 x 14-1 pin TPM connector" -> in a way this does indeed make the boards compatible as long as the win 11 CPU requirement is just a soft one and you can fit TPM 2.0 in the port.

edit: the ASUS PRIME Z270M-PLUS doesn't seem to have the TPM header even though its on the list.
 
Last edited:
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So if M$ want to just dispose of older CPUs support there is also no need to keep backward compatibility which pollutes the kernel since beginning of x86 architecture. I really wouldn't mind in W11 broke in radical way with old DOS limitations which are still propagated. That would be actually good reason to get new OS.

As for Asus contradicting MS. Well we all know that Redmond-corpo always do things out of goodness of their corporate heart. /s
 
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I guess microsoft has approved this behind the scene.
Some people in Microsoft was likely not aware that 8th gen processor is only 4 years old
 
It makes sense that Microsoft just wants every build running Windows 11 has the slight security advantage of having TPM. To the noobs out there who say it's a scam- that's not necessarily true. You can install Win11 on boards without a TPM header as Intel has a semi-equivalent tech shortened to PTT. I believe AMD has a similar tech with a different name on some of their newer boards, but I could be wrong there being that I haven't touched an AMD product in quite a while...

But either way, this additional security is presumably for businesses and enterprises running Windows rigs since the good ol' Bitlocker literally does nothing and let's anyone just wipe a hard drive regardless LOL. So while this won't necessarily protect against that, IIRC, it won't allow anyone's hard drive to be encrypted through a cyber attack.
 
The CPUs listed as compatible are all capable of doing TPM 2.0 on-chip so they're guaranteed compatible without worrying about separate modules. The CPU generation "requirement" is likely for simplicity so consumers don't have to dig around to find out if their hardware is compatible. If you have one of these CPUs then you're covered, simple. The thing is that there are many motherboards out there for older CPUs that have a TPM onboard or room for an addon module which should cover the TPM requirement. So basically they tried to simplify (dumb down) compatibility requirements, turning them into a guaranteed compatibility list instead of also releasing the fine details that can help you figure out the edge cases.
 
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I have an Asus Z97A motherboard and a 4th generation Intel CPU. My system is more than capable for all of my needs, it is quite a workhorse. Retiring this computer would be so wasteful.
 
theruck said:
MS is full of BS again
so lets see the requirements
CPU: 1Ghz with 2 cores - already proven not to be a requirement
RAM 4 GB - already proven not to be a requirement
storage 64 GB - already proven not to be a requirement
bios - UEFI, Secure boot capable - questionable with 3rd party boot loaders
TPM: 2.0 - already proven to work with older TPM and without TPM 2.0
GPU - DX12 compatible with WDDM 2.0 - already proven to work with others too
display 720p 9" - the physical size is irrelevant
Internet connection for first use - still able to activate over the phone

so you do not have to worry, if you are running windows 7/8/10 you will be able to run windows 11 too
the secure boot is the least usable security technology and the tpm 2.0 has already proven design flaw which can be exploited
Click to expand...
You say these things based on a early beta version of the os and have no ACTUAL clue what will and won't be really REQUIRED when the actual release happens.
 
theruck said:
MS is full of BS again
so lets see the requirements
CPU: 1Ghz with 2 cores - already proven not to be a requirement
RAM 4 GB - already proven not to be a requirement
storage 64 GB - already proven not to be a requirement
bios - UEFI, Secure boot capable - questionable with 3rd party boot loaders
TPM: 2.0 - already proven to work with older TPM and without TPM 2.0
GPU - DX12 compatible with WDDM 2.0 - already proven to work with others too
display 720p 9" - the physical size is irrelevant
Internet connection for first use - still able to activate over the phone

so you do not have to worry, if you are running windows 7/8/10 you will be able to run windows 11 too
the secure boot is the least usable security technology and the tpm 2.0 has already proven design flaw which can be exploited
Click to expand...

