Converting to Windows 11

[Emphyrio2]

I have put off converting my three home computers from Windows 10 to Windows 11. Now I must face the music. Before I get started, I would like to get input from members of this forum.

The scope involves three 2019 vintage family computers with MS office applications and lots of photo processing software. All three computers were well specified in 2019 and meet current Windows 11 system requirements.

I am not a cutting edge IT pro, but I have some experience with software and systems and have written code.

Of course I will back up my data files before starting.

Is the conversion process straightforward and painless?

Is it better to trust Windows 11 to preserve the apps or to uninstall and reinstall after the conversion?

Any suggestions of things to look out for?

I would greatly appreciate your advice.

Emphyrio2

 

[CompleteUtterNonsense]

Let windows preserver all user data and apps. It works very well. I did this to move a bunch of computers here at work between win10 major versions. Have not used it for win11, but it is the same process and will work well.

For enterprise software it leaves behind an old\username folder I never looked into those to see what was there, but after confirmation just deleted the old user folders to free up space.

 

[Austinian]

I have put off converting my three home computers from Windows 10 to Windows 11. Now I must face the music. Before I get started, I would like to get input from members of this forum.

The scope involves three 2019 vintage family computers with MS office applications and lots of photo processing software. All three computers were well specified in 2019 and meet current Windows 11 system requirements.

I am not a cutting edge IT pro, but I have some experience with software and systems and have written code.

Of course I will back up my data files before starting.

Is the conversion process straightforward and painless?

Is it better to trust Windows 11 to preserve the apps or to uninstall and reinstall after the conversion?

Any suggestions of things to look out for?

I would greatly appreciate your advice.

Emphyrio2

I've had no problems upgrading multiple PCs from 10 to 11, data and programs were all preserved, but backing up before any major change is IMO always a good idea.

(If "Emphyrio2" is a reference to the excellent Jack Vance novel "Emphyrio", well done!)

 

[BobKnDP]

I have put off converting my three home computers from Windows 10 to Windows 11. Now I must face the music. Before I get started, I would like to get input from members of this forum.

For fellow procrastinators, it's unnecessary to "face the music" until October 2025.

If you update to 11 now, you'll get 24H2, which went on public release beginning 1 October. It has had some bugs, mostly minor (IMHO). If you're conservative, you may wish to wait a bit longer. I'm not sure how long.

The scope involves three 2019 vintage family computers with MS office applications and lots of photo processing software. All three computers were well specified in 2019 and meet current Windows 11 system requirements.

I am not a cutting edge IT pro, but I have some experience with software and systems and have written code.

Of course I will back up my data files before starting.

Is the conversion process straightforward and painless?

Is it better to trust Windows 11 to preserve the apps or to uninstall and reinstall after the conversion?

I suggest imaging your current Windows 10 installations before a major update/upgrade. I recommend that on a periodic basis for all users, regardless.

Running the upgrade should preserve all applications, files, and settings. But it's not guaranteed. In practice, it has always worked for me. (Except it always deletes some Windows 7 card games I keep around. But it saves their settings.)

Any suggestions of things to look out for?

Some drivers can interfere with the Core Isolation device security setting. That also exists is Windows 10, but it's commonly not enabled. You could test for that by trying to turn it on in 10.

It can be a bit tricky to fix, because even if you've uninstalled such drivers, copies may be retained in the Driver Store. Deleting unused drivers from there isn't straightforward.

Core Isolation is optional, though. You don't need to enable it to run Win 11.

I would greatly appreciate your advice.

Emphyrio2

 

[Simon Garrett]

I have put off converting my three home computers from Windows 10 to Windows 11. Now I must face the music. Before I get started, I would like to get input from members of this forum.

The scope involves three 2019 vintage family computers with MS office applications and lots of photo processing software. All three computers were well specified in 2019 and meet current Windows 11 system requirements.

I am not a cutting edge IT pro, but I have some experience with software and systems and have written code.

Of course I will back up my data files before starting.

Is the conversion process straightforward and painless?

