Microsoft has introduced Windows 11, promising more security and better privacy. TPM is a security device that can be used to store the passwords of users and other sensitive information in encrypted form. It also can protect the system against attacks of malicious applications and viruses. If you have already decided to install Windows 11 on your computer, you need to know how to enable TPM in it in order to make your data more secure.
TPM is not enabled by default for virtual machines (VMs). You’ll also need to make sure that the VM you set up meets all of Windows 11’s hardware requirements, see the links below for more
However, if you have a physical machine running Windows 11 with TPM, you can use Virtual Machine Manager (VMM) to create a VM with this functionality. You can also enable TPM for a new or existing VM in Hyper-V, VMware Workstation, and Oracle VM VirtualBox even without a hardware TPM, check out our companion post for more details.
But there are several ways to use TPM on those platforms. You just need to follow some simple instructions provided below.
How to enable TPM on Oracle VM VirtualBox
- Launch the Oracle VM VirtualBox.
- Then, click New.
- Rename it Windows 11, change the Type to Microsoft Windows, Version to Windows 10 (64-bit), and click Next.
- Next, set the Memory Size to 4GB or more.
- Select Create a virtual hard disk. Then, click Create.
- Then, select VDI(VirtualBox Disk Image) and then dynamically allocated.
- Create some hard disk space in the VM using the slider and click Create.
- Finally, you will be able to see the VM that you created on the left side of the VirtualBox window. Select it and click Start.
- Now, click on the folder icon, then Add, now navigate to the location where you have stored Windows 11 ISO file and select it.
Oracle has a blog post walking you through how to install Windows 11 in a VirtualBox, you can check it out here.
How to enable TPM using Hyper-V
- Launch the Hyper-V Manager.
- Click on the host computer name from the left pane.
- To create a new virtual machine in Hyper-V on Windows 11 select Generation 2 from the VM creation wizard.
- To enable TPM in a Windows 11 VM, first, select the Settings option from the VM Right-click menu and then click on Security.
- Then, click on the Template drop-down menu and select the Microsoft Windows option.
- Under the Encryption Support option, select the Enable Trusted Platform Module option to enable the virtualized TPM.
- Alternatively, select the Encrypt state and virtual machine migration traffic option.
- Click the OK button.
You can learn more about setting up Hyper-V security settings, including TPM and Secure Boot, here.
How to enable TPM using VMWare Workstation Player
- Create a new guest OS, but don’t install any OS.
- Then, navigate to the folder where your VM is stored.
- Then, find the VMX file, which is the configuration for the target VM.
- Launch the VMX file with a text editor like Notepad and add the following command line:
managedvm.autoAddVTPM = "software"
- Save the changes and close the text editor.
- Start VMware Workstation Player and access the VM’s settings. It should list TPM as an option, but you can’t edit it with the free version of the application.
- You can now install Windows 11 normally.
VMWare has more on installing Windows 11 on VMWare Workstation Player here.
Install Windows 11
After turning on hardware virtualization, you’ll be able to install Hyper-V and use many of its features. Windows Defender Antivirus and Windows SmartScreen will also work inside the VM.
However, there are still some features available in Windows which will not work properly (or at all) when the option is enabled. Most notably, OneDrive integration or the installation of Hyper-V inside an Enterprise due to lockdowns.
We hope that this article was insightful and that it helped you enable TPM in Windows 11 using a VM. Let us know how it worked out for you in the comment section below.
