How to Upgrade from Windows 10 to Windows 11 – Guide
Windows 11 is a new operating system that Microsoft released on October 5th. It is available on qualifying devices, such as computers, and anyone using Windows 10 can upgrade for free if they have a suitable computer.
Microsoft is releasing the operating system in phases, so some devices might not receive updates yet. If you’re not in a hurry, the Windows 11 update will be forced onto your device at some point in the next few months, when data from Microsoft shows the update is ready for that device. When the new operating system is available to you, the update process will be similar to a normal Windows 10 update, as long as your device is compatible and meets the necessary minimum requirements. ..
How do I get Windows 11?
Windows Update is the easiest way to get Windows 11. But because Microsoft is slowly releasing Windows 11 over many months, your PC might not see it yet. ..
Microsoft offers several ways to download Windows 11. One is to use the Installation Assistant application, which you install on your PC, to trigger a normal update installation through Windows Update. The second is to use the Windows 11 media creation tool, which automates the process of creating a bootable USB installation drive or downloading an installation ISO file. Once you have a USB drive, you can either boot from it to perform a clean install or run the installer application from within Windows 10 to do a normal upgrade install. You can also burn the ISO to a DVD, but installing from any USB drive, even an old USB 2.0 drive, will be much faster, so you shouldn’t. Finally, you can simply download an ISO file directly from the Microsoft website. ..
Do I need to pay for this?
Windows 10 Home and Pro editions are both eligible for the free Windows 11 upgrade. If you’re running one of these editions, you can install and activate the equivalent edition of Windows 11, regardless of whether your PC is officially supported or not. ..
If you’re installing Windows 11 on a new PC, you must purchase a Windows 10 or Windows 11 license. At the time of this writing, there are only product key scam sites that I have not been able to trust my credit card information with, so I would recommend purchasing a Windows 10 license from a trusted site. Your product key must work to install and activate Windows 11.
If you have an older Windows 7 or Windows 8 product key, you can use it to activate a newer Windows 10 edition. But some readers have had trouble using these keys with later versions of Windows 10, so your luck may vary.
What does my PC need to be “supported”?
Windows 11 is a new operating system from Microsoft that requires a different set of hardware and software than previous versions of Windows. To use Windows 11, your computer must have at least:
- A processor that is 1GHz or faster
- 1GB of RAM (or more)
- 16GB of storage space (or more)
- A graphics card that is DirectX 9 or later compatible and an HDMI port ..
A compatible 1GHz or faster dual-core processor from Intel, AMD, or Qualcomm that is also a graphics card with a dedicated video memory.
UEFI Secure Boot is a security feature of UEFI firmware that helps protect the computer against unauthorized access to its operating system. It is supported and enabled by most modern computers. ..
A new version of the Trusted Platform Module (TPM), 2.0, was released on October 25th. This new version offers increased security and reliability for devices that use TPMs. The TPM is a chip that helps protect data by ensuring that only authorized users can access it. The 2.0 version of the TPM offers improved security and reliability for devices that use it, including computers, phones, and other devices. ..
A graphics card that supports DirectX 12 and a WDDM 2.0 driver.
A 720p screen is the perfect size for a laptop. It’s large enough to see everything that’s onscreen, but small enough to carry around with you without feeling too big or bulky.
Windows 11 Home requires a Microsoft account and Internet connectivity; Windows 11 Pro can still be used with a local account. Windows 10 Home used to let you create a local account as long as you didn’t connect to the Internet during setup, but trick doesn’t work anymore.
The processor requirement is the most restrictive; only 8th generation Intel Core processors and newer, as well as AMD Ryzen 2000 series and newer processors are supported. All these chips were released on the final 2017 and early 2018. Older computers can’t officially run Windows 11. This is a big change from Windows 10, which made it a point to support just about anything that could run Windows 7 or Windows 8 .
The CPU requirement is the most significant one. It dictates how much processing power a device needs to run smoothly. A device with a low CPU requirement will be more susceptible to errors and glitches, which could lead to data loss or even system failure. The TPM requirement is another important factor. If a device doesn’t have an TPM chip, then it will not be able to store secure data like passwords or other important information. This could lead to data breaches or even system failures if not properly protected. The Safe Boot requirement is also important. If a device doesn’t have this feature, then it will not be able to start up properly and could potentially cause problems such as data loss or system crashes.
