Hi

Has anyone taken Microsoft's free option to upgrade to Windows 11 yet?
Is it too soon.

I'm still fuming that Microsoft didn't think I qualified to have a free version of Teams, then I got it installed, and then Microsoft stopped me from joining the Teams meeting I had set up!
So I'm a bit anti Microsoft at the moment. They seem to be far too controlling for my liking.

Bob 

was offered, and took, the free upgrade from xp to 10, but not had any offer of a free upgrade to 11 yet.

The upgrade is free to anyone and available now. However, there are some requirements - it quotes a number of "required" processors, but that is only a list of what they have tested it on and most 64-bit processors will work. It also quotes a need for UEFI, Secure Boot capability and having a TPM (Trusted Platform Module).

Most motherboards, for a long time, have been UEFI capable and just need to be set that way in the BIOS. Many have built in TPM on either the motherboard or within the processor, but many only have a header to plug a TPM module into. Those modules are currently very scarce and have shot up to ridiculous prices.

BUT - the TPM requirement (and I think the UEFI one) can be got around. Windows 11 does not need them to work and it is only the installer insisting on them. A search soon brings up the methods to get around that ... replacing a file telling the Windows 11 installer what to do, with one from a Windows 10 installation disk/USB or using the Windows 10 installer to install Windows 11. In both cases, it removes the check for TPM (and UEFI?) and TPM is only needed if you want to use Bitlocker anyway.

I have installed it that way on a virtual machine on my home server, but have not yet tried it on my desktop or laptop. Indeed I haven't even upgraded the kid's PCs yet - and both of those are fully Windows 11 compatible.

I have Win10 on my laptop. I have never let it have a systems upgrade. I delete the upgrades and delay updates. It's perfectly stable. I am unable to prevent security updates, and quite frankly, knowing how slack MS security is that's probably just as well.

If they think I'm risking that by trying Win11 then they can shove it. It's been great having an efficient laptop that doesn't lock up, crash, go black screen, go white screen, go slow, because of their inefficient bloatware and poor programming.

I've Win10, and that's how it'll stay. I do however invest in high quality virus and intrusion detection.

MS is purely progress for profits sake. I've seen nothing added to Windows in the last 6 - 8 years that's added anything of note, so unless Win11 is going to accurately predict lottery numbers I ain't interested.

Others experiences may differ.

Microsoft have posted a Registry hack that will allow Win 11 Setup to run on non-qualifying hardware that is already running Win 10. Though the resulting Win 11 installation is not supported by Microsoft.

Quote from: RailGooner on October 24, 2021, 05:48:00 PM
Microsoft have posted a Registry hack that will allow Win 11 Setup to run on non-qualifying hardware that is already running Win 10. Though the resulting Win 11 installation is not supported by Microsoft.

Think the minimum you can get away with is TPM 1.2 chip and secure boot (and any CPU). Below that and it refuses to install, even as a clean install. I've not tried fiddling with the installer using DISM or whatever to see if it will go even lower than that - not really worth the effort! The official supported minimum is TPM 2, secure boot and a supported CPU (intel gen 8 upwards, plus a few gen 7 ones).

I've been testing it on a laptop at work (less than a year old, so officially supported) - not massively impressed. The user interface changes are all, in my opinion, retrograde steps. Seems to work mostly OK on standalone computers although I've identified a few issues when running it on a network. I have no plans to put it on any of our work computers (other than the test one) for the time being, and have blocked it from installing.

For home users, it'll probably be OK if the hardware is supported but it's not really an improvement over Windows 10, and there are probably still various issues to iron out (I can't really tell without trialling it on a range of hardware, which I have neither the time nor inclination to do at the moment). I'd advise holding off for now, even if you have a computer which officially supports it.

Running it on non-supported hardware is probably risky as Windows 11 could get broken with an update in future. In the past this has been much less of a concern as previous versions would generally run fine on much hardware older than that officially supported (I've had Windows 10 running on non-supported computers for years), but Microsoft seems to be taking a more inflexible stance now so it's oporobably not advisable.

My laptop is now 12 years old and running in Vista - yes, Vista - and I'm quite happy with it 

My laptop has a Core i7 processor and is apparently unsupported (specifically the processor is not compatible), which surprised me! Makes sense if it's just untested, but that in itself surprises me. I'm in no rush to upgrade.

Quote from: Bealman on October 24, 2021, 10:40:43 PM
My laptop is now 12 years old and running in Vista - yes, Vista - and I'm quite happy with it 

I'm still running win 7 on 2 PCs and a laptop, it does all I need; it ain't broke, why fix it?

As an IT professional, I feel that I need to point out to those of you running Vista and 7 that in security terms they very much are broken - they are out of support and haven't received any security patches for ages. Using them to access the Internet is risky, especially so for anything involving money.

If you wish to take this risk that's obviously your decision, but it is important to understand that the risk very much exists.

Quote from: njee20 on October 24, 2021, 10:44:50 PM
My laptop has a Core i7 processor and is apparently unsupported (specifically the processor is not compatible), which surprised me! Makes sense if it's just untested, but that in itself surprises me. I'm in no rush to upgrade.

It depends which generation of i7 it is. Generally,  any computer older than about two and a half years probably won't meet the official minimum specifications.

My Windows 10 works fine. Why would I want Windows 11?

(This isn't a rhetorical question. But the MS publicity seems to descend quickly into bells & whistles, rather than a killer reason they can give in two non-technical sentences.)

Quote from: davidinyork on October 24, 2021, 11:45:18 PM
As an IT professional, I feel that I need to point out to those of you running Vista and 7 that in security terms they very much are broken - they are out of support and haven't received any security patches for ages. Using them to access the Internet is risky, especially so for anything involving money.

If you wish to take this risk that's obviously your decision, but it is important to understand that the risk very much exists.

If MS security is so good then what is the need for / purpose of software like AVG, Avast or McAfee etc?

Quote from: Dorsetmike on October 25, 2021, 11:49:39 AM

Quote from: davidinyork on October 24, 2021, 11:45:18 PM
As an IT professional, I feel that I need to point out to those of you running Vista and 7 that in security terms they very much are broken - they are out of support and haven't received any security patches for ages. Using them to access the Internet is risky, especially so for anything involving money.

If you wish to take this risk that's obviously your decision, but it is important to understand that the risk very much exists.

If MS security is so good then what is the need for / purpose of software like AVG, Avast or McAfee etc?

Because MS are more interested in pushing out new software to maximise profit than to make what's already out there secure.

There's no profit in supporting 4yr old software.

Is there any visual difference between windows 10 and windows 11, i.e. does it look the same on the computer screen ?