How to upgrade to Windows 11: Every option explained

Since Microsoft has stated that Windows 10 received’t obtain any new options from now till it ends help in 2025, it’s an excellent time to take into account upgrading from Windows 10 to Windows 11. It’s a free upgrade on your Windows 10 PC.

Downloading Windows 11 may be very very like downloading the unique Windows 11 beta, however there’s an extra software that Microsoft has added to facilitate the method. In reality, there are 4 methods to obtain Windows 11, every with its personal distinctive benefits. We’ll present you all 4, after explaining what it’s best to know earlier than upgrading.

You can all the time seek the advice of our causes to upgrade to Windows 11 (and causes not to!) when you’re nonetheless on the fence and wish to look at the query from all sides.

Editor’s Note: This story initially appeared on Oct. 11, 2021. We’re updating the story now that Microsoft has stated it will finish new characteristic updates for Windows 10.

What you’ll want to obtain Windows 11

Before you start downloading Windows 11, be sure you have the fitting PC {hardware}. While we don’t assume there’s a lot threat to downloading and putting in Windows 11 usually, there’s all the time the skin risk that one thing will go unsuitable. Take a second and again up important information to an exterior laborious drive or the cloud earlier than continuing. Our Windows 11 upgrade guidelines can assist you guarantee all of your geese are in a row.

Also be sure you perceive that Windows 11 Home would require a Microsoft account to administer. If you personal a Windows 10 Pro account and upgrade to Windows 11 Pro, you’ll have the opportunity to use an area (or as Microsoft now calls it, “offline”) account. To upgrade to Windows 10 Pro after which to Windows 11 Pro, the only means is to go to the Microsoft Store and upgrade to Windows 10 Pro earlier than kicking off the upgrade. You’ll pay full value going that route although; to avoid wasting money, take a look at our information on how to get Windows for affordable (or perhaps even free). You can even upgrade to Windows 11 Pro after first upgrading to from Windows 10 Home to Windows 11 Home, although you’ll want to enter a Microsoft account to accomplish that.

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The time that downloading and set up of Windows 11 would require will fluctuate, due to your PC’s pace and your out there broadband bandwidth. We’d say that allocating half-hour to an hour sounds about proper, however it could be very variable. Plan on having not less than 9 GB of free house out there to obtain Windows 11, and ensure your PC is up to date, with the newest model of Windows 10 put in. Simply run Windows Update in your pc earlier than putting in Windows 11 to be certain it’s correctly patched.

You’ll want a PC that meets the minimal {hardware} specs of Windows 11. We would additionally very a lot encourage you to learn our earlier story on the Windows 11 minimal {hardware} specs, obtain Microsoft’s Health Check app, and verify to see in case your PC is eligible to upgrade to Windows 11. You’ll want a PC with a least a TPM (Trusted Platform Module) 1.2 to qualify. The best and most secure means to qualify for Windows 11 is solely to have a PC that meets Microsoft’s restrictions.

If you personal a PC with a TPM 1.2 however not a TPM 2.0 put in, there may be an “official” means across the restrictions. You’ll want to open the Registry Editor, although, which is the muse of your PC. Microsoft would really like you to know that there are critical dangers to doing so, and recommends upgrading to Windows 11 on supported {hardware} by way of Windows Update (our first option, beneath) as a substitute. To proceed utilizing the Registry Editor and set up Windows 11 on unsupported {hardware}, comply with these steps. (If you’re unsure about what to do or don’t need to threat your PC, don’t do that!)

• In Windows 10, open the Registry Editor by tapping the Windows key after which coming into “Registry Editor” or regedit within the search field.
• Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMSetupMoSetup. If the folder isn’t there, right-click the Setup folder and create the MoSetup subfolder.
• Within the MoSetup folder, right-click and choose New >DWORD (32-bit) Value
• Name the brand new registry entry AllowUpgradesWithUnsupportedTPMOrCPU. Double-click it, then change the registry worth to 1.

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This methodology permits your PC to bypass the verify for TPM 2.0, in addition to the required CPU household and mannequin. You can even instantly apply a picture set up of Windows 11 to the disk, too. Doing this by way of the Microsoft DISM command-line software may even bypass the TPM/CPU verify, Microsoft says.

Windows 11: Clean set up vs. updating in-place

Installing Windows 11 by way of Windows Update is an “in-place” or “incremental” set up, the place the Windows 11 code is basically added to a PC with current apps and paperwork. It’s a secure method, offered you’ve backed up your current information. (Again: Back up your pc earlier than upgrading your working system!) Windows 11 also needs to enable you to “roll back” to Windows 10 inside a time frame (usually 10 days) when you merely don’t prefer it.

A “clean install” affords you the option of beginning contemporary, and usually that’s what the opposite set up choices beneath supply. In Windows 11’s case, it’s best to strongly take into account this option. A clear set up helps eradicate any bugs that will crop up.

