TPM (Trusted Platform Module) is a separate cryptographic chip on the motherboard whose job is to store keys and produce signatures that can't leave the chip. Originally it was meant for BitLocker and corporate VPNs — but in 2022 game publishers caught on.
The thing is, TPM 2.0 has an Endorsement Key (EK) — a unique RSA key that's set at the factory and never changes. Even if you wipe the disk and reinstall Windows, the EK remains the same. For an anti-cheat, that's a perfect HWID anchor.
Worse still, TPM is required for Windows 11. Microsoft made it mandatory, and now even budget laptops ship with a working TPM. The honest gamer pool has effectively been forced to start emitting hardware-bound signatures.
Can you change TPM EK? Technically yes, but it requires firmware-level intervention from the chip vendor — way beyond what a regular utility can do. Our HWID changer leaves TPM untouched on purpose: corruption could brick the device.
The good news: most anti-cheats today use TPM only as one of many signals, not the only one. A clean rewrite of all the other identifiers is still enough to bypass HWID bans 95% of the time.
A look ahead: by 2025 we expect the appearance of TPM-bound bans where TPM EK is the single, decisive identifier. Riot Vanguard is already moving in this direction. Players who prepare now will have an edge.