Upgrade to Windows 11

[Mark 5]

Lots to unpick there… I’m happy to stay with W10 Pro but it’s whether things like Fusion will continue to work.

@Mark 5 I have DDR4 RAM, so could upgrade the MB and CPU only. Which MB, and how do I know it’ll fit? I bet they’re not standard sizes.

When you write " you have DDR4 ram " do you mean installed in your existing PC or just happen to have some?

I ask because if you are utilising DDR4 are you sure your CPU and/or MB are not compatible with Win 11?

MBs come in several sizes but for most home PC users, ( including the office ), ATX, Micro-ATX, Mini-ITX , depending on the size of PC case, most will be either be ATX or Micro-ATX, ATX being the largest of the two, you can install Micro ATX inside a PC case that previously had a ATX board but not always the reverse.

Most PC users have Mid-Tower cases, ( not a given ), so either size MB will fit, ' tho you might require some extra mounting lugs which come in 3-4 different lengths, check yours.

Money tight, so determined to stick to a budget I bagged an Amazon bargain, an Asus Tuf B550 with wifi MB, 16 gigs of Corsair ram and a AMD Ryzen 5 4600G, CPU ( the letter G being important to work with my MB choice ).

It's not a high spec' machine, not by any stretch but for my needs, it does me fine, £227 all in but included a USB 3 front hub and a Corsair 550w PSU, ( on a whim ), and some other bits and bobs, that came from another supplier, so not to bad.

I also installed a couple of Noctua case fans but had those already, probably why the PC is so quiet.

Building it, all in all it took me just over an hour so very DIYable and cost effective.

Configuring the ASUS MB bios was something I had to do but more of a steep learning curve for me was converting my existing SSDs partitions from MBR to GPT, required for TMP2, ( I think ), easy I was told, were it 'eck but got there in the end.

So want to reuse older existing SSDs, ( why not ), it's a task that will have to be undertaken.

Belarc Advisor freebie might be a friend here, ( there are others ), it gives you a reasonable idea what's inside your PC and installed, run it--it will generate a report.

 

[indy4x]

@Guineafowl You can still get to Windows 11 but you cannot just upgrade from win10 and retain all of your stuff, it needs to be a fresh install.

You can download Windows 11 install files direct from Microsoft along with a utility that lets you create a bootable flash drive.

Once you have the USB stick ready to go, you can plug it in and install a fresh copy of Windows 11, just need to backup all your stuff 1st.

I have just done this on an old laptop I had kicking about that didn't pass the TPM2.0 or processor check to allow a direct upgrade

In fact, I am typing this on said laptop, it also has a measly 8Gb RAM and it seems ok

It did ask me for a licence key but there is a check box that says 'I do not have a Win11 key' and it still installed and working fine, so far

Download Windows 11

 

[indy4x]

We have also upgraded several hundred PCs to date using this method in work as we have approx 2500 PC/laptops that will not pass the MS upgrade check

 

[Mark 5]

@Guineafowl You can still get to Windows 11 but you cannot just upgrade from win10 and retain all of your stuff, it needs to be a fresh install.

You can download Windows 11 install files direct from Microsoft along with a utility that lets you create a bootable flash drive.

Once you have the USB stick ready to go, you can plug it in and install a fresh copy of Windows 11, just need to backup all your stuff 1st.

I have just done this on an old laptop I had kicking about that didn't pass the TPM2.0 or processor check to allow a direct upgrade

In fact, I am typing this on said laptop, it also has a measly 8Gb RAM and it seems ok

It did ask me for a licence key but there is a check box that says 'I do not have a Win11 key' and it still installed and working fine, so far

Download Windows 11

If I've understood you correctly, yes you can, files and settings that is.

What might be an issue are some 3rd party programs and some MS ones no longer available/supported in Win 11.

But I agree, back up.

Windows 10 happily runs on 8 gigs of anything, 11 will but might cause bottlenecks.

If you are not installing or upgrading hardware, a lot of it, if you have a licenced Win 10 previously installed and upgrade to Win 11, via MS download you won't be asked for a licence key in most cases.