Is it better to trust Windows 11 to preserve the apps or to uninstall and reinstall after the conversion?

Any suggestions of things to look out for?

I would greatly appreciate your advice.

Emphyrio2

Agree with what the others say.

I'm no special W11 fan, and converted the machines in the house (about 4) some months ago only in view of the loss of support next year for W10. Most I upgraded in situ, that is keeping all programs and data from the W10 build. Everything worked OK, including some software from the early 2000s (can't guarantee it will for you, obviously!)

One machine was not supported (the processor is i7-7700) but these days Microsoft don't stop you using unsupported hardware, and have softened their warnings to "we don't guarantee it will work now or in future".

When you upgrade to W11, it tries to force you to convert to using Microsoft accounts instead of local accounts. If you don't want this, there are ways round this (Google for it, see for example https://www.tomshardware.com/how-to/install-windows-11-without-microsoft-account).

Few visible differences from W10 other than cosmetic.

As the others say, I recommend backing up all user data before, and if possible get an image clone of the C drive. Also, it's worth Googling something like "hints and tips for upgrading to Windows 11" or whatever to find any possible pitfalls for your usage, but take horror stories with a pinch of salt.

 

[bmoag]

There are good reasons to do the upgrade in place to Windows 11 instead of a fresh install.

It will preserve your access to DRMed programs and avoid reinstallation and reactivation.

More importantly, if you have older peripherals it is very possible that their drivers will not install and configure correctly into a fresh Windows 11 installation even if they are labelled as compatible with Win 11. That is particularly true for older printers. Whatever Microsoft claims not to have done they have altered the driver model for Windows 11 from Win 10.

In my sad experience after a fresh install of Win 11 I could not get several printers to install and configure correctly. Restoring an image of Win 10 and doing the upgrade in place solved all these issues.

Do not activate core isolation by default as it does nothing and is incompatible with common drivers. After you are sure Win 11 is working you can see if Win 11 will allow you to activate core isolation, it won't if you have incompatible drivers already installed--the drivers are far more important than what core isolation does not do.

So obviously create a disc image of your C drive, or wherever Win 10 is installed, and go from there however you choose.

In actual use the differences between Win 10 and 11 are easily ignored. You might even like the way you can right click on the expand icon in the upper right corner and automatically place Windows on the screen. Problems with updates are exactly as common and vexing as in every version of Windows.

 

[BillyBobSenna]

I suggest you do a fresh install of Windows 11 and not try to update what you already have. It’s always good to clean off your hard drive during events like this.

 

[BobKnDP]

I suggest you do a fresh install of Windows 11 and not try to update what you already have. It’s always good to clean off your hard drive during events like this.

True.

But it's a lot more work.

I admit that some people do clean Windows re-installs at long intervals, to minimize the amount of junk cluttering the OS.

(As a non-programmer, I regard the Windows Registry as an instrument of the devil. The lack of an equivalent is one of my fondest memories of the MacOS.)

 

[BillyBobSenna]

I suggest you do a fresh install of Windows 11 and not try to update what you already have. It’s always good to clean off your hard drive during events like this.

True.

But it's a lot more work.

I admit that some people do clean Windows re-installs at long intervals, to minimize the amount of junk cluttering the OS.

(As a non-programmer, I regard the Windows Registry as an instrument of the devil. The lack of an equivalent is one of my fondest memories of the MacOS.)

I think if you are organized, I fresh install has never been easier and does not take of time. In the longer run, you may save time by not trying to debug as much.

 

[Robert Zanatta]

I suggest you do a fresh install of Windows 11 and not try to update what you already have. It’s always good to clean off your hard drive during events like this.

 

[BobKnDP]

I suggest you do a fresh install of Windows 11 and not try to update what you already have. It’s always good to clean off your hard drive during events like this.

True.

But it's a lot more work.

I admit that some people do clean Windows re-installs at long intervals, to minimize the amount of junk cluttering the OS.

(As a non-programmer, I regard the Windows Registry as an instrument of the devil. The lack of an equivalent is one of my fondest memories of the MacOS.)

