Windows 11 for a small office: which PCs to keep, fix or replace

What Windows 11 checks

Microsoft’s minimum requirements, in short:

• A processor on Microsoft’s supported list — broadly Intel 8th-generation Core and later, and AMD Ryzen 2000 series and later, with exceptions.
• 4 GB of memory and 64 GB of storage.
• UEFI firmware that is Secure Boot capable.
• TPM version 2.0.
• DirectX 12 graphics with a WDDM 2.0 driver.

Memory and storage are cheap to fix. The processor is the requirement that decides whether a PC gets replaced — and the firmware settings are what wrongly fail machines that are otherwise fine.

Two settings that fail good machines

The TPM is switched off

Every processor on Microsoft’s list has a TPM 2.0 built into it — Intel calls it PTT, AMD calls it fTPM — but plenty of boards, self-built PCs and older business models especially, ship with it switched off. Windows then sees no TPM at all.

To check, press Windows+R, type tpm.msc and look for The TPM is ready for use with Specification Version 2.0. If it reports that no compatible TPM was found, look in the firmware setup under Security or Trusted Computing for Intel PTT, AMD fTPM or Security Device Support, and switch it on.

The PC still starts the old way

Windows 11 needs UEFI firmware, and PCs set up years ago often start in legacy (CSM) mode from a disk with the older MBR layout. Run msinfo32 and read two lines: BIOS Mode should say UEFI, and Secure Boot State should say On.

If BIOS Mode says Legacy, Microsoft’s MBR2GPT tool can convert the system disk in place, from an administrator Command Prompt — validate first, and convert only if validation passes:

mbr2gpt /validate /allowFullOS
mbr2gpt /convert /allowFullOS

Then switch the firmware to UEFI mode, and turn Secure Boot on while you are there. Take a full backup first: the conversion cannot be undone, the PC will not start until the firmware is changed, and a disk encrypted with BitLocker needs protection suspended beforehand — Microsoft’s page covers that step.

One PC, or all of them

For a single machine, Microsoft’s PC Health Check app gives a yes or a no. For an office, two things make it slow going: walking to every desk, and a “no” that does not say whether the fix is five minutes in the firmware or a processor that will never qualify. Those are very different bills.

Keep, fix or replace

Once you know where each machine stands, the decision mostly makes itself:

• Qualifies now — move it to Windows 11. The upgrade is free.
• Qualifies after a setting — one visit to switch on the TPM or convert to UEFI, then upgrade.
• Processor not supported — plan a replacement. Windows 11 can be forced onto an unsupported processor, but Microsoft does not support that, and a business should not rely on it.
• Not yet — Microsoft’s Extended Security Updates keep an organisation’s Windows 10 PCs patched for up to three years after end of support, at $61 per device for the first year and double that each year after. A bridge, not a plan.

Look at the rest of each machine while you are about it. A PC that qualifies but still starts from a hard disk, or has 4 GB of memory, is often worth a cheap SSD or a memory upgrade rather than a replacement. And a drive that is showing signs of failure should be replaced now, whatever else the plan says.

How Bottleneck plans it

Bottleneck Enterprise does the survey and the sorting. Each PC runs an unattended scan, deployed however you deploy software, and writes a file to a shared folder you choose. Nothing goes to the cloud, so it works on networks that are not allowed to send data out.

The refresh plan then puts every machine in one pile — keep, fix settings first, move to Windows 11, upgrade, or replace now or within a year — with the reason, its Windows 11 status and a cost worked out from prices you set, and exports it as a spreadsheet for whoever raises the purchase orders. It checks each processor against Microsoft’s lists and reads UEFI, Secure Boot and the TPM on every machine. When it does not recognise a processor it says “check”: it never tells you to replace a machine it cannot identify.

Enterprise is a one-off purchase, from $499 for up to 100 machines. See pricing for larger offices.