Question Is there a TPM adapter for motherboards with no TPM header?

[jschultz0614]

As the title states:

Is there a TPM adapter for motherboards with no TPM header?

I have an ASUS Rampage IV Extreme with several internal USB3 headers and 2 free PCIe x16 (running at x8) slots available.

I mean surely since Windows 10 EOL is 2025 Microsoft doesn't expect everyone to dump their current platform in order to use Windows 11. Some of us just do not have the ability to upgrade our Motherboard, Processor, and RAM?

 

[DSzymborski]

No. Without hardware support on some level, there's no workaround.

I'd wait and see what the eventual requirements and policies are. Microsoft's recently said that you can in fact install Windows 11 if you do it yourself, but has been cagey about whether you can get security updates if you do it this way.

In the worst case scenario, Windows 10 will still get support until late 2025. By the time you would no longer get security updates, your motherboard will be 14 years old and even if you still are using something that old, you can always use Linux.

 

[jschultz0614]

yeah, unfortunately, I use apps that do not like Linux. If that were not the case, I would switch in a heartbeat.

 

[hotaru.hino]

I have an ASUS Rampage IV Extreme with several internal USB3 headers and 2 free PCIe x16 (running at x8) slots available.

I mean surely since Windows 10 EOL is 2025 Microsoft doesn't expect everyone to dump their current platform in order to use Windows 11. Some of us just do not have the ability to upgrade our Motherboard, Processor, and RAM?

Your platform is approaching 10 years old. It'll be 15 years years old by the time of Windows 10's EOL. It's a bloody miracle that a hardware company would still support anything that's 15 years old.

I'm pretty sure Intel dropped support for your platform. Microsoft isn't going to support hardware the company themselves aren't going to support, because if Microsoft has a problem, they have no help to fix it.

EDIT: Also if anything, an OS that doesn't receive support anymore mostly just means it no longer gets updates. It doesn't mean the OS just stops working or Microsoft sends a kill switch to make it unusable. It's very likely you can still use Windows 10 well after the EOL date. The only risk you have is if there's any lingering security issues with the OS, Microsoft won't fix it.

 

[geeksalive]

No. Without hardware support on some level, there's no workaround.

A "TPM Adapter" would be "hardware support."

I've searched for a PCIe or USB TPM adapter, but, so far, I haven't found one. It seems like there would be a lot of demand for such a product, if it would enable older machines to run Windows 11. So, is there a technical reason that nobody seems to be making one?

However, there's a 2nd hurdle, as well, for many older machines, because it is my understanding that Win11 will refuse to install on a machine with no UEFI support.

 

[USAFRet]

As the title states:


I have an ASUS Rampage IV Extreme with several internal USB3 headers and 2 free PCIe x16 (running at x8) slots available.

I mean surely since Windows 10 EOL is 2025 Microsoft doesn't expect everyone to dump their current platform in order to use Windows 11. Some of us just do not have the ability to upgrade our Motherboard, Processor, and RAM?

It will be 15 years old by the time Win 10 falls off support.
That's a pretty good run.

And its not just the lack of TPM, but your CPU as well.

 

[DSzymborski]

A "TPM Adapter" would be "hardware support."

I see no evidence that one exists, so not having a TPM port means no hardware support. Given the way the respective protocols are designed, a USB adapter for a TPM module would be the equivalent of an adapter that makes your refrigerator run only at room temperature.

 

[hotaru.hino]

TPM cannot be adapted to USB or PCIe, because TPM is a security module that needs to be available before the computer even boots.

This video, despite the implementation applying only to Apple, can still provide a general idea of how TPM can work in the system. Just replace the T2 module with TPM.