Windows 11 (RM compatibility)

[David-649864]

Will the new windows 11 be compatible with Rail Master, after the trouble with windows 10.

[Chrissaf]

If you are currently experiencing issues running RailMaster with Win10 (not everybody does), then Win 11 is not likely to fix your issues. If you currently have no issues with Win10 then I expect that to not make any difference with 11.

RailMaster works with Win10 if set up correctly. Review the RailMaster FAQ Index to see if your issue is listed there.

It is far too early to give a definite comment on Win11 as it is not yet released outside the BETA tester environment to the public.

[96RAF]

I thought Win10 was to be the last and perpetual version.

[RDS]

@David

Moderator Note:

Could you please select the 'View my Community’ in your Dashboard on the Forum and choose a nickname in the ‘My profile' tab, rather than your First name that has been automatically allocated by the system. Hopefully a Forum change is coming soon to prevent this automatic allocation but a manual change is required at the moment and there is definitely more than one member with your name.

Incidentally, I run Railmaster on 2 Windows 10 PC's without any issue whatsoever.

[RB51]

As I understood it W11 is a business Windows variant and will be available by subscription.

Looks as though I might not have that quite right. More info here on W11.

Windows 11: Release date, price, and everything you need to know | Windows Central

Nothing about compatibility with RM grinning Chris's logic seems most relevant. R-

[St1ngr4y]

I read somewhere recently that you need a pc with quite a recent specification to run W11. Any pc older than about 6 years can’t run W11.

[96RAF]

Quote from Windows update site...

I have no idea what all that means, but role out begins in October.

[Chrissaf]

I read somewhere that it needed an 8th Generation Intel processor or better.

[Fishmanoz]

8th generation is exactly what it says in Roger’s link article, with some provision for 7th generation.

[Chrissaf]

I thought Win10 was to be the last and perpetual version.

 

 

No proof on this, but I suspect that Win11 is part of Microsoft's bigger game plan to eventually move Windows to a 'subscription based' service that relies far more on Internet access to MS servers. Hence the PC spec requirements. I have already read elsewhere that Win11 is focusing a lot more on 'client server' working not too dissimilar to their Office 365 subscription service.

[RB51]

I see this morning that MS are to make W11 compatible with a bigger range of chips. There have been numerous complaints about obsolescence. R-

.

[96RAF]

I see this morning that MS are to make W11 compatible with a bigger range of chips. There have been numerous complaints about obsolescence. R-

 

 

Shades of Apple and their planned obsolescence of iPads. I have two which are in good order but stuffed by being held at update level v9.3.5 and few apps will still work with them.

If MS goes down the same ‘...you must keep up...’ route they will lose out in the end.

Own by subscription like 365 is better aligned to Company use than Joe-Bloggs.

[Protain]

To answer the original poster - current RailMaster version works on Windows 11 beta by following exactly the same steps as Windows 10.

[St1ngr4y]

On some of my pc's in the Windows Update page of settings, Microsoft have provided a link to a webpage which gives the hardware specifications required to upgrade to Windows 11. Wouldn't you think the least they could do is provide a small "App", which would examine your pc hardware and just give a "Yes" or "No" answer to its compatability.

Ray

[Chrissaf]

They have.

I performed a Windows Update yesterday and I got a message as part of 'Windows Update' that my PC did not meet the criteria. It then guided me to a link to download a small utility. The utility told me that my PC met all the requirements except for TPM. It then offered another link to a webpage to describe what TPM was. It transpired that my PC did have TPM but it was disabled in the BIOS. So if I chose to enable TPM in my BIOS then my PC would be fully compliant.

The checking utility was called "PC Health Check".

TPM is a hardware encryption chip that is fitted to more modern motherboards, hence why it is enabled / disabled in BIOS (the BIOS needs to be the UEFI variety). TPM then, as I understand it, encrypts ALL data stored on the PC. I beleve that it is usually disabled because it can become possible in certain failure conditions for all data on the hard drive to become locked in its encrypted state and inaccessible. One very good reason why I shan't be an early adoptor for Windows 11. Windows 10 will continue to be supported until 2025, so as long as I leave TPM disabled in my BIOS, Windows Update will continue to ignore the W10 to W11 upgrade offer. Subject, of course, to MS not moving the W11 criteria goal posts and removing the TPM requirement.

