Microsoft recently updated the requirements for Windows 11 to clarify that TPM 2.0 and UEFI Secure Boot are a must for those looking to upgrade to Windows 11. This has led to a lot of confusion among users, especially those who ran Microsoft’s PC Health Check and found that their PC is not suitable to run Windows 11.

However, since the PC Health Check doesn’t specify why your PC can’t run Windows 11, there’s little guidance on what you can do to make it compatible. However, if your PC does meet other hardware specifications to run Windows 11, there’s a good chance that the problem lies with UEFI secure boot itself.

Here's everything you need to know about UEFI secure boot and why Microsoft has made it (and TPM 2.0) mandatory for users to upgrade to the latest operating system.

Unified Extensible Firmware Interface, or UEFI, is the replacement for the age-old legacy BIOS firmware required to boot your system. While many still use the two terms interchangeably, UEFI is the newer of the two and therefore more secure. Microsoft calls it a security measure and has now made it mandatory for PCs to have UEFI capabilities in order to install and run Windows 11.