68
Problems Solved
The Intel processor database reveals the Intel Core i7-860 was launched in quarter 3 2009How did my old
PC upgrade to
Windows 11?
Q
I have an old Dell Studio XPS
desktop PC that I use to test
programs. It has an Intel Core
i7-860 running at 2.80GHz, with 8GB
RAM. In 2015 I upgraded the PC from
Windows 7 to Windows 10. However,
when I ran a Windows update, I found
Windows 11 had been installed! Even
more surprising, the PC has continued to
receive updates and runs well. It is now
Windows 11 21H2 build 22.000.493. I had
no idea this was possible. Did you?
David ClowesA
No! Initially, we thought you’d
mistyped the processor name, as
the ‘8’ in ‘860’ made us think it
was a compatible 8th-generation
processor. But, in fact, your processor is
correctly named: the Intel processordatabase, at http://www.snipca.com/41464,
confirms this model was released in 2009
(see screenshot above) – and it’s assuredly
not on Microsoft’s list of supported
processors. Besides, you also said the PC
ran Windows 7 up to 2015, so the
machine is an old model.
As such, we can assume only that thisis the result of some spectacular bug. You
don’t seem annoyed by it so, as
everything’s working okay, we guess you
can look on this as a happy freak event.
Even if not, the chance to go back has
already passed – as Microsoft allows
rolling back to Windows 10 for only 10
days after 11 has been installed.Q
My Windows 10 computer
informs me it cannot update
to Windows 11 because it
needs to support Secure Boot. I
followed the link on the displayed box
to find out more about this, which took
me to the Microsoft page at http://www.
snipca.com/41466. I then followed
these instructions, trying all four
options in the Boot tab of my
computer’s BIOS.
However, I still get the same result.
What am I doing wrong?
Jack GaleA
Judging by the screenshot you
sent, we can see that you’re
looking in the wrong place.
The option that needs to be enabled
should be literally labelled Secure Boot,
but it is almost certainly in the Security
tab of your PC’s BIOS – not Boot.
But before you do that, check that
your PC’s boot drive (C:) is configured
to use what’s known as a globally
unique partition table (or GPT, for
short) – because this is required for
Secure Boot. Press Windows key+X toWhy can’t my computer run Windows 11?
open the Quick Link menu, then click
Disk Management. Now right-click the
boot drive (almost certainly labelled
‘Disk 0’) and choose Properties (see
screenshot^1 ).
On the dialogue that appears, click the
Volume tab and then look alongside the
‘Partition style’ label: if it says GPT here^2 ,
you’re good to proceed as explained
above.
Hopefully, there’ll be nothing more for
you to do. However, if your PC’s boot
drive is configured as MBR drive, thenyou’ll need to convert it to GPT. This is
safe and won’t result in any data loss
unless something goes wrong, but we
recommend strongly backing up before
proceeding. Now follow Microsoft’s
guide to the conversion process, at
http://www.snipca.com/41467.
Finally, return to your BIOS to enable
Secure Boot and you should now be
able to install Windows 11.
If you want to know why your computer
can’t upgrade to Windows 11, ask us and
we’ll explain in this box every issueSelect ‘Properties' (1); in the next window, see
if the 'Partition style' says GPT (2)27 April – 10 May 2022 • Issue 6301 2