How do I know if my PC is compatible?
When you open Windows Update in Windows 10, it can tell you whether your PC is up to date or not. But the easiest way to check manually is with Microsoft’s PC Health Check app. The first versions of this application were not very good, but the current version will tell you if your PC is up to date and also why it is or not. ..
If you’re not using a supported processor, you’ll need to upgrade to a supported CPU or skip to the section where we talk about installing Windows 11 on unsupported PCs. ..
If your processor supports it, you can enable both the TPM and Secure Boot features in your PC BIOS. Unless something is seriously wrong with your PC, this should be safe to do. ..
How do I access my PC’s BIOS?
Some newer systems have a “boot menu” that appears when you press a key during the initial PC startup process. This menu allows you to choose between different boot options, such as starting Windows from the hard drive or from a USB flash drive. ..
The consistent but more direct way to open the BIOS is to access the Windows Settings application, then Windows Update, Recovery and Restart Now under “Advanced Start”. In the basic blue screen you will see next, click Troubleshoot, click Advanced options, and click UEFI Firmware Settings.
How do I enable my TPM?
Many computer manufacturers have embedded their TPM into their computers, but it can be difficult to find the configuration to enable it. If you’re not sure what you’re doing, try searching for “[manufacturer of your computer or motherboard] enable TPM” because many manufacturers have created help pages specifically because of Windows 11.
Intel systems often refer to their TPM security feature as “TPM”, while AMD systems typically refer to it as “FTPM”. If you cannot find a setting marked “TPM” anywhere in the chipset or security settings, look for “Platform Trust Technology” or “PTT” and enable it.
After enabling the TPM, reboot into Windows and use the Health Check app to check that it is working properly.
How do I enable secure boot?
Windows 8 and newer PCs come with a feature called Safe Boot. This helps protect your computer from unauthorized or malicious software that could try to start up during startup. You can usually find the setting in your PC’s BIOS, but if you can’t find it, check your PC’s manual. ..
If your computer won’t boot after enabling Safe Boot, follow these additional steps:
- Make sure your computer has a valid operating system installation disk. If you don’t have one, you can purchase one from a store or online.
- Disable Safe Boot by going to the Control Panel and clicking on the System Tools tab.
- In the Safe Boot section, click on the Disable button next to MBR (Master Boot Record) and GPT (GUID Partition Table).
- Reboot your computer and try to boot into Windows again. If you still can’t boot, please contact our support team for assistance.
Right-click on the Start button or use the Windows keyboard shortcut + X and click Disk Management in the menu that appears up. Right-click any drive where Windows is installed (on most computers this will be Disk 0, but not always if you have multiple hard drives), click Properties, and look at the Volumes tab. If your partition style is listed as MBR, you will need to convert the drive.
- Open the Start menu and type “cmd” (without the quotes) and hit enter.
- Type “netstat -a” and hit enter.
- The output should look like this:
- If everything looks normal, you can continue by typing “gptutil -a” and hitting enter. If not, please let me know in the comments below what you’re seeing.
- Once you’ve completed the steps listed in 4-5, your computer should be able to boot into GPT mode!
Windows Update, Recovery and click on “Restart now” under “Advanced startup”.
When your PC restarts, click on the Troubleshoot button button, and then Advanced Options and Command Prompt.
In the Command Prompt window, type mbr2gpt /validate to verify that the unit is convertible. Then type mbr2gpt / convert to convert the unit.
When finished, re-enable safe boot in your BIOS and your PC should boot normally.
If you are having trouble converting this file to PDF, try the following:
- Open a new document in Adobe Acrobat Reader.
- Copy and paste the following code into the document’s body: If this conversion fails for some reason, the easiest option might be to do a clean reinstall of Windows 10 or 11 with Safe Boot enabled. When you format the drive and install Windows from a bootable USB stick, it will use GPT instead of MBR.
Final note
Windows 10 is the latest operating system from Microsoft. It was released in July 2015 and has been very popular. Windows 10 is a free upgrade for users of Windows 7 or 8.1. Windows 11 is the latest operating system from Microsoft. It was released in October 2017 and has been very popular. Windows 11 is a free upgrade for users of Windows 10 or 8.1. ..
