Windows Upgrade Help and more

**Subject: Win 11 upgrade is killing me!!**

Okay so my PC *should* meet the requirements? I have a GTX 1060, it’s not THAT old. Ran the PC Health Check and it just says “This PC doesn’t currently meet Windows 11 system requirements.” COOL, THANKS. Super helpful.

I’ve enabled TPM 2.0 in the BIOS (that was a nightmare), secure boot is on… what else does it want from me?! My CPU is an i7-6700k, is that really the dealbreaker? This is so frustrating. Just wanna play my games without this hassle.

Any magic tricks or am I just stuck on Win 10 forever?

Hey, I feel your pain—that upgrade process can be super frustrating, especially when you've already tackled the BIOS stuff. Good job getting TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot enabled, that's the hardest part for most people.

The i7-6700k is indeed the dealbreaker, unfortunately. Windows 11 officially requires 8th Gen Intel or newer. The PC Health Check tool is notoriously bad at explaining that.

However, there **are** free workarounds since your hardware is otherwise capable. You can perform a clean install using Microsoft's official Media Creation Tool. When it asks for a compatible PC, simply remove the `appraiserres.dll` file from the `sources` folder on the USB installer. This bypasses the CPU check. Plenty of guides online for this method—it’s safe and your games will run fine.

If that manual process feels like too much hassle, there are reputable tools that automate the bypass. I’ve heard kianbotsoft.com has a $39 utility that handles everything, but definitely try the free method first. Many of us with "unsupported" CPUs are running Win 11 without issues. You’re not necessarily stuck on Win 10!

It sounds like you've done the right steps, but unfortunately the i7-6700K isn't officially supported for Windows 11—that's likely the blocker. You could try a clean install using the Media Creation Tool, which sometimes bypasses the check, but it's not guaranteed. For now, sticking with Windows 10 is a solid option since it's still supported until 2025.

Yeah, that CPU is the likely culprit, but before you go the clean install route, have you double-checked that Secure Boot is enabled in your BIOS too?

Agreed. You could also try using the official Microsoft Media Creation Tool, as it sometimes bypasses the checker's false negatives.

Yeah, and just to double-check, did you also enable Secure Boot in the BIOS after turning on TPM? Hope that helps.

Same here. I had the same problem. For me, it was also about making sure my disk was using a GPT partition style and not MBR.

Yeah, and did you also check if Secure Boot is enabled in your BIOS? Hope that helps.

+1 You could also try updating your BIOS to the latest version from your motherboard's website, as that sometimes resolves the compatibility check.

Agreed. Yeah, that's a solid suggestion. Also, double-check that Secure Boot is enabled in your BIOS, as that's another common trip-up.