If you are thinking of installing Windows 11, you will be interested to know how to activate the TPM of your PC. And it is that, in order to use the latest version of Microsoft's operating system, it is absolutely essential to have a TPM 2.0 chip.
Why that need? Most importantly, this is a chip specifically designed to enhance computer encryption, a chip that not all teams have. Even the most modern. It is very likely that even if the computer you are using is only 1 or 2 years old, it is not compatible with Windows 11 for this reason.
First of all, we are going to explain what exactly is the TPM and what is its use. First of all, it must be said that TPM stands for Trusted Platform Module. In Spanish, "trusted platform module". That is precisely what we are talking about: an interesting security system for our computers.
What is the TPM chip
Explained in a few words, we can define the TPM chip as a Microsoft solution that is part of the startup process of a computer and that is capable of protecting our data, so that the stored information is safe from prying eyes.
The TPM chips are physically separate from the main CPU, although they are connected to the main circuitry of the computer. The great advantage of this is that sensitive information is stored in the computer's TPM, an impregnable redoubt against attacks that may have affected the rest of the team. Even when the computer is infected with a malware or virus, its basic functionalities will be safe thanks to the TPM.
This chip incorporates various physical security mechanisms such as a crypto processor. In fact, this is its most outstanding function, whose main mission is to store keys or encrypted information about our credentials. On the other hand, as it is a hardware-based chip, it is much more difficult for an external attacker to access our data, which will not be stored in memory.
Since 2016 there is the requirement to install the TPM 2.0 chip on all devices running Windows, although until Windows 10 the first version of the TPM was sufficient. In the case of Windows 11, as we said at the beginning of the post, it is essential, since we are going to need it to install the operating system. These measures are part of Microsoft's new security policy, which also includes the launch of Windows Defender and other programs.
The truth is that this chip comes installed in passive state on many teams. In other words: it comes installed from the factory, but disabled. To be able to use it, you have to activate it manually, as we explain below.
How to activate the TPM chip
There are several methods to activate the TPM of your PC. We explain them below. The first step should be to find out what version we have installed on our computer by following these steps:
- First we go to the menu Home.
- Then we press the gear icon to open the Configuration.
- There we select the option Update and Security.
- In the left column, we click Windows security.
- Then in the options Protection Areas we chose the one of Device security.
- select Security Processor, where all the details appear (see image above).
If, when executing these steps, we do not find the Security processor section in sight, it will mean that the TPM of our computer is disabled.
To be more sure, we can use another method: open the start menu and write the text in it tpm. msc. A program with that name will appear. When we open it, we can find two results:
- show the result "No compatible TPM found", which means that it will be necessary to install it.
- To appear TPM information. That means that it is installed, although it is possible that it is disabled and you have to activate it manually.
Manual activation in UEFI BIOS
To activate the TPM on your PC, once we have verified that it is already installed on the computer, we have to make sure that our motherboard has the TPM connector and that we have a BIOS UEFI type. Once these checks have been made, the method to follow is this:
- Before we start, we have to turn off the computer and turn it back on.
- When the startup is running, at some point a sign will appear that tells us Press X* to enter Setup. It is the key that will allow us to access the BIOS.
- Once inside the BIOS, you have to look for the TPM section, which is usually housed in the security section.
- Finally, we activate the option and save the changes before exiting.
(*) This «X» can be any other key. It can be for example Del, F8, F9 ó F12, depending on what our BIOS is.