For anybody considering browsing their BIOS configuration screens looking for TPM, be aware that the feature may not be listed as TPM in their BIOS Menu system. In my case, the TPM function is called PTT and listed under my BIOS PCH FW menu option. I found this out because I went to the ASUS support website for my motherboard where the "How to enable TPM" process was documented with screen shot based descriptions. So I recommend researching TPM on your own motherboard manufacturers website support pages before looking in your BIOS menu.

[Fishmanoz]

Thanks for that Chris. I have 2 MS Surface Pros, similar specs, one 2-3 yrs older than the other. Older one not compatible, newer one is. They are set up similarly, both accessing the same OneDrive files with Outlook archives running back nearly 20 yrs and still used around weekly.

Given your issue, I will be running PC Health Check again and taking more note of the specific error, which I thought was processor (7th Gen i7 Intel). Then will read more before upgrading the newer (also a 7th Gen i7 but later version) because I will still be wanting to access all my files from OneDrive from both.

Soon many will have no choice - their new purchase will have 11 installed and no option. I can’t imagine the fuss if fault conditions lock them out of their own encrypted files.

I think we need some advice from AC here?

[96RAF]

There is quite a bit on line about this TPM and its alternative ‘names’. As Chris said it pays to look up your mobo and see if the facility is there and how they suggest you handle it.

Once you get your PC seen in Health Check as compliant then the Windows 11 Installation Assistant will download and take care of the update, which is simpler and quicker than the Win10 update was - around 2 hours including restarts.

So far none of my kit can be tweaked -all too old - with the possible exception of an i7 laptop to be further investigated. I will need Win11 for future testing purposes so the piggy-bank may have to take a hit.

[Brew Man]

I have TPM also but it is version 1.2, not version 2.0 as required by W11. So upgrades will have to wait.

EDIT: It looks like I might be able to upgrade the firmware from 1.2 to 2.0. I need to read further.

[Fishmanoz]

My older Surface Pro - definitely the processor not on the W11 list. It has everything else incl TPM 2.0 enabled. That doesn’t mean you’ve selected to encrypt everything, just that you can if you wish.

[Augustus Caesar]

While I have stayed clear of this thread I have been following it.

For obvious reasons I did not wish to put any information on here because compatibility issues regarding certain hardware on the PC Health Check program released by Microsoft was actually incorrect and also had omitted reasons why the PC or laptop was incompatible in the first place. Hardware checks were always likely to have new data added over time where incompatible machines were suddenly compatible. The software is now back up for download and has been for a week or two and is better at informing you for what level of compatibility there is.

One alarming feature that I find deeply annoying is that if you use a laptop or PC that is connected to a server then your machine will not be read by the MS tool. That is an omission in the software and needs addressing very quickly. For anyone who IS connected through a server to the outside world then all is not lost. Follow this link to get a free, public domain program, called WhyNotWin11.

https://github.com/rcmaehl/WhyNotWin11

Scroll down past the large image of its interface and find the link Download latest stable release.

The program tells what hardware is not compatible and why. It says my AMD processor is not going to work with Win11 but I know it will. It also tells me that TMP is missing or disabled. It is correct in the latter as it is disabled. The program is very fast but may take a few seconds to calculate DirectX and WDDM2 as both areas are tested as one part.

What you HAVE to realise here is that the initial compatibility list is not exhaustive and some older hardware will be added once they are verified by MS, users and especially by those who are beta testers for MS. My processor is way above the minimum specs listed below and is not, as yet, tested it seems. Well, not everything is perfect so be aware that these tools come up with accurate results 95% of the time but having said that they are pretty good at what they do.

Microsoft’s Health Check Tool works through Windows Update so make sure that is working properly.

Here are the minimum specs and my comments alongside (marked with an *) only where I find it necessary…

Processor: 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster with 2 or more cores on a compatible 64-bit processor or System on a Chip (SoC).

Memory: 4 GB RAM.

Storage: 64 GB or larger storage device.

System firmware: UEFI, Secure Boot capable. * UEFI is required as the older BIOS versions are not secure. Check your mobo specs or visit the mobo manufacturer site for its manual or further information.

