Windows 11 As A Microsoft Update...

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

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.

[Mike Blakesley]

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.”

[Steve Guttag]

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.

[Marcel Birgelen]

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.

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

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.

[Mike Blakesley]

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.

[Harold Hallikainen]

I have heard that 11 is significantly slower than 10. Is that the case?

[Marcel Birgelen]

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...

[Frank Angel]

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.

[Ryan Gallagher]

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.

[Tj Hopland]

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. .

[Ryan Gallagher]

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. .

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”.