I had installed a new drive in one of my HP 800 G4 computers yesterday. I then installed and updated Windows 10 on it via an install disk I had. Once it was done I went back to "Update" again, and low and behold "Update to Windows 11" came up as one of two options. Anyway, I went ahead and tried it, and low and behold it took about 45 min, but it worked. So now W-11 is up and running on it. Has anyone else on here had this happen to them while you are doing updates? Also, Microsoft also had the option of extending security support for WIndows 10, so you could select either... Note. this Mini Desktop already had a preinstalled W-10 license in it.
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My computer at the theatre updated itself to 11, but I don’t remember seeing an option. I just came in one day and it said, “you’ve been updated to windows 11.” -
Thus far, all of my Win11 capable computers have been given the option. None have automatically updated themselves. Then again, many of the my remote computers don't have the ability to update at all unless I direct them to.Comment
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If you have automatic updates on "complete autodrive", yeah, your system will eventually upgrade itself to Windows 11, if it's compatible. No big warnings, it will just happen. Luckily, most stuff works just fine with Windows 11, but I've seen stuff break thanks to this.
If your computer is part of a domain or linked to an "MS365 Entra Domain", you can also push an update policy, preventing those kinds of upgrades from happening.
Keep in mind that Windows 10 starts to become a security issue in itself after October 14, 2025, especially for stuff that needs to talk to the Internet, as it will be EOL by then.Comment
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No, mine wasn't automatic. I had to choose the option. The other option was to continue support for Windows 10 for a $30 dollar fee, however, I chose 11 mainly out of curiosity. Microsoft really hasn't said when 12 is going to be released, but hints they have given sort of point to sometime in 2026.Comment
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So far I am not seeing any huge differences between 10 and 11, but I'm sure the usual thing will happen -- you google for help on something and it'll say "click on whatever in the whatsit menu" and those options will have been moved someplace else. I hate that.Comment
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I have heard that 11 is significantly slower than 10. Is that the case?Comment
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I don't see much difference between 10 and 11, performance wise. Both seem to be just evolutionary updates. The most prominent difference is that they moved the start button around... apparently having it somewhere off-center in the bottom-middle is better than having it bottom-left, where it has been for three decades now...Comment
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Haven't found that it breaks anything in the last few months of my switch to it; had to by a new tower where it was already installed. I am with you, Mike, HATE that they moved way too much stuff around for no apparent reason other than to rationalize why they can sell it as new product that you should spend money on and they can say, look at tall the stuff we've mucked with that you wish we hadn't mucked with and that we want you to be happy to pay for. They should have left all the purely graphic/visual changes out and made all the security improvements just an Upgrade like they seem to have down with what Mark discovered apparently they were doing anyway here.Comment
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Most of my work machines are 11 now, still have 10 at home but I think my motherboard lacks the security chip to permit 11 via an update.
i’m system agnostic, but I tend to favor accessing a lot of system things that are now buried under the 11 UI layer and stupid configuration wizards. Most of the old stuff is still there, you just have to find alternate paths to them.
The right click menus are particularly annoying in that there is now a “more…” type selection that reveals the old right click menu (where “create shortcut” is hiding etc).
Just checked, nope, not presented with inline update to 11 via windows update dialog on my 10 machine at home. Probably only offered the option if you have the TPM 2.0 security chipset and meet the minimum requirements otherwise.Last edited by Ryan Gallagher; 09-16-2025, 08:34 AM.Comment
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So if you have any previous version of Windows its a free upgrade? What if you want to do a fresh install rather than an upgrade? Is it still free? How about if you build a new machine because they are forcing you to? Free other than the cost of the new machine? Its pretty unclear to me. Looking at what's available for sale it seems like they are mostly trying to bundle other services with them so maybe it is free or just comes along with 365 if you are already paying for that? Free just seems kinda suspicious, we all know no such thing as free. .Comment
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It is free yes for qualifying hardware coming from a paid version of 10. Free for now anyway, to my knowledge they have not gone on record saying that will remain true after EOL.
For fresh installs you can always install 11 and register later. But I don’t think the free extends to those. But I bet if you had a 10 license you could do an intermediate fresh install to get 11 licensed for free (until it changes).
I’d venture a guess they want more people hooked on the AI integrations and Copilot subscription model, and can’t do most of that stuff from 10. So that is the motivation for “free”.Comment
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My understanding is that Win10 and Win11 use the same licensing and activation scheme and that a license for either one is valid for both (note that keys are not licenses and vice-versa). A key and license for one should work for the other. This is not a limited-time-only thing like the Win7 to Win10 "free upgrade" was. Other restrictions (OEM license limitations, etc.) still apply, of course.
I haven't yet upgraded my Windows machine at home, but I did my parents' desktop and laptop last fall. Win11 is definitely slower than Win10 on the laptop, but it is on the older edge of supported Win11 hardware, so that is to be expected.
Has anyone figured out how to enable window borders on Win11? There is a hack for this on Win10 (install "Winaero Tweaker" or enable high-contrast mode) that seems to not work on Win11. This is seriously a deal-breaker for me, since I hate borderless windows (especially since I often work with white-text-on-black-background terminal windows, where shadow effects are not visible).
I'm not touching the Win10 VM on my laptop that I use to connect to cinema stuff (Dolby CP650, etc.). It works fine (under Linux/QEMU), and it has no need to connect to any public networks. I still have a Win7 VM at home that I used to run the software for my scanner, for similar reasons.Comment
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Not sure about borders, but I know you can modify the scroll bar behaviors to always be visible, which may get you part of the way there.
another tip if you use it for video/event playback is to disable the live window previews in the task bar, we found that hovering over them would interrupt (black out) a full screen playback window in OBS.Comment
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So if you have any previous version of Windows its a free upgrade?
No. If you have Windows 10 machine, it is free to upgrade to Windows 11 on that machine. If you build a new PC, and you have a Windows 10 license key that you bought for old PC you will have to deactivate the license on the old machine before it can be used on your new build. OEM keys are not transferable. If your PC was purchased with Windows installed by the OEM, that license dies with the machine.
What if you want to do a fresh install rather than an upgrade? Is it still free?
No. You must do an in-place upgrade from Win10 to Win11 first. That registers your hardware. Once the hardware is registered digitally, you can to a fresh install.
How about if you build a new machine because they are forcing you to? Free other than the cost of the new machine?
No. See above.
Windows 11 is a downgrade to a slower OS. I do not plan to upgrade at this time. If software that I run requires a new OS I will reconsider. Oddly enough, 20% of Windows users are still running Window 7.
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PS: The free upgrade of Windows 7 to Window 10 has been discontinued by Microsoft.Last edited by Ed Gordon; 09-19-2025, 11:42 AM.Comment
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