TPM: Trusted Platform Module (TPM) version 2.0. * Anything earlier is no good and cannot be changed.

Graphics card: Compatible with DirectX 12 or later with WDDM 2.0 driver.

Display Resolution: High definition (720p) display that is greater than 9" diagonally, 8 bits per colour channel.

Internet connection: Microsoft account and internet connectivity required for setup for Windows 11 Home. * The first part of that is not strictly true and MS have been brought to book by trying to force users to install Windows 10 and setup an MS account to do so. The trick here on a clean install, or if available while setting up, is to disconnect the Internet cable and tell Windows you do not have an Internet connection. This allows you to install Windows 10, and presumably, Windows 11 with a LOCAL account where you do not have the PC logging into MS servers every time you start the machine up. Sneaky skills… simples.

 

A few things some of you may wish to know…

·        Your device must be running Windows 10, version 2004 (April 2020) or later, to upgrade. Simply update Windows 10 to meet those requirements if your hardware can take it.

·        Microsoft are committed to supporting Windows 10 until at least14th October 2025.

·        The free upgrade offer does not have a specific end date for eligible systems. However, Microsoft say they reserve the right to eventually end support for the free offer. This end date will be no sooner than the 5th October 2022.

·        Rolling back to Windows 10 if you don’t like Windows 11. After you have installed the Windows 11 upgrade, there is a 10-day period where you can move back to Windows 10 while keeping files and data that you brought over to Windows 11 with you. After the 10 days, you will need to back up your data and do a ‘clean install’ to move back to Windows 10.

·        Windows 11 and Windows 10 require approximately the same amount of disk space once installed. During the upgrade process, however, extra space is required. Windows will clean up this extra disk space about 10 days after the upgrade is complete and once done you cannot roll back, see above.

·        Certain features require specific hardware. System requirements to run some apps will exceed the Windows 11 minimum device specifications. Check device compatibility information specific to the apps you want to install. Available storage on your device will vary based on installed apps and updates. Performance will scale with higher end, more capable PC's or laptops. Additional requirements may apply over time and for updates.

Windows 11 was released just under a fortnight ago and some users will not see the option to upgrade offered to them until some distant time into 2022. You can beat that by manually checking updates and installing yourself or even go directly to the MS download portal and follow their instructions. It may be a little time into the future before this option is available generally. The reason for this is easy... this affords time for MS to add compatibility to the Windows 11 OS for certain hardware not yet tested.

By the way, MS’s PC Health Check software says my PC is one year old. No it isn’t. It’s about two and a half years old. That date you see on the program interface is taken from day one Windows was installed to the hardware so don’t take it as absolute. If you reinstall Windows the count starts again unless they have sorted that which I doubt wholeheartedly.

One more thing… if you own an Android phone or tablet and wish you could run the apps you love to bits on a Microsoft PC… well, with Windows 11 you can. No extra software or hardware required. It happens right out of the box… go check it out. AMD and Arm chips won't need Bridge to run Android apps as in the past.

And yes, RM will run on a Windows 11 PC. Windows 11 is really Windows 10 with a lot of new facilities and some taken away. Mostly though it is a totally new design with its innards and new user interface. Cortana is no longer a fixed tool on the taskbar, hurray. Just a little bugbear when I install Windows so many times when repairing or reinstalling.

[Augustus Caesar]

What is the reason for using UEFI over BIOS? That's easy for some and not so for others.

 

Here's a brief explanation which may help those who know how to get into the 'BIOS' chip when booting up their laptop or PC:

 

The terms BIOS and UEFI are often used interchangeably, but in reality they’re two different generations of firmware-based computer instructions. BIOS, which stands for Basic Input Output System, is the older of the two instruction sets. In 2007 BIOS was largely supplanted by UEFI, which stands for Unified Extensible Firmware Interface. UEFI offers a few major advantages over BIOS, including enhanced security features, but many UEFI motherboards still offer BIOS support while in Legacy mode.

 

Microsoft decided to leverage the advances of UEFI in Windows 11 in order to offer enhanced security for users. This means that Windows 11 MUST run with UEFI, and is not compatible with BIOS or Legacy Compatibility Mode. When checking to see if your PC is Windows 11 capable, you must also enable Secure Boot, which is a UEFI-only feature.

