Why not Windows 11: Check why your PC isn’t compatible
Windows 11 is expected to arrive later this year. This timeline may or may not be real but Microsoft has released the minimum hardware requirements for the OS. They also released, and then removed the Health check app which checked a system for Windows 11 compatibility.
Users that want to run Windows 11 on their current system instead of buying a new one have the base requirements to go on, or they can try installing the beta build and it will tell them if their system is compatible with the OS.
Why not Windows 11?
Minimum hardware requirements, and a compatibility check are both useful but many users find their systems are still flagged as incompatible for the new OS despite meeting the listed requirements.
The hardware component that renders a system incompatible with Windows 11 is never mentioned. Users are generally left to figure it out on there own which is where Why not Windows 11 comes in.
Why not Windows 11 is a free open-source, third-party health checking script that tells you, component-wise why your system may not be compatible with Windows 11.
Use Why not Windows 11
To use Why not Windows 11, follow these steps.
- Download Why not Windows 11 from Github.
- Run the EXE file.
- Allow the script to scan the system.
- Hardware components that are not compatible will be highlighted with reason.
Why not Windows 11 requirements and limitations
Why not Windows 11 has some baseline requirements for it to run.
- The script will run on Windows 8.1 and is compatible with the latest Windows 10 build
- The script will not run on Windows 7.
- On a Windows 8.1 system, it may not be able to accurately check for DirectX 12 support which is needed for the HDR feature but isn’t a blocker when it comes to installing Windows 11.
- On a Windows 10 system, the app will run only if the system is a 64-bit system.
- On a Windows 8.1 system, the app will be able to run on a 32-bit system as well as a 64-bit system.
Result accuracy
Why not Windows 11 is fairly accurate. You should know that when Windows 11 tells you a system isn’t compatible during the upgrade process, it isn’t always a given that the OS will not run on it. It may not be able to run all Windows 11 features but if you have somewhat recent hardware, it should be able to run without any problems.
Take the example of the script run on a system that is running Windows 11 and you will see that the CPU is flagged as a reason why the system may not be compatible. It’s why Windows 11 may flag it too but as you can see, the OS is running fine.
Conclusion
Why not Windows 11 will help you figure out what is keeping your system from running Windows 11. In some cases, you may be able to fix the problem e.g., if you’ve disabled secure boot, you can enable it and you will be able to install the OS. In other cases, you may need to upgrade hardware e.g., if you do not have a TPM chip or if the TPM chip is not version 2.0 (or later).
