The ultimate Windows 11 upgrade guide: Everything you need to know

At the risk of stating the blindingly obvious, Windows 11 is the successor to Windows 10. It's built on the same core architecture as Windows 10; indeed, Microsoft could have chosen to deliver the new features in Windows 11 through a series of feature updates to Windows 10 without a name change.

Instead, it chose to give the new OS a new major version number, along with a set of new and unusually restrictive hardware requirements.

Most people don't pay directly for Windows but instead acquire it with a new PC.

On new PCs, the Windows license is paid for by the manufacturer, and its cost is included in the price of the PC. On customizable systems with Windows 11 Home edition preinstalled, buyers might have the option to pay extra for an upgrade to Windows 11 Pro.

Also: How to upgrade Windows Home edition to Pro (and why you would)

If your PC has a properly licensed copy of Windows 10, the upgrade to Windows 11 is free. If you install Windows 11 on a PC you build yourself or in a virtual machine, you must enter a product key or otherwise apply a Windows license to activate the installation.

Windows 11 licenses are available from the usual retail channels for about the same price as Windows 10. The complete lineup of retail and OEM editions includes Home, Pro, and Pro for Workstations.

Support for Windows 10 will officially end on Oct. 14, 2025. After that date, PCs running Windows 10 will still work, but they will no longer receive monthly quality and security updates unless their owners enroll in an Extended Security Update subscription. Those updates will come at a steep price for business customers; free options are available for personal PCs, but only for one year.  

Also: Microsoft to start charging for Windows 10 updates next year. Here's how much

Microsoft no longer allows PC makers to sell new PCs with Windows 10 preinstalled, although you can still find Windows 10 PCs (especially refurbished machines) in stock at retail outlets. Corporate customers who buy PCs with a license for Windows 11 Pro can exercise downgrade rights to install Windows 10 on those devices.

Microsoft stopped selling retail licenses for Windows 10 on Jan. 31, 2023. You can still download Windows 10 for free (from aka.ms/DownloadWindows10), and because product keys for Windows 10 and Windows 11 are interchangeable, you can activate the old operating system using a product key or a digital license for either version.

Unlike previous versions of Windows, which prioritized backward compatibility and were built to run on older hardware, Windows 11 requires relatively new hardware and is blocked as an upgrade on older PCs. Most PCs designed and sold in 2019 or later will work with Windows 11.

The published system requirements for Windows 11 are as follows:

• Processor: 1GHz or faster with two or more cores on a compatible 64-bit processor or system on a chip (SoC)
• RAM: At least 4GB
• Storage: At least 64GB of available storage
• Security: Trusted Platform Module (TPM) version 2.0, UEFI firmware, Secure Boot capable
• Graphics card: Compatible with DirectX 12 or later, with a WDDM 2.0 driver
• Display: High-definition (720p) display, 9-inch or greater monitor, 8-bits per color channel

Also: Have a Windows 10 PC that can't be upgraded? You have 5 options before support ends next year

To check for Windows 11 compatibility, download and run the PC Health Check app, which will identify specific compatibility issues that prevent an upgrade. Older hardware is less likely to pass Windows 11's stringent compatibility checks; for example, most Intel 7th Generation Core processors (launched in mid-2016) are not on the list of compatible CPUs, nor are PCs built using AMD Zen 1 processors. PCs built in 2017 or earlier are almost certain to be unsupported, and many low- to mid-priced PCs sold in 2020 or earlier are likely to contain unsupported CPUs.

Most apps and devices that work with Windows 10 should work as expected under Windows 11. The newer operating system is sufficiently similar to its predecessor that the differences shouldn't pose a problem for most apps.

One big exception to that rule is with the latest generation of Copilot+ PCs that use Arm-based Qualcomm Snapdragon processors rather than x86 CPUs. Developers can choose to recompile their apps for the new processor, as all of the Microsoft apps (including the entire Office family and the Edge browser) have done.

Also: Microsoft's sweeping changes to controversial Recall feature for Windows 11 Copilot+ PCs

The developer didn't rework your app? No problem. Arm-based PCs can run most apps written for x86 processors in emulation mode, with a negligible performance hit; however, apps or devices that require custom drivers will only work if the developer recompiles the driver for the Arm architecture. This limitation is most likely to appear in apps that use system-level drivers, such as backup utilities, security software, and VPNs.

If you discover a compatibility issue with hardware or software after upgrading a PC to Windows 11, you have 10 days to roll that upgrade back to the previous installation of Windows 10. That option disappears after 10 days, so don't delay.

Windows 11 requires a hardware security component called a Trusted Platform Module (TPM). The TPM is a cryptographic processor that supports device encryption and a wide array of other security features. Many of those features were optional in Windows 10 but are turned on by default in Windows 11.

To enable the TPM, Windows 11 also requires UEFI firmware (no legacy BIOS allowed) and support for the Secure Boot feature. The UEFI requirement also means that system disks must be set up using the GUID Partition Table (GPT) standard. Systems that use the legacy Master Boot Record (MBR) system are unsupported.

Also: The best VPN services: Expert tested and reviewed

Beginning in 2016, Microsoft required makers of Windows PCs to include TPM 2.0 support and enable it by default, although such systems sometimes include firmware settings that allow the owner of the PC to disable the TPM or to switch from UEFI to Legacy BIOS, which makes the TPM unusable. For more on the technology behind TPMs, see "Why Windows 11 requires a TPM - and how to get around that."

On all currently supported versions of Windows 11, setting up a new PC for personal use requires an internet connection and a Microsoft account to complete the out-of-box device setup. The option for a local account is available when setting up Windows 11 Pro for use on a business network.

After the initial setup is complete, you can create a local account with administrative rights and ignore or delete the Microsoft account. There are also a number of workarounds you can use to bypass this requirement and create a local account during the initial setup of a Windows 11 PC.

Using a Microsoft account unlocks a few features that are worth knowing about, including Device Encryption with a recovery key backed up to the cloud. For a full explanation of user account types and instructions for creating local accounts, see "Windows 11 setup: Which user account type should you choose?"

The Windows 11 Setup program includes a utility that checks for compatibility with hardware requirements and blocks upgrade installations on devices that don't meet those restrictions. However, you can bypass that compatibility check by using one of two workarounds, as described in these detailed instructions. Hundreds of ZDNET readers have confirmed that these options successfully upgraded their "incompatible" PCs to Windows 11.  

The first option was originally published in an official Microsoft support document that has since been edited to remove those instructions. This option specifies a registry key you must modify before running Setup. This method will work on a PC with an unsupported CPU, but it requires the presence of a TPM.

The second option uses an open-source utility called Rufus to bypass the compatibility checks on even old hardware.

Also: How to upgrade your 'incompatible' Windows 10 PC to Windows 11: Two ways

Using either method results in a warning that the installation is not recommended, including the following text: "If you proceed with installing Windows 11, your PC will no longer be supported and won't be entitled to receive updates. Damages to your PC due to lack of compatibility aren't covered under the manufacturer warranty."

Older PCs upgraded using this workaround continue to receive security updates alongside supported hardware, but that's not guaranteed. It's possible (but, in my opinion, unlikely) that a future update to Windows 11 might reinstate the compatibility check without allowing a bypass. For a more detailed discussion, see "Is Microsoft really going to cut off security updates for your 'unsupported' Windows 11 PC?"

Compared with Windows 10, there are some noticeable visual tweaks to what Microsoft calls the Windows 11 user experience (UX), including new icons, with more vibrant colors and rounded corners, as well as a new system font.

Windows 11 also makes some fairly radical changes to the other fundamental parts of the Windows UX. The taskbar is now centered at the bottom edge of the display. (There's a setting to move it back to the left if you don't feel like overpowering your muscle memory from decades of having the Start button in the lower left corner.)

The Windows 11 Start menu is thoroughly reworked and barely resembles the scrolling lists of apps and utilities found on previous versions. This space is split into two rectangles under a search box. The top half contains program icons, and the bottom half shows shortcuts to recent documents. You can pin programs and folders to the top space, drag them to change their order, and group them into subfolders. A new design for the Start menu is scheduled to appear at the end of 2025 as part of the version 25H2 update.

Also: The 11 Microsoft apps I ditch on every new Windows install - and the 11 I keep

Beginning in 2024, Microsoft has redesigned the user panel on the Start menu, moving the Sign Out and Switch User options to a separate menu. The only other tweak for Start is the option to pin some system folders to the bottom row, between the user profile picture and the power button. The Start menu can't be resized.

Most of what's noteworthy about the taskbar is what's missing, compared to the version in Windows 10. The taskbar is centered at the bottom of the display; you can align it on the left, but you can't dock the sidebar to the top or sides. Feature updates have also brought back a right-click menu to open Task Manager as well as adding the ability to show labels and turn off the options to combine buttons for multiple windows associated with a specific app.

The taskbar contains one new button, which opens a Widgets pane on the left side of the display. The selection of widgets, although improved from the initial release, is still limited mostly to Microsoft services and a cringe-worthy selection of news headlines. The ability to fine-tune the visibility of tray icons and a crisper, cleaner Quick Settings panel (shown below) are welcome changes.

Although Microsoft regularly boasts that customer satisfaction with Windows 11 is "higher than any version of Windows ever," the new OS has plenty of detractors. Most of their complaints boil down to a simple critique: Microsoft has "dumbed down" Windows 11, they argue, removing features and simplifying the user interface compared to Windows 10, in ways that don't necessarily increase productivity.

Some level of dissatisfaction is inevitable with every new Windows release, of course, and it's impossible to know whether the grumbling over Windows 11 is more pronounced than in previous versions.

Also: Microsoft has a big Windows 10 problem, and only one year to solve it

On more objective measures, Microsoft's data shows that Windows 11 is more reliable and more secure than Windows 10.

Ultimately, the best reason to use Windows 11 is because it will be the only supported version of Windows as of Oct. 14, 2025, and developers of apps and devices will be targeting Windows 11 as the supported platform.

Windows 11 does not include third-party advertisements as part of the core Windows user experience. You will, however, find pointers to third-party apps preinstalled as part of a fresh Windows installation, and Microsoft is not shy about promoting Microsoft 365, OneDrive, and Xbox services, with occasional pop-up messages and banners on the Start menu.

These campaigns to cross-sell, upsell, and promote Microsoft services through Windows PCs are successful at bringing in revenue for the company, so they're likely to get more persistent. For a look at why those campaigns exist, see "Here's why Windows PCs are only going to get more annoying."

Microsoft offers Windows 11 as a free update to PCs running Windows 10 that meet compatibility requirements and are not blocked for compatibility issues. To manually upgrade a PC from Windows 10 to Windows 11, or to install a clean copy of Windows 11, go to the Download Windows 11 page, where you can choose one of three installation options:

• Run the Windows 11 Installation Assistant, a utility program that downloads the necessary installer files and upgrades the current PC.
• Create Windows 11 installation media on a USB flash drive.
• Download a Windows 11 disk image in ISO format.

The installation files are also available for Volume License subscribers and for those with a Visual Studio subscription. 

Also: Wiping your Windows laptop? Here's the simplest way to erase all personal data

The official download page only includes the most recent release of Windows 11. As of October 2024, that's version 24H2, which has a major OS build number of 26100. When version 25H2 is released, its build number will be 26200. Monthly cumulative updates increment the minor OS build number. To locate these details for the current installation, go to Settings > System > About.

For a list of updates and links to release notes, see the Windows 11 Update History page. (Use the pane on the left side of the page to select the major version number.)

The most important change in the Windows 11 era isn't software at all. Instead, look at what Microsoft calls the servicing schedule, which now produces feature updates once per year (in the second half of the calendar year) instead of adhering to the frenetic twice-a-year feature update schedule that prevailed for the first few years of the Windows 10 era.

Although those annual releases are still called feature updates, that name is a bit of a misnomer, as Microsoft now regularly releases new features between those major releases. New features can arrive via Windows Update, as part of the monthly security and quality updates, or they can be delivered through the Microsoft Store.

Also: How Microsoft now delivers Windows updates: 4 things you need to know

Those updates continue to arrive monthly, on the second Tuesday of each month (aka Patch Tuesday).

The support calendar (what Microsoft calls the Windows lifecycle) is also new for Windows 11, with Microsoft offering 24 months of support for retail and OEM editions: Home, Pro, Pro for Workstations, and Pro Education. That approach is a change from the 18-month support window offered for Windows 10. IT staff in business and education environments get 36 months of support for Enterprise and Education editions.

Microsoft allows anyone to run preview versions of Windows 11 on supported hardware by opting into the Windows Insider Program. Insider releases are available in four channels: Canary, Dev, Beta, and Release Preview. In the new arrangement, those first three channels maintain separate paths from current builds; the only way to get back to the public releases is to reinstall Windows.

To join the Windows Insider Program, go to aka.ms/windowsinsider and sign in with a Microsoft account.

Yes, you can install Windows 11 in a virtual machine (VM). In fact, you can create a virtual TPM in a Windows 11 VM that will satisfy the hardware requirements of the new operating system.

For detailed instructions on how to set up a Windows 11 virtual machine using Hyper-V on the Pro or Enterprise editions of Windows 10 or Windows 11, see "How to create the perfect Windows 11 virtual machine."

On a Mac with an Intel-based processor, you can install a third-party hypervisor and then use a downloaded ISO to install Windows 11. On Macs that use Apple Silicon (M1/M2/M3/M4), the Microsoft-authorized option requires Parallels Desktop version 18 or later. You'll need to supply a license for Windows 11 Pro to activate the virtual installation. For details on the limitations of Windows VMs running on this platform, see the Microsoft Support article: "Options for using Windows 11 with Mac computers with Apple M1, M2, and M3 chips."

At Microsoft HQ in Redmond, some MBA with access to the company's massive telemetry database probably knows the exact answer to this question. The rest of us have to guess, based on fragmentary third-party data sources.

Also: Can't quit Windows 10? Here's how to keep getting security updates after October 2025

Based on those numbers, it appears that somewhere between 35% and 45% of the billion-plus Windows PCs in the world are running Windows 11. That number is changing slowly as Windows 10 diehards choose to retire old devices and buy new hardware. But the Windows 11 hardware restrictions mean that most of the growth will come via sales of new PCs rather than through upgrades.

At the beginning of 2024, there were signs that Microsoft was getting ready to ship its next Windows version later in the year. That didn't happen, and Microsoft chose instead to highlight its Copilot PCs, running the latest release of Windows 11, version 24H2. Now that Microsoft has officially announced Windows 11 version 25H2, it's certain that Windows 12 won't appear in 2025, either.

So, maybe in 2026 or 2027? As the saying goes, "Those who know aren't talking, and those who talk, don't know." If Microsoft follows the same playbook it did with Windows 11, though, one thing is certain: You won't get a lot of warning. Microsoft surprised everyone with the Windows 11 announcement, and the final public release was ready roughly 100 days later.