17 R5, Windows 11 support

Hi @Greeble101 welcome to this free user-to-user Alienware laptop discussion forum. 

Dell has not tested and does not provide drivers for Alienware 17 R5 and does not support Windows 11 on Cassini (end of series) Alienware 17 R5 because there is no Alienware 17 R6. Corporate Dell has decided that there will be no further Dell Revision updates, System Board (aka Motherboard) design is just too old. 

Alienware 17 R5 supports the Windows 10, 64-bit Operating System | Dell US 

Interesting that you state it is not supported for Windows 11 as the Dell support page for the M17 R5 lists the Windows 11 drivers. That would seem to show that Dell does indeed support that system as Windows 11 compatible. However you posted about the M17 R5 but the picture you display is the 17 R5 which is not supported. So the question becomes which system do you have, the 17 R5 or the M17 R5 as they are not the same system.

Also can you post the exact type of CPU that is in your system. Using that it is possible to track down the reason that the system is or is not on the Microsoft list of compatible processors.

The 17 R5 has an 8th gen Intel CPU which should be supported but you also need TPM 2.0 and I am not sure if the 17 R5 has that feature in the BIOS and if not you should have PTT. But even with TPM 1.2 Windows 11 would run fine though possibly not show as supported if you run the PC Health app.

Indeed you are correct... Mine is an 17 R5. It does have the TPM 2.0, It is an 8th gen, i7-8750H processor and I believe a 1060 GPU. In testing, the very first versions of Windows 11 caused a shutdown hang but with later updates it was resolved. It is currently running Win 11 22H2 with no problems. Really the purpose of the post is to help others that have a similar laptop. Being an MCSE, I have long learned to check my specs against Microsoft's and it is compatible. My question is why wouldn't Dell also support it?

I have been running windows 11 on mine for some time. I like a lot of the new features, and it is a sore spot for me that dell refuses to offer support for a newer (ostensibly better) version of windows for such an expensive piece of hardware that was purchased not long before its release. I have only encountered a couple of hangups.

First, the backlit keyboard does not work. Seemingly, it will not work no matter what I try. I think this issue may be unique to my device based on what I've read, but Dell's aforementioned lack of consideration for it's customer base prevents me from getting any help at all.

Second, the Tobii software and the HelloFace (both use the ir scanner I believe) work intermittently. I've had to reinstall the software for Tobii several times and I've completely given up on HelloFace.

Third, is Dell's commitment to not respond to any inquiries regarding Windows 11.

Having spent over $5000 (+ more for continued tech support) on a device that couldn't operate the newest OS a few months after I bought it, I can tell you one thing with certainty: I will never by a dell product again.

Hi, my  Alienware 17 R5 (i7-8750H, GTX 1070, QHD) MLK Laptop, has GPT with BIOS/UEFI enabled and Windows 10 x64 Professional version 22H2. All updates installed. 

Looking at earlier posts in this thread, it is not clear how to enable TPM 2.0 and then install Windows 11 version 22H2.  

There is another thread at Windows 11 TPM Issue Alienware 17 R5 - Dell Community. Evidently this conversion process did not work. 

Does anyone have a conversion process that works?  

On mine I have the TPM & secure boot Enabled. It is running the current version of Win 11. The lighted keyboard works with the latest Command center. I did not allow any Dell update software to install on this PC and used the Intel updater instead. The firmware is updated to 1.20. The only thing I have enabled is RAID instead of AHCI. Oddly enough, I did not enable the Firmware TPM until after Windows 11 was installed. Maybe Windows 11 just sensed the TPM 2.0 module was present and allowed the install. I also did end up resetting the Secure Boot keys during the process. The only real problem I had was the first version of Windows 11 had a shutdown hang issue that must have been resolved in later updates.