I think if you are organized, I fresh install has never been easier and does not take of time. In the longer run, you may save time by not trying to debug as much.

Depends.

I've done clean installs enough times to have established practices.

Copying the data (that which lives on the OS drive) doesn't take long. I haven't resorted to moving my Windows libraries off the OS drive.

The most time-consuming part is collecting the software installers before the OS install, and running them after. That's good for a few hours. I may have to fiddle with settings for days, though.

I use Thunderbird as an email client. The big trick was figuring out how to copy over its locally saved files and settings. (Rather than having to download gigabytes of files using IMAP. Which would work.)

 

[BillyBobSenna]

I suggest you do a fresh install of Windows 11 and not try to update what you already have. It’s always good to clean off your hard drive during events like this.

Why do more work when it's unnecessary? Having to reinstall all your apps and then make all the settings changes you had previously done takes a lot of time.

If the system has an SSD performance will not be affected by doing an upgrade. And when you upgrade you are getting a fresh copy of Windows.

In my case, the added time is not significant. The benefit is to have a clean install that is free of fragments from previous installs.

 

[Ron Poelman]

Is it better to trust Windows 11 to preserve the apps or to uninstall and reinstall after the conversion?

make sure you do a comprehensive clean-up before making images or copies.
Clean out any "bins" in photo software
Empty Recycle bin
Run Disk Clean Up with all options
If you have spinners, defrag 'em.
No point in working with bloat.

Personally, after the above, I'd make an image and store it; then let Win11 loose on the existing drive. If it all goes pear-shaped you can still do a clean install any time.

 

[BobKnDP]

I suggest you do a fresh install of Windows 11 and not try to update what you already have. It’s always good to clean off your hard drive during events like this.

Why do more work when it's unnecessary? Having to reinstall all your apps and then make all the settings changes you had previously done takes a lot of time.

If the system has an SSD performance will not be affected by doing an upgrade. And when you upgrade you are getting a fresh copy of Windows.

In my case, the added time is not significant. The benefit is to have a clean install that is free of fragments from previous installs.

I can't speak to "significant", but perhaps you don't have much software installed.

(Take me a while, even though I have no multi-gigabyte games installed.)

 

[XiaoDeer]

Another vote for a clean install. It's good to jettison old stuff you no longer need or use as well as all the crud that Windows and applications leave behind.

Most differences are cosmetic (and annoying) but be aware Microsoft have done away with the optional Quick Launch toolbar. This is a huge PITA for those of use who make significant use of it every day.

 

[CompleteUtterNonsense]

I suggest you do a fresh install of Windows 11 and not try to update what you already have. It’s always good to clean off your hard drive during events like this.

Why do more work when it's unnecessary? Having to reinstall all your apps and then make all the settings changes you had previously done takes a lot of time.

If the system has an SSD performance will not be affected by doing an upgrade. And when you upgrade you are getting a fresh copy of Windows.

In my case, the added time is not significant. The benefit is to have a clean install that is free of fragments from previous installs.

I'm curious to know what sort of fragments you are concerned about. Windows 11 creates new user profiles to the there won't be any fragments there.

Old drivers may take up disk space, but they won't be invoked by the device manager because there would be no hardware to trigger that.

I don't know how the upgrade installer handles the registry. I suppose you could get some incompatible settings. Orphaned entries are just a little dust in the corners and don't take up significant space. You could always run something like Ccleaner if it bothers you.

driver compatibility might be an issue, but then it would with a clean install as well.

 

[BillyBobSenna]

I suggest you do a fresh install of Windows 11 and not try to update what you already have. It’s always good to clean off your hard drive during events like this.

Why do more work when it's unnecessary? Having to reinstall all your apps and then make all the settings changes you had previously done takes a lot of time.

If the system has an SSD performance will not be affected by doing an upgrade. And when you upgrade you are getting a fresh copy of Windows.

In my case, the added time is not significant. The benefit is to have a clean install that is free of fragments from previous installs.