 

[skotl]

I imagine they will change their tune when end of support day comes and Windows 11 has about seven users.

Windows 11 has recently overtaken Windows 10 for installed base.

Source: https://gs.statcounter.com/windows-version-market-share/desktop/worldwide

Look - I get people not liking Windows or Microsoft, but that's not what's being asked here. Win 11 is a bit different to Win 10 but nowhere near as big as the jump from XP to Vista to 7, to 8 or to 10.

And there is no future for Windows 10 in the mainstream (ignoring scenarios where 10, 8, 7 or even XP are required for specialist hardware). At some point, new apps not installing, working around security issues and exploits etc. will cause most people (maybe not the hardcore) to think "Wait... what am I doing? I didn't wake up today intending to spend seven hours hacking an app to get it working on an old operating system".

So, if you're staying on Windows (and moving off is really a separate topic, covered many times on here) then in ten years time it won't be Windows 10. In five years time it won't be Windows 10. So when? Why put it off?

Back to the OP, I got Win11 running on my wife's "unsupported" TPM 1.2 system and she complained about it "feeling different" for a day and hasn't looked back.

 

[Jack Pattenden]

Windows 11 has recently overtaken Windows 10 for installed base.


View attachment 510609

Source: https://gs.statcounter.com/windows-version-market-share/desktop/worldwide

Look - I get people not liking Windows or Microsoft, but that's not what's being asked here. Win 11 is a bit different to Win 10 but nowhere near as big as the jump from XP to Vista to 7, to 8 or to 10.

And there is no future for Windows 10 in the mainstream (ignoring scenarios where 10, 8, 7 or even XP are required for specialist hardware). At some point, new apps not installing, working around security issues and exploits etc. will cause most people (maybe not the hardcore) to think "Wait... what am I doing? I didn't wake up today intending to spend seven hours hacking an app to get it working on an old operating system".

So, if you're staying on Windows (and moving off is really a separate topic, covered many times on here) then in ten years time it won't be Windows 10. In five years time it won't be Windows 10. So when? Why put it off?

Back to the OP, I got Win11 running on my wife's "unsupported" TPM 1.2 system and she complained about it "feeling different" for a day and hasn't looked back.

You did pay for a license so that you could put the taskbar back on the left for her, didn't you?

 

[skotl]

You did pay for a license so that you could put the taskbar back on the left for her, didn't you?

Nope - that was one of her gripes. Now she doesn't notice. The fact that she and I both run 37" monitors might help, of course!

Anyways, we have three Windows 11 PCs running work in the house, and I'm typing this on an M4 Macbook Air that I got a few months ago. Don't talk to me about left-handed taskbars, when I'm still suffering the total crapshow that is Apple's attempt at a desktop operating system!

 

[Smallfry]

dont try. either carry on with win10 with a good antivirus and firewall package installed after defender support ends, or use one of the many methods of installing 11 on non tpm2 systems.

All this stuff does not interest me much, hence I cannot be bothered to learn about it. Much past turning the thing on, I know nothing.

Quite happy with my Dell Latitude, which apparently is not capable of running Windows 11, and I have no problems with the present Windows 10 Pro.

I have been relying on the inbuilt Windows Defender AV for some years, and have had no problems with it. I used to use a third party AV, and always seemed to have problems not long before subscription renewal.

I assume that updates for the Windows Defender will stop too, I was hoping that I could got round this by using something like Norton. Other than that, I do not really need any updates to the system at all

 

[skotl]

All this stuff does not interest me much, hence I cannot be bothered to learn about it. Much past turning the thing on, I know nothing.

Quite happy with my Dell Latitude, which apparently is not capable of running Windows 11, and I have no problems with the present Windows 10 Pro.

I have been relying on the inbuilt Windows Defender AV for some years, and have had no problems with it. I used to use a third party AV, and always seemed to have problems not long before subscription renewal.

