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Maximus VIII Hero Alpha and TPM - PTT not exposed in BIOS

Praful_Kapadia
Level 7
About five years ago, I built a PC with the Maximus VIII Hero Alpha mobo. It's been great. With an i7-6700K, 32GB RAM, and a 2TB Nvme SSD, it runs Windows 10. I use the desktop for all kinds of things but mainly development and photo editing. I often have about 20 apps open, including WSL. The machine is fast - even a "heavy" app like Visual Studio Code starts instantaneously!

So when I learnt Windows 11 requires TPM 2.0, I realised I wouldn't be able to run the OS. The mobo doesn't include a header for a TPM chip or the PTT BIOS setting.

On reading more, I learnt that my mobo's chipset is the Intel Z170 Chipset. This includes PTT (Platform Trust Technology), which "supports all Microsoft requirements for firmware Trusted Platform Module (fTPM) 2.0".

So, in theory, my mobo supports TPM 2.0 via firmware even though it doesn't have a TPM chip or an expansion slot for a TPM card. Unfortunately, as I said, the BIOS doesn't expose the PTT setting!

It turns out that it's not unusual for PTT support to be not exposed by the BIOS of some mobos, according to this Ars Technica article.

Putting the Win 11 requirements to one side, I'd like TPM because I have bitlockered my C drive. A lot of people don't realise that you don't need TPM for that. All that happens is that when you boot up, you're asked for the bitlocker password. You can daisy chain other bitlockered drives onto the C drive so you don't need to enter their passwords. It all works well.

My question is: why didn't Asus expose the PTT setting for chipsets that support it? My guess is that it's just a switch at bootup. Moreover, would Asus consider issuing new BIOS firmware with PTT enabled? They don't need to provide a UI in the BIOS (if that's too much work) but just provide the same firmware with PTT enabled. Those that want it can install the update; those that don't can ignore it.

Of course, that may not allow people like me with a 6th gen CPU to run Win11 but it would still be handy for bitlocker.
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9 REPLIES 9

Zeneren
Level 7
Shameless bump for more attention as i am interested in this as well.
Regards
Z.

Nate152
Moderator
Hi guys,

I'm on a Maximus IX Code and my board supports the TPM module feature.

I'm not sure about the Maximus VIII but you can check if it does....

Go into the bios - Advanced Tab - PCH-FW Configuration - PTT Configuration - Set TPM Device Selection to PTT

Zeneren
Level 7
Hey thanks for reply,

To answer your question Nate152, there is no option for PCH-FW Configuration at all in advance tab on latest BIOS Version 3801.
Regards
Z.

Nate152 wrote:
This should help you.

https://www.asus.com/support/FAQ/1046215/


Hey,

Yeah i know the site:
https://www.asus.com/microsite/motherboard/ASUS-motherboards-Win11-ready/

There is a Z170 chipset in there, but ROG Maximus VIII Hero Alpha is not listed in there despite the fact it should support TPE 2.0 by default as Intel I7 6700K or 7700K, both supported by that MoBo, are able to.

The issue is that Z170 on I7 6700K should still be a "powerhouse" in Win 11 environment and the main issue is that BIOS is not letting me to enable it in any way. An update to BIOS would be great...

ps. From what i've reserched Maximus VIII Hero has a place on MoBo for a TPM 2.0 Module:
https://www.asus.com/Motherboards-Components/Motherboards/Accessories/TPM-M-R2-0/HelpDesk_Manual/
Hero Alpha version does not...
Regards
Z.

Read my thread here: https://www.win-raid.com/t9091f2705-Cannot-enable-Intel-PTT-TPM-at-ASUS-motherboard.html
It's a bit technical, so be careful. I had to do this to enable PTT/TPM 2.0 on my Asus Z170-A motherboard.

Gus.Ghanem wrote:
Read my thread here: https://www.win-raid.com/t9091f2705-Cannot-enable-Intel-PTT-TPM-at-ASUS-motherboard.html
It's a bit technical, so be careful. I had to do this to enable PTT/TPM 2.0 on my Asus Z170-A motherboard.


Would be nice to get an official BIOS update with this configuration, if it is possible on Maximus VIII Hero Alpha, as you just presented it can be done.
Regards
Z.

Zeneren wrote:
Would be nice to get an official BIOS update with this configuration, if it is possible on Maximus VIII Hero Alpha, as you just presented it can be done.


I'm running the latest dev previous Windows 11 in a VM under Hyper-V and it's fairly fast on my PC.

Microsoft have provided ways to install Windows 11 on hardware that doesn't meet the compatibility requirements, eg here. As mentioned above, the Maximus VIII Hero Alpha with 6700K CPU is easily fast enough to run Windows 11.

I run Bitlocker and have to enter a password every time I reboot because the MB doesn't have TPM. It would be nice to have it enabled in the BIOS even if Windows 11 isn't going to be installed.

As illustrated in the link by @Gus.Ghanem, TPM can be enabled. This seems a fairly trivial change.

Can someone from ASUS please respond.

Thanks

Praful

ondersma80
Level 7
It doesn't appear this is happening for the Maximus VIII Hero Alpha. Asus picked a bunch of Z170 boards but nothing in the Maximus / ROG line. I actually thought in time they would add an official update if even beta release but I guess not. I tested Windows 11 and didn't like it much, not as bad as some say but it would have been nice to at least have the option of update if it becomes necessary. You can do the clean install thing but the error panel is loaded after 30 days when you do that.