Nope, the installer checks cpu identifying code strings and denies most older cpus. hence the outrage. TMP2.0 has been around a long time ... is is the denial of cpus older then 3 years that's the crux
 
theruck said:
MS is full of BS again
so lets see the requirements
CPU: 1Ghz with 2 cores - already proven not to be a requirement
RAM 4 GB - already proven not to be a requirement
storage 64 GB - already proven not to be a requirement
bios - UEFI, Secure boot capable - questionable with 3rd party boot loaders
TPM: 2.0 - already proven to work with older TPM and without TPM 2.0
GPU - DX12 compatible with WDDM 2.0 - already proven to work with others too
display 720p 9" - the physical size is irrelevant
Internet connection for first use - still able to activate over the phone

so you do not have to worry, if you are running windows 7/8/10 you will be able to run windows 11 too
the secure boot is the least usable security technology and the tpm 2.0 has already proven design flaw which can be exploited
Click to expand...

Min reqs are the minimum that a software developer wants to SUPPORT not necessarily always what will work. They might issue breaking changes later on that would affect lesser configurations and/or they will not guarantee a good experience on lesser hardware. This is why they won't list <64 GB as working (in case they need more) and list DX12 compatible (in case they use DX12 for anything important).

Think of it like game min reqs. Many games will let you boot on Intel integrated graphics but the developer does not claim in any way that it will be a good experience.
 
maxxcool7421 said:
Nope, the installer checks cpu identifying code strings and denies most older cpus. hence the outrage. TMP2.0 has been around a long time ... is is the denial of cpus older then 3 years that's the crux
Click to expand...
I installed the latest win 11 on my i7 2600K without problems and Windows 11 ran just fine. Yes I had to do a couple things to make windows 11 install but after that everything was peachy and just worked. heck it even installed everything for my system for drivers.

Sadly though I found 11 to be lacking and annoying with some of the changes and pulled the test SSD out and put my Windows 10 SSD back into the system. I think Windows 11 lasted about 6 hours on my system before I tired of it and got rid of it.

I was surprised at how fast it installed though from a SSD format to desktop in about 7-8 minutes and no you do not need internet to log in the first time and you can make a local account just fine as well without having to log into an MS account and Windows 11 activated just fine on this old system.
 
theruck said:
MS is full of BS again
so lets see the requirements
CPU: 1Ghz with 2 cores - already proven not to be a requirement
RAM 4 GB - already proven not to be a requirement
storage 64 GB - already proven not to be a requirement
bios - UEFI, Secure boot capable - questionable with 3rd party boot loaders
TPM: 2.0 - already proven to work with older TPM and without TPM 2.0
GPU - DX12 compatible with WDDM 2.0 - already proven to work with others too
display 720p 9" - the physical size is irrelevant
Internet connection for first use - still able to activate over the phone

so you do not have to worry, if you are running windows 7/8/10 you will be able to run windows 11 too
the secure boot is the least usable security technology and the tpm 2.0 has already proven design flaw which can be exploited
Click to expand...
Funilly enough you can't actually do it on all of the chips that are supported. You're forgetting Microsoft wants the TPM module will be embedded in the CPU. You can't access the TPM module embedded on the CPU and it requires physical access to the tpm module in order to pull off.

I should also mention one of the bigger reasons they want to limit it to these cpu's is They have hardware based virtualization features for virtualization based security so that it doesn't all have to be done in software which is slow. Is in other words these CPU's won't take much of a performance hit from enabling it by default while anything older very well might.
 
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bandit8623 said:
Again.. there is no way 7th gen wont work. The requirements are there for the beta and dev testing .
Click to expand...
It's not necessarily that it wouldn't work it's that they don't necessarily want to spend the time to support it. Especially not if it doesn't run well. I imagine the CPU will be a soft requirement requirement that will either be really easy to bypass or not actually enforced by the installer at boot time.
 
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