SOLVED: 5 Ways To Determine Your TPM

If you are interested in Windows 11, you will be interested in your Trusted Platform Module (aka TPM).

What is a TPM?

A TPM is just a physical chip on your computers motherboard that contains a number which is  used by Windows and other software to encrypt (scramble) data and keep you safe.  A TPM can also contain  some passwords and certificates. 

Note that TPM chips are optional.   One of the differences between a corporate brand like Dell OptiPlex and a retail brand like Dell Inspiron was often the TPM.  OptiPlex’s always have TPM’s but not all Inspirons do.

How To Check My TPM Version

There are 5 ready ways to check your TPM.

1: CHECK TPM VIA DEVICE MANAGER

Right click on your START button and select DEVICE MANAGER then expand SECURITY DEVICES:

2: CHECK TPM VIA SYSTEM INFORMATION

Click on your START button and type type SYSTEM INFORMATION, then expand SOFTWARE ENVIRONMENT > SYSTEM DRIVERS > TPM.  If your TPM is STARTED, you have a TPM, but you can’t tell which version from here:

3: CHECK TPM VIA MICROSOFT CONSOLE

Click on your START button and type TPM.MSC then press your ENTER key.  You can see if you have a TPM and what version it is:

4: CHECK TPM VIA COMMAND LINE

Right click on your START button and select WINDOWS POWERSHELL (ADMIN) or WINDOWS TERMINAL (ADMIN) to launch a command line interpreter.  Then copy / paste this command:

get-tpm 

or if you want more details:

get-WmiObject -Namespace root\cimv2\security\microsofttpm -Class Win32_Tpm

5: CHECK TPM VIA BIOS

Shut down your computer, then power it up and repeatedly press whatever key accesses the BIOS / UEFI (often this is the F2 key, the ESC key or the DELETE key, but your machine could be different).  Then search for the BIOS for things like:

• TPM
• Trusted Platform Module
• TPM20
• ADVANCED SECURITY
• TRUSTED COMPUTING
• SECURITY CHIP

CLICK TO EXPAND:

TPM REQUIREMENT IN WINDOWS 11:

The bottom line is that a TPM is a great idea but not all computers have one and even fewer will have a version 2.0 TPM which Microsoft MIGHT make a requirement for Windows 11.  As it stands today, Windows 11 only requires TPM 1.2 but Microsoft has changed that minimum requirement twice already so the future is unknown.