Microsoft’s Windows 11 PC Health Check App Is Back And Better Than Ever

Shortly after Microsoft announced Windows 11 earlier this Summer, it made its PC Health Check available to let Windows 10 users know if their device met the minimum requirements to upgrade. However, the app did more to frustrate users with its unclear error messages and lack of explanation for why systems were labeled as incompatible with Windows 11.

"Based on the feedback so far, we acknowledge that it was not fully prepared to share the level of detail or accuracy you expected from us on why a Windows 10 PC doesn't meet upgrade requirements," wrote Microsoft in June. It then removed the app as it integrated tweaks to make it more user-friendly.

The PC Health Check app is now back, and anyone (not just Windows Insiders) can download it to see if their system is worthy of Windows 11. As it currently stands, these are the basic requirements necessary to upgrade to Windows 11:

• Processor: 64-bit capable 1GHz processor (dual-core or better)
• RAM: 4GB
• Storage: 64GB
• System firmware: UEFI, Secure Boot capable
• TPM: Trusted Platform Module (TPM) version 2.0
• Graphics card: DirectX 12 compatible or later with WDDM 2.0 driver
• Display: High definition (720p) greater than 9 inches diagonally, 8 bits per color channel

The requirement that has stymied most users is the mandatory TPM 2.0 support. However, Microsoft has also caught flak by leaving out first-generation Ryzen 1000 and 7^th generation and older Intel Core processors. Microsoft later updated its processor requirements to include the following 7^th generation chips: Core X-Series, Xeon W-Series, and Core i7-7820HQ.

With the updated PC Health Check app, users can now get a clear picture of where their current system is lacking or if they have the "all clear" to proceed with the Windows 11 upgrade. I ran the utility on an ASUS VivoBook 15 laptop (F512JA-OH36) and was glad to learn that it is fully compliant with Windows 11.

If you want to try out the PC Health Check App and make sure that you are prepared for the big upgrade, click the download link at the bottom of Microsoft's Introduction to Windows 11 website.