220-1102 Question 73
Single answerHardware requirementsA technician is upgrading several office PCs from Windows 10 Pro to Windows 11 Pro. One user reports that the Windows 11 installation assistant says the PC does not meet the minimum system requirements, even though the computer has 16 GB of RAM, a 500 GB SSD, and a 3.2 GHz 64-bit processor. The technician opens the firmware settings and sees that the system is booting in Legacy BIOS mode and that TPM is disabled. Which action should the technician take FIRST to make this PC eligible for a supported Windows 11 upgrade?
- A
Enable TPM 2.0 and change the firmware boot mode from Legacy BIOS to UEFI
- B
Increase the amount of RAM to 32 GB and rerun the installation assistant
- C
Convert the SSD from GPT to MBR so the installer can recognize the drive
- D
Disable Secure Boot so the Windows 11 installer can bypass the hardware check
Show answer and explanation
Correct answer: A
Explanation
This scenario tests practical identification of Windows 11 hardware and firmware requirements. For a supported Windows 11 installation, Microsoft specifies key minimums including a compatible 64-bit CPU, 4 GB RAM, 64 GB storage, UEFI firmware, Secure Boot capability, and TPM 2.0. In this case, the RAM, storage, and CPU are already sufficient, so the blocking issues are the disabled TPM and the system using Legacy BIOS mode instead of UEFI. In real-world support, technicians should verify firmware settings and TPM status before recommending unnecessary hardware upgrades. Microsoft documentation for Windows 11 minimum system requirements and supported upgrade readiness specifically references TPM 2.0 and UEFI/Secure Boot capability as required components.
- A. Correct.
Correct. Windows 11 requires TPM 2.0 and UEFI firmware with Secure Boot capability. A system running in Legacy BIOS mode will not meet the supported requirement for Secure Boot, and a disabled TPM will also block eligibility. Enabling TPM 2.0 and switching to UEFI addresses the actual hardware and firmware requirements preventing the upgrade.
- B. Incorrect.
Incorrect. Windows 11 requires a minimum of 4 GB of RAM, so 16 GB already exceeds the requirement. Adding more memory would not resolve a failure caused by missing TPM 2.0 or the system booting in Legacy BIOS mode.
- C. Incorrect.
Incorrect. Windows 11 systems using UEFI typically require the system disk to use GPT, not MBR. Converting from GPT to MBR would move the system farther away from a supported configuration. This distractor reflects a common confusion between BIOS/MBR and UEFI/GPT boot methods.
- D. Incorrect.
Incorrect. Windows 11 requires Secure Boot capability as part of its supported hardware baseline. Disabling Secure Boot would not help the system meet requirements and would conflict with the supported configuration. This option reflects the misconception that turning off security features makes newer OS installations easier.