As a rule of thumb, I also strip out any software within Windows that does not directly apply to how the PC will be used. Since my laptops are used for DJ work running things like Serato, I remove all software that Dell likes to put on their machines and doesn't serve a function to the laptop. I also use C-Cleaner to totally strip out software that came with the Windows install that doesn't directly apply to what I will use the laptop for. Lastly, I used the NVIDA software instead of the Dell version for the GPU.

I honestly don't get why Dell doesn't just don't fix this... Oh they can give the song and dance about the processor being 'old'. Processor tech has not really changed much from generation to generation for over 10 years (Maxwell's Law). Intel and AMD make you think they made BIG leaps when really they want you to keep spending money for small incremental changes in architecture.

This also goes for operating systems. The big change for Windows 11 IS the TPM 2.0 module being made mandatory to run it. Have they really changed much from Windows 10? Nope. Same OS different name with a few security updates and some window-fluff.

Try installing the Command Center - Full Install to get the lights working. I tested the latest on mine this morning (Feb 2023) and my lighting is still working. It still won't allow overclocking through the app. I know your pain. The Tobii software doesn't seem to have updates past 2018 for the 17 R5.

Hi @Greeble101 thank you for sharing your conversion from Windows 10 to Windows 11 process and BIOS images.

PC Health Check says Enable TPM 2.0 but my BIOS Security "Firmware TPM [Disabled]" cannot be Enabled. There is no "PPI Bypass for Clear Command" option. There is "UEFI Firmware Capsule Updates [Enabled]". My BIOS Main is similar to your image, but AC Adapter Type is 240 W. 

Do not want to brick my 17 R5. Still not sure how to get Windows 11 installed. Seemingly my 17 R5 OS will remain Windows 10 x64. 

Try to clear the TPM. Reference this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Romf6JZ_D6w

Windows 10 will recognize the TPM in Device Manager. I do not believe our models have a TPM firmware update but rather is done by using tpm.msc command.

Hi @Greeble101 thank you for sharing how to get TPM in Device Manager. 

Watched YouTube video and found Knowledge Base Article: How to Successfully Update the TPM Firmware on your Dell Computer | Dell US. There is another thread at Solved: Latitude 7480, alert TPM device is not detected - Dell Community. 

However, still struggling to get Windows PowerShell to Disable-TpmAutoProvisioning. 

Administrator: Windows PowerShell 

PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> disable-tpmautoprovisioning

disable-tpmautoprovisioning : The device is not ready for use. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x800710DF)

At line:1 char:1

+ disable-tpmautoprovisioning

+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    + CategoryInfo          : NotSpecified: (Microsoft.Tpm.C...isioningCommand:DisableTpmAutoProvisioningCommand) [Disable-TpmAutoProvisioning], TpmWmiException

    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : TpmError,Microsoft.Tpm.Commands.DisableTpmAutoProvisioningCommand

PS C:\WINDOWS\system32>

A curious question... Have you updated the system BIOS to the latest version? For my system it is 1.20... Also, as I understand it, The TPM for Intel 8th gen resides on the CPU and not a stand alone module. That said, I used Intel's Updater rather than Dell's to update the drivers on my system. I found that here: https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/detect.html. I did use a lot of Windows 10 drivers from the Dell site to do the upgrade to Windows 11. After the initial upgrade (Microsoft now had registered the free upgrade to Win 11), I did a complete wipe of my C: drive and installed Windows 11 after I made a fresh copy of Win 11 on a USB stick using Windows Media Creator. Of course, I backed up any data I needed to before I started that process.

Hi @Greeble101 thank you for sharing how Windows 11 was installed on your Alienware 17 R5. 

All my updates are installed, including BIOS version 1.20 back in December 2022. Intel Driver & Support Assistant is also installed and up to date.

Watching video instructions to get "PPI Bypass for Clear Command" option in my Windows 10 BIOS Security, which is now in your Windows 11 BIOS Security. But struggling with update process. 

Just curious... What processor do you have. Not that it may make a difference with exception that is a 8th gen Intel processor.