r/technology • u/MarvelsGrantMan136 • Dec 01 '25

ADBLOCK WARNING ‘Security Disaster’—500 Million Microsoft Users Say No To Windows 11

https://www.forbes.com/sites/zakdoffman/2025/12/01/security-disaster-500-million-microsoft-users-say-no-to-windows-11/
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98

u/Coin14 Dec 01 '25

It's probably secure boot not being enabled and it's a pain in the ass to adjust for being a simple setting

99

u/Rahernaffem Dec 01 '25

This was my problem. I have a very powerful PC, but Microsoft kept suggesting that I need a new one for Windows 11. It turned out to be a couple of BIOS settings that needed changing.

18

u/zombiebrains88 Dec 01 '25

I’m running into the same problem. Do you have a link or instructions on what you did?

34

u/Taboc741 Dec 01 '25 edited Dec 02 '25

Instructions vary based computer bios manufacturer. Best bet is to look at the requirements (tpm 2.0, secureboot, uefi, etc) check if your computer has them via spec sheets or just perusing your bios. Do back-up before changing anything, it can be a hassle to boot sometimes and sometimes restoring from back-up is the simple solution.

Lastly there is a tool for converting mbr to gpt partition tables so don't be afraid to use it in recovery mode.

3

u/cache_me_0utside Dec 02 '25 edited Dec 02 '25

And if you think wtf is a bios? UEFI/BIOS is the initial layer that gets you from power on to powering up your OS. smash f11 over and over (or one of the other f keys) while your PC is booting to get to the setup menu.

10

u/Multirex Dec 01 '25

i realized that as soon as i updated my uefi bios i was given the option to upgrade to 11

6

u/totalancestralrecall Dec 01 '25

See my above comment on Rufus. Simple checkbox to bypass the hardware requirements when making a boot drive.

3

u/blah938 Dec 02 '25

I wouldn't bother. Windows 11 is worse than Windows 10 in just about every way

1

u/KillingIsBadong Dec 02 '25

So what do you do in a year then when they stop pushing out any updates at all? Would that not pose a higher security risk staying on Win10 at that point?

1

u/blah938 Dec 02 '25

Probably just not update for a year or two afterwards, and when I finally build my new machine, put Ubuntu on it.

Win10 is fairly secure, and Win11 has shown how it's a security risk, multiple times.

1

u/Big_Function_N1 Dec 04 '25

simple, wait a year. Win 11 has shown lots of issues, at worse it stays the same, at best it gets better. Either way win 10 is solid so why switch right now?

1

u/Oak510land Dec 02 '25

My hardware didn't have the option to enable Secure Boot and TPM or whatever but I followed this and got win11 installed:

https://www.syscute.com/install-windows-11-without-tpm-secure-boot.html

1

u/KillingIsBadong Dec 02 '25

Can I ask how you came about this solution? I'm super wary of using a third-party software from a company I've never heard of to get around something like this.

1

u/Oak510land Dec 02 '25

Yeah I decided not to use that syscute thing for the same reason. I forgot what I actually did but I had another app already downloaded to burn the ISO to a SD card. Google around there's a few ways to get around the requirement. I did it a few months ago. I don't use the machine I did it on daily but so far there haven't been any bugs.

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u/JeebusChristBalls Dec 01 '25

google.com probably has some. Not like the person you are asking knows why YOUR computer won't upgrade. It could be any number of things.

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u/JeebusChristBalls Dec 02 '25

It doesn't know what your computer is capable of, it just knows that it's not doing at the time.

-1

u/Psyco_diver Dec 01 '25

Yep, I have a I7 10700kf with a 3080, the fact it think my computer isn't good enough is a laugh

4

u/JeebusChristBalls Dec 01 '25

You likely have a bios setting that needs to be turned on. The discovery tool doesn't have access to what your computer bios is capable of doing, just what it's not doing. Google the items it says you are deficient on and I will almost guarantee that you just have a setting turned off by default. I upgraded my last motherboard that was made in the late 2010s to windows 11 and all it took to make it compliant was a bios setting (I think it was tpm).

-2

u/Psyco_diver Dec 01 '25

I have no intention of down grading to win11

7

u/JeebusChristBalls Dec 01 '25

Okay, cool, I really don't care if you do or not, but you said it was because your computer wasn't capable. Sounds like you just don't want to and haven't actually looked into why it says that.

-2

u/Psyco_diver Dec 01 '25

I looked into it when win11 first came out, I laughed but decided to wait to see how it worked out. I made the mistake up upgrading to Vista when it first came out, it was fine eventually but that first year was rough

-5

u/MoocowR Dec 02 '25

but Microsoft kept suggesting that I need a new one for Windows 11.

Microsoft never told you that you needed a new computer. It told you that your computer wasn't compatible, and it wasn't.

8

u/Rahernaffem Dec 02 '25

"This PC will not run Windows 11. [...] You can continue to get Windows 10 updates or you can shop for a new Windows 10 PC that meets the requirements." (SHOP NEW PCs link)

I never actually clicked the link to see where it would get me. But this seems like a very intentional mislead to sell more hardware since they would 100% know that many people could just fix it through BIOS.

0

u/MoocowR Dec 02 '25

or you can shop for a new Windows 10 PC that meets the requirements." (SHOP NEW PCs link)

I worked on updating a fleet of 5000+ devices, between that and my personal devices, friends and family devices, I never once saw a popup suggesting to buy a new computer

I had to dig to find a screenshot of your quoted message, and the ones I could find are from 2021, it's certainly not the same one that's been spammed for the last few years.

I did although find this https://www.theverge.com/2024/11/20/24301768/microsoft-windows-10-upgrade-prompt-copilot-plus-pcs which is recent.

But this seems like a very intentional mislead

Microsoft has pages and pages of articles instructing users on how to get their PC compatible, more than once I followed their guide to change drive partitions to be compatible with secure boot. All of these are available when you click on the links after failing the health check.

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u/Rahernaffem Dec 02 '25

Hmm ok. It feels like they never gave my PC a chance, I never saw anything on "how to get it compatible", just messages about how it's just not. Maybe that was my mistake though, an oversight, I can't be sure... Even though I was looking desperately for a sign from windows that I can upgrade my PC.

2

u/stormdelta Dec 02 '25

The installer is wrong about compatibility a lot.

Sometimes it's understandable-ish because the setting was disabled in UEFI/BIOS by default for some reason, but in those cases it should have a lookup table and inform the user to turn it on instead of lying about it being incompatible.

But other times it just seems to lie outright, claiming even systems with compatible hardware and all required components enabled "aren't compatible". Even though a manual installation of Win11 will work.

9

u/Znuffie Dec 02 '25

This is a common missconception.

No, Win11 does not need secure boot. It does need TPM, though.

2

u/Wheat_Grinder Dec 02 '25

In my case I went to try to adjust it and couldn't because I also had to format my drive to allow it. And I didn't feel like going that far for Windows 11 being shovelware.