I assume that updates for the Windows Defender will stop too, I was hoping that I could got round this by using something like Norton. Other than that, I do not really need any updates to the system at all

To be fair, Defender is fine.
At some point they will stop updating it and common sense will keep you safe for a long time. Not visiting dodgy sites and not installing dodgy software will probably protect you for a long time.

At that point the only thing that might force an upgrade is whether a piece of software you rely on gets an update that requires a later version. Or a new bit of hardware only has drivers for Win11.

 

[Jack Pattenden]

^ There's honestly no need to install any additional AV beyond Defender nowadays. I even have Defender turned off because it was messing with the frame rate of a game, sucking up all my memory trying to scan it as it ran lol

I used and enjoyed Malwarebytes which is generally well regarded, but they've been running really fearmonger-y, scammy feeling adverts on YouTube, which has left a very bitter taste in my mouth for them, however good the product is.

 

[skotl]

^ There's honestly no need to install any additional AV beyond Defender nowadays. I even have Defender turned off because it was messing with the frame rate of a game, sucking up all my memory trying to scan it as it ran lol

I used and enjoyed Malwarebytes which is generally well regarded, but they've been running really fearmonger-y, scammy feeling adverts on YouTube, which has left a very bitter taste in my mouth for them, however good the product is.

Agree

Defender can have folder exclusions, by the way. Must admit that I haven't had a problem with any games but, if it is an issue, I'd suggest excluding the game folder rather than turning off Defender entirely.
As a software developer, my main dev tool (JetBrains Rider) automatically asks whether I want to exclude a new project folder from Defender (I always say yes, as it vastly speeds up the build process and as I'm writing the software I [should] know that it's safe!)

More info: https://docs.rackspace.com/docs/set-windows-defender-folder-exclusions

 

[Rudi McAnichal]

Moving to Windows 11 - lots of information about HOW to do it, but very little about WHY.
Is it anything more than "fear of missing out"? Are Microsoft operating systems really so insecure that they need to be replaced every 2-3 years? What are folk actually hoping to achieve by 'upgrading'?

 

[skotl]

Moving to Windows 11 - lots of information about HOW to do it, but very little about WHY.
Is it anything more than "fear of missing out"? Are Microsoft operating systems really so insecure that they need to be replaced every 2-3 years? What are folk actually hoping to achieve by 'upgrading'?

Probably repeating what I posted above, but there's three main reasons to be on a current version of an operating system, whether it's Windows, MacOs, Linux, iOS or Android:

1. Security - bad guys are always discovering ways to break operating systems ("vulnerabilities") and the manufacturers only fix these vulnerabilities for the systems they they have committed to support. You can't predict what vulnerabilities will be discovered in the future, so this is a risk-appetite factor: if you don't do risky stuff on your computer (visit dodgy websites or install software of unknown provenance) then you'll "get away with this" for longer than someone who does.

2. Application compatibility - speaking as a software developer, it's a pain in the butt to test software on all versions of Windows, Linux, MacOs etc. so we tend to limit testing, and therefore support, to specific versions. We may also build in checks that say "if earlier than Windows 10 then give error, and exit".
So at some point in the future you may find that a piece of software you love announces that it only supports Windows 11 (or similar). That could be an update, which you could ignore, but if it's something like accounting software then you probably can't skip the upgrade.

3. Hardware compatibility - same argument as #2: if it needs drivers then it's very likely that they will only support / work with specific operating system versions. It would be really annoying to drop £200 on a new printer or flight sim controllers and discover it only works with Windows 11 or MacOs 26.

That's the why, and it honestly applies to any operating system, not just Windows.

 

[Jack_K]

The Windows 11 install limits really annoy me. It has become just like Apple. I don't know what I'm going to do as I rely on getting computers for free and still use a 2nd gen i7 as my main computer.

This is bad for the environment.

 

[indy4x]

@Jack_K Have a look at post #22

You can install Win11 on a PC or Laptop that fails the Win11 upgrade check.

MS doesn't stop you installing Win11 its just the automatic upgrade you can't do