 

You can check your Windows install mode before enabling Secure Boot by searching for the System Information app in the search bar and checking your BIOS Mode setting. If your system reports that it is in UEFI mode then you are good to go. However, if it doesn’t report being in UEFI mode, then you are in a mode not supported by Windows 11.

 

If you switch over to UEFI at this point, your operating system likely won’t boot, due to the hard drive being set to Legacy boot mode instead of UEFI. It’s always a good idea to document your BIOS or UEFI settings before changing them in case you need to revert those settings later.

 

If you didn’t document your settings changes and your computer no longer boots - don’t panic. You can still reset your system back to Legacy mode.

 

So what is the conclusion here? Your system will need to be set to UEFI to install Windows 11. If you’ve been using Legacy mode in Windows 10, you’ll need to switch to UEFI and then do a fresh install before trying to upgrade to Windows 11.

Remember, UEFI and BIOS are NOT the same.

[Augustus Caesar]

Bypass the TPM 2.0 requirement for a Windows 11 install on unsupported PC's...

This can be a pointless exercise but Microsoft themselves posted this alternative on their own website. They also warned that the changing of the necessary registry entries can cause certain glitches which will render Windows 11 defective in some areas.

In order to effect the change however, your machine MUST have TPM 1.2 enabled.

Now, I am not going to deliver the registry changes here but if you do find them online be aware that updates may not be delivered to your system automatically and other areas of the OS may be 'broken'. MS do say a total reinstall of the OS may be necessary as add-ons in future may require TPM 2.0 anyway.

[Augustus Caesar]

What is TPM 2.0?

TPM stands for Trusted Platform Module, and its job is to protect data used to authenticate the PC you’re using. TPMs can actually be found in lots of different devices, while on a PC TPM can also be used to maintain platform integrity, facilitate disk encryption, store password and certificates etc.

Windows 11's TPM requirement is not new to PC’s. Windows 10 and Windows 7 both support TPM and have used it for a variety of functions. Windows 10 even went as far as to say it is a requirement but never actually enforced the issue too much.

Why is TPM 2.0 a requirement for Windows 11?

Windows, being the most popular OS in the world, has made it a relatively easy target for hackers. By making TPM 2.0 a requirement, Microsoft is hoping to make the life of the hacker just that little bit harder.

Does my PC have TPM 2.0 support already?

If your machine is relatively up to date (usually less than four years old), then there's a very good chance your system supports TPM 2.0. Some folk may argue over whether that's true hardware TPM support or the firmware based TPM, which is basically offered by your CPU.

Intel has various technologies that offer TPM 2.0 support, under a variety of names, but keep an eye out for PTT (Platform Trust Technology) and IPT (Identity Protection Technology) before trying to turn on TPM 2.0 in your UEFI/BIOS. Essentially though, Intel has supported TPM 2.0 on all its chips since Skylake, and on selected chips up to two generations before that.

AMD has supported TPM 2.0 since the Ryzen 2500, with its fTPM (Firmware TPM). So all of its Zen 2 and Zen 3 processors are also covered. 

Microsoft has produced a full list of supported CPUs - see below for the links.

If your processor is on there, then you're good - or at least your CPU is not the reason Windows 11 refuses to play ball.

Here's an option you may wish to check out if yo do not have the TPM module on your motherboard...

If your CPU doesn't natively support TPM 2.0 you can add a separate physical module to your machine to upgrade its support. You need to check your motherboard manual to make sure there is an SPI TPM 2.0 header (socket) present and then it's a case of tracking down a compatible module. Your CPU will still need to be on that aforementioned list though, so if it isn't, there's not much point adding a TPM separately.

Intel CPU's -

Windows processor requirements Windows 11 supported Intel processors | Microsoft Docs

AMD CPU's -

Windows processor requirements Windows 11 supported AMD processors | Microsoft Docs

[Augustus Caesar]

One final thing before you decide to upgrade to Windows 11...

Those of you who have an AMD Ryzen processor may wish to hold on for a huge fix to the L3 Cache Latency problem which is slowing performance of the processor by 10-15% in cases.

Here's a link to check this story out which is only a few hours old and therefore fresh to the public domain....

AMD Ryzen users should delay upgrading to Windows 11 due to performance issues