Microsoft Installs Windows 11 PC Health Check To Windows 10 Computers Without User's Consent

Microsoft is reportedly installing Windows 11 PC Health Check to Windows 10 computers by default and without the user’s permission.

The latest Windows 10 update that rolled out Friday reportedly installs the PC Health Check on devices with or without the user’s approval. Microsoft said it will not automatically install the feature on devices running Windows 11, PC Gamer reported.

Previously, one has to first go to the Windows 11 site in order to check their PC's Windows 11 eligibility. From there the user will have to download and install the PC Health Check to analyze their devices.

The automatic PC Health Check program installation came with the latest Windows 10 update dubbed KB5005463. Microsoft began rolling out the latest updates to Windows 10 2004 and later versions.

Although the PC Health Check comes with maintenance and troubleshooting features, the program primarily aims to gauge whether the particular device is eligible for a Windows 11 update.

However, previous reports suggest that the PC Health Check’s reliability in determining whether a particular device is eligible for a Windows 11 update is still not fully reliable. Several users reported that their new computers receive a response in the negative during their attempt to update.

Microsoft said users who do not want the PC Health Check on their devices may simply uninstall the feature. Yet, several users complained about issues they encountered while uninstalling the PC Health Check. Some Windows 10 users claimed that they had to uninstall the feature repeatedly as it automatically installs with every check for updates.

Others reported that they cannot uninstall the program as their Windows 10 devices claimed that the update is not installed. They received the response even after the KB5005463 that automatically installed the PC Health Check.

Bleeping Computer gave out a simple step on how to prevent the PC Health Check from reinstalling again once uninstalled. The report suggested that adding the value “1” under the Previous Uninstall making it "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftPCHC "PreviousUninstall"=dword:00000001 could prevent the program to install again.

Meanwhile, reports suggest that there are other options to update to Windows 11 should a device test ineligible for an upgrade. Users with unsupported devices may choose to bypass the TPM requirements. However, upgrading will be at the user’s risk as unsupported devices may be denied Windows updates and may face issues in the future.