Stick to Windows 10 ... or going 11?

First, when deciding whether to upgrade to Windows 11 or not, you have to know if your computer meets the minimum requirements. If you don't have it already you can download PC Health Check Here Download PC Health Check App to Test Your PC for Windows 11
If your computer does not meet the minimum requirements for 11, Windows 10 is still supported till 2025.
As for everything else, You decide Windows 11: The Pros and Cons Everyone Is Talking About

spunk said:

First, when deciding whether to upgrade to Windows 11 or not, you have to know if your computer meets the minimum requirements....

We already know that this one does. Windows Update will only offer Windows 11 to a supported device, and it has done so here....

Jambon28 said:

Since few days (weeks?) I noticed the following message when I run Windows Update: "Windows 11, version 22H2 is ready--and it's free!"

Pros: There's really little difference in the OS kernel between 10 and 11, so there should be no software compatibility issues. The biggest changes are in the look of Start, the Taskbar, and the Settings app. That last one seems (to me) to be a lot better laid out than in Windows 10.


Cons: You may not like the new layout for Start. Some right-click context menus now need two clicks to reach them, eg: to get to 'Send to...' in 11 it's a right-click then click on 'Show more options' where you'll find the same original context menu as in 10. If you use a local account in 10 and like 'News & Interests', then in 11 you'll need a Microsoft account to use the Widget that is its direct replacement.

Personal opinion: I've been running 11 on my supported devices since October last year, and staying on 10 for my unsupported devices. On the whole I prefer 11, but you have until 14th October 2025 to decide. Until then 10 remains fully supported.

Hi @Bree and all

I have the same question too. My PC is a Dell Inspiron 3280 AIO - Desktop. It is Optane enabled coupled with a 1TB HDD.
Dell support site says Dell Inspiron 3280 Desktop "has been tested for update to Windows 11 build 22H2."

My current HDD configuration:



The OS volume and the five data volumes are Device encrypted

Storage System:



Windows 11 Ready



If I simply hit on Download and install,

What changes can I expect in the HDD configuration?

Will Optane continue to function?

Will my data partitions survive?
( The data partitions were created by me after turning off Device Encryption and shrinking the OS partition to make way for the Data partitions.. After creating the data partitions data partitions, I could not turn Device Encryption on. Dell support couldn't help. Then I resolved it myself. Simple: Do not turn off Device Encryption..Create the data partitions without turning off Device Encryption
cannot turn Device Encryption on

What happens to the OEM Partitions WinRE Tools, Image and Dell Support?

Considering that it is Optane enabled and Device encrypted will there be any problems?

Hello @Jambon28,

I looked at Win 11 when it came out and there is really NOT that much difference to get used to. I did however, decide to stick on Win 10 for a while as it is still a long way off of NOT being supported.

You could of course, try Win 11 in a VM to see if you like it.

I hope this helps.

jumanji said:

If I simply hit on Download and install,

What changes can I expect in the HDD configuration?

I wouldn't expect to see any changes....

....Considering that it is Optane enabled and Device encrypted will there be any problems?

I have no experience of Optane so cannot say.

As for Device Encryption this seems to be on by default in any install of Pro, whether a clean install or an OEM one. The drive may already be encrypted, but Bitlocker is not turned on. This had me confused the first time I saw it, but it seems to be the way MS always do it, and as such should not be an issue. If you are at all concerned then open a Command Prompt (Admin) and type manage-bde -off then sit back and watch it decrypt before upgrading.

Now if Bitlocker was turned on, that may be different. I don't use Bitlocker, but I have seen advice to turn it off before a major upgrade.

@jumanji

The easiest way to answer your question would be like this...

Make a full Disk backup of your