AlthoughMicrosoftNo update official tool to checkWindows11 compatibility, just like the PC Health Check app before it, but users can still resort to a trick of digging into the Windows registry to find out if the system is ready to accept Windows 11 22H2 (Sun Valley 2).
This information can be found in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software, where the “TargetVesionUpgradeExperienceIndicators” subtree sheds light on whether the computer is 22H2-ready, or if something is preventing its compatibility and ability to upgrade to Sun Valley 2 (SV2).
The full address of this subkey is:
HKLM\SOFTWARE\MicrosoftWindows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\TargetVersionUpgradeExperienceIndicators\NI22H2
In this folder, the “UpEx” and “UpExU” values should be set to “Green” if a system is ready to use Windows 11 22H2. Also, the value of “RedReason” should be “None”. Conversely, for an incompatible system, the values should be “Red” instead of “Green”, and RedReason should list the reasons for making it incompatible, such as missing TPM 2.0 or Secure Boot.
Below is an example of an incompatible system posted by Twitter user Panu Saukko that has an unsupported CPU and does not support TPM. This screenshot was taken on a Windows 10 version 20H2 system, which is why the upgrade experience indicators for Windows versions 21H1, 21H2, CO21H2 and NI22H2 appear.
More details on compatible or incompatible specifications can be found in the “CompatMarkers/NI22H2” folder directly above.
