tl;dr – encrypt hard disk, enable TPM, install Windows 11.

This may not be one of my typical blog posts, but I thought I would just save it here so that someone else doesn’t have to spend more time trying to figure this out.

I’ve seen a few posts around installing the new OS on VMs, and it looked straightforward but wasn’t the same for me.

Each time I tried to install it, I got the prompt saying that the system specification didn’t meet the minimum requirements. Windows has put up this list of requirements.

Granted, I’m attempting this on a virtual machine, but I’ve run far more complex (and questionable) computational artefacts without issues (technically speaking; wink wink). My test is on a VMware Fusion Professional Version 12.1.2.

TPM TPM TPM

After a bit of digging and distracted perusal of ALDIs upcoming Saturday special buys, I had the EUREKA moment!

TPM 2.0 is a requirement. There you have it! Yes, I was aware of that and can’t forget since the cries and screams from when this was initially announced still echoes around the interwebs.

Unfortunately, the pre-installation checks and failure prompt doesn’t help report why the installation will not proceed.
Like, isn’t TPM supposed to be a thing that is just existing in the default config, and I don’t have to do anything? Not really – is what I realised.

Perhaps I’m not technical enough!? I had allocated 70GB of HD (6 more than the minimum because I felt generous) NVMe is fine, 4GB of RAM, 2 cores, so you know why the failure threw me off.

Here is the catch – you can’t add the TPM unless your HD is in an encrypted state. So, first, encrypt the HD and then add the TPM.
And voila! The installation kicked off, and a few minutes later, you got to the new and refreshed GUI for the account setup.

I personally find the unskippable options such as setting up your security questions and answers annoying. Also, the option to create an offline user account rather than the use of online account is obfuscated and may not be easy to find for some users.

I tend to use examples like the following in general and vault it in my password vault. BeCauSe sECurItY. But for this setup, I went for a slightly less complex but till random strings since copy/paste is not yet active.

A few more configuration options to select from and finally we are done!

I was able to successfully install VMware Tools (v11.2.6.17901274) and the resolutions while at full screen displayed well across my 27″ screen taking advantage of whatever it should be (I’m not going to pretend like I know anything beyond my existing WQHD setup).

There is still a lot more testing to be done and see what new changes have been done under the hood which would mean making changes to data mapping for (but not limited to) forensic data extraction. Lots to be done and not enough time.

As always, please feel free to comment, share, tweet, shout!

Cheers,

Shaine

Featured photo credit: Random selection from WP suggestion.