I'm curious to know what sort of fragments you are concerned about. Windows 11 creates new user profiles to the there won't be any fragments there.

Old drivers may take up disk space, but they won't be invoked by the device manager because there would be no hardware to trigger that.

I don't know how the upgrade installer handles the registry. I suppose you could get some incompatible settings. Orphaned entries are just a little dust in the corners and don't take up significant space. You could always run something like Ccleaner if it bothers you.

driver compatibility might be an issue, but then it would with a clean install as well.

Simply perform a google search on benefits of a clean windows installation. You can read all about it.
--
Bill - Beverly Hills, MI
Motorsports Photography
www.billgulkerphotography.com

 

[New Wrycuda]

I suggest you do a fresh install of Windows 11 and not try to update what you already have. It’s always good to clean off your hard drive during events like this.

Why do more work when it's unnecessary? Having to reinstall all your apps and then make all the settings changes you had previously done takes a lot of time.

If the system has an SSD performance will not be affected by doing an upgrade. And when you upgrade you are getting a fresh copy of Windows.

In my case, the added time is not significant.

The benefit is to have a clean install that is free of fragments from previous installs.

This is mentioned fairly often, but is unlikely to be a problem, particularly if Win10 has been working properly. Just what are these “fragments”?



My experience with the Win10-Win11 upgrade was entirely positive. It was all completed in under two hours, including the download, and everything worked. I didn’t bother imaging the OS, but then I never do. ;-)

As I have previously mentioned, the other users needed no preliminary guidance and hardly noticed the difference, only commenting that the “Start/Stop Button has shifted”.

 

[BillyBobSenna]

I suggest you do a fresh install of Windows 11 and not try to update what you already have. It’s always good to clean off your hard drive during events like this.

Why do more work when it's unnecessary? Having to reinstall all your apps and then make all the settings changes you had previously done takes a lot of time.

If the system has an SSD performance will not be affected by doing an upgrade. And when you upgrade you are getting a fresh copy of Windows.

In my case, the added time is not significant.

The benefit is to have a clean install that is free of fragments from previous installs.

This is mentioned fairly often, but is unlikely to be a problem, particularly if Win10 has been working properly. Just what are these “fragments”?

My experience with the Win10-Win11 upgrade was entirely positive. It was all completed in under two hours, including the download, and everything worked. I didn’t bother imaging the OS, but then I never do. ;-)

As I have previously mentioned, the other users needed no preliminary guidance and hardly noticed the difference, only commenting that the “Start/Stop Button has shifted”.

Please take some time to google the benefits of a clean window install. Periodic reinstallation of windows has served me well for decades. If your experience differs, great.

 

[CompleteUtterNonsense]

I suggest you do a fresh install of Windows 11 and not try to update what you already have. It’s always good to clean off your hard drive during events like this.

Why do more work when it's unnecessary? Having to reinstall all your apps and then make all the settings changes you had previously done takes a lot of time.

If the system has an SSD performance will not be affected by doing an upgrade. And when you upgrade you are getting a fresh copy of Windows.

In my case, the added time is not significant. The benefit is to have a clean install that is free of fragments from previous installs.

I'm curious to know what sort of fragments you are concerned about. Windows 11 creates new user profiles to the there won't be any fragments there.

Old drivers may take up disk space, but they won't be invoked by the device manager because there would be no hardware to trigger that.

I don't know how the upgrade installer handles the registry. I suppose you could get some incompatible settings. Orphaned entries are just a little dust in the corners and don't take up significant space. You could always run something like Ccleaner if it bothers you.

driver compatibility might be an issue, but then it would with a clean install as well.

Simply perform a google search on benefits of a clean windows installation. You can read all about it.
--
Bill - Beverly Hills, MI
Motorsports Photography
www.billgulkerphotography.com

Thanks, I'll pass. I ran 40+ in place upgrades at work (w10 1809 to 22h2) and saw no performance penalty over clean install machines.

I'll run a few test in place upgrades for W10 to W11 and then proceed. Too many machined to fiddle with clean installs, even from a mostly populated base image.