Windows 11 is already around the corner. Microsoft‘s new operating system is scheduled to arrive on October 5 , in just over two weeks, to all users. This new OS has been giving a lot to talk about since its launch, both due to its risky aesthetic change and the strict minimum requirements to be able to install it on the PC. And, although we had more or less already done it, and some of the requirements (such as the TPM) could be skipped, recently Microsoft has gotten serious in this regard and has reinforced these requirements. And with it, greatly limiting where to install and test the OS.
Of course, the biggest controversy generated by this operating system is the need to have a TPM 2.0 chip in the PC in order to install the new OS. Or else we won’t be able to install it. Thanks to this chip, Microsoft wants to strengthen the general security of the operating system, force the use of Secure Boot and guarantee that there are fewer problems when making certain changes, such as installing updates.
This chip is going to be mandatory for all computers. However, the company left it a bit up in the air when installing Windows 11 in a virtual machine. In this way, both more experienced users, companies and developers could safely test the operating system to make sure everything was working correctly before installing the new version on the real PC.
However, it seems that this has come to an end.
Goodbye to installing Windows 11 in a virtual machine
With the arrival of the latest Insider build, Microsoft has tightened the security of its minimum requirements to prevent users from continuing to install the OS on unsupported systems. And this has taken virtual machines ahead. At least for VirtualBox users.
Hyper-V and VMware support TPM on their virtual machines. Both solutions are prepared to be able to simulate this security measure in virtual machines (optionally, so that we only use it when we want to) so that Windows 11 updates can continue to work without problems.
However, with VirtualBox things are different. Oracle virtualization software does not support the TPM, so users who used it to test Windows 11 have run out of support. The company has announced that it is working on a new driver that will allow virtual machines to access the physical TPM chip of the computer to make Windows 11, and other systems that depend on this chip, can be installed without problems. However, unlike its rivals, VirtualBox will depend on the TPM chip of the PC . And, if our computer does not have it, it will not work.
For now we can only wait for this new feature to arrive in VirtualBox. And in the meantime, we have no choice but to start using VMware. Unfortunately for those of us who use Oracle virtualization software, it is lagging far behind its rivals.
Is Windows turning into a kind of macOS?
Windows has always stood out over macOS for not setting too many conditions to be able to install the operating system. It is enough to meet some basic requirements of CPU, RAM and free space to be able to install the system on any PC. However, with the arrival of Windows 11 this is changing.
Microsoft has not only changed many aspects of the Windows interface (which, curiously, looks a lot like the Apple system), but it has also become much more radical in terms of the requirements necessary to install the system, leaving Millions of users who do not have a TPM 2.0 chip in their computers are in the lurch.
Windows 11 looks more like macOS than we’d like, both in appearance and in requirements to function. Could it be that the freedom that has always characterized the Microsoft system is closing?