A clear set up usually means wiping your paperwork, apps, and settings out of your PC and beginning contemporary. That’s the place the cloud helps. If your paperwork are saved on OneDrive (or in Box, Dropbox, an exterior drive, no matter) you’ll have the opportunity to merely copy them again over. You’ll want to obtain and re-install apps and video games, nonetheless, in addition to patch them. Take some care right here—saved video games won’t be within the video games listing, however inexplicably saved within the Documents folder as a substitute.

Keep in thoughts that when you upgrade to Windows 11, let the 10-day grace interval expire, and then resolve to return to Windows 10, you’ll be able to—you’ll simply have to obtain and set up a clear copy of Windows 10 as a substitute. (If you personal a sound Windows 10 or Windows 11 license, that is all free.)

You can all the time reset your PC—Windows 10 or Windows 11—at any time to make issues tidy. Just be sure you have every little thing backed up.

Now that you realize every little thing you want to know earlier than upgrading, let’s get to the nitty-gritty. There are 4 alternative ways you’ll be able to set up Windows 11.

How to set up Windows 11 by way of Windows Update

Now that Microsoft has launched Windows 11, there’s no want to be a part of the Windows Insider program, which was the unique means to obtain the Windows 11 Insider beta.

At some level, you’ll be requested to obtain Windows 11, by way of an option that appears one thing just like the display beneath. If you don’t see this “choice” display and “check for updates” doesn’t supply Windows 11 to you, you’ll be able to attempt our subsequent suggestion beneath.

Mark Hachman / IDG

Downloading Windows 11 by way of Windows Update is the best means ahead. You’ll doubtless be requested for affirmation that you simply’ve backed up important apps and paperwork, then the set up will proceed.

Some individuals want to upgrade to Windows 11, then later do a clear refresh of their PC. It is perhaps overkill, but it surely’s an option nonetheless.

How to obtain Windows 11 by way of the Windows 11 Installation Assistant

The Windows 11 Installation Assistant and the Create Windows 11 Installation Media software (described later) are fairly comparable: If you’ve tried operating Windows Update and Windows 11 isn’t being provided to you, you’ll be able to jumpstart the method by way of the Windows 11 Installation Assistant. If have multiple PC that you simply’d like to upgrade, the Installation Media software may be reused on a number of PCs.

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Using the Windows 11 Installation Assistant (clicking the hyperlink will obtain the assistant) merely gives you with a means to obtain and set up Windows 11 on a single PC. We haven’t examined this methodology all through, however it seems that the Installation Assistant will obtain Windows 11 when you wait, as a substitute of within the background as Windows Update does. There shouldn’t be any substantive variations, although you could be merely caught ready for the method to full.

The Create Windows 11 Installation Media Tool is ideal if in case you have to upgrade multiple Windows 10 PC in your house. The distinction right here is that you need to use the software to obtain to and burn a DVD, in case your PC nonetheless has a DVD drive, or just to a USB key. (Don’t use an exterior laborious drive for this, because the software requires you to format, or erase, the complete drive first. Downloading a picture ISO, the following option, solves that downside.)

For this, you’ll want a DVD and DVD burner, or a USB key that’s not less than 8GB or extra. You might have to use a dual-layer DVD. You can then inform Windows to obtain the file to the USB key, or as an ISO file for burning to the DVD. You’ll have the opportunity to choose the language, version, and structure (select the 64-bit option) after which the process will start.

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Once the media software has been created, you’ll both want to burn it to a DVD utilizing your current DVD burning instruments, otherwise you’ll have a USB key with Windows 11 on it. To set up Windows 11, you’ll want to reboot your PC with the DVD or USB key put in. If every little thing goes in accordance to plan, your PC ought to mechanically start putting in Windows 11.

If it doesn’t, you’ll want to comply with the directions for coming into your PC’s BIOS or UEFI settings in its preboot setting. Consult your PC’s documentation in how to do that. Typically, it requires you to press a key (such because the Esc or Delete key) instantly after tapping your PC’s energy button. You’ll need to set your PC to both boot from a USB/DVD, or else merely verify to see if it can boot from both drive earlier than booting usually.

How to obtain Windows 11 with a ISO disk picture

This is my most well-liked means of putting in a brand new OS, if I’ve dedicated to upgrading the working system. Downloading an .ISO file permits you to merely tuck it away like every other doc on an exterior laborious drive. If you’d like, you’ll be able to burn it to a DVD or reserve it on a USB key, too. With Windows 10 or Windows 11, although, you don’t want to. Simply right-click the .ISO file, choose “Mount,” and Windows will merely deal with the file like a digital DVD in a disc drive. You’ll have the opportunity to kick off the set up course of in a single straightforward step.

You ought to deal with an ISO file such as you would a wierd, random USB key that you simply’ve picked up off the road, although—if you didn’t obtain it from Microsoft, be cautious. Microsoft’s set up web page gives directions for verifying the “hash” or id of the ISO on the backside of the web page. If you’ve downloaded the ISO itself, you ought to be nice; the hash verify is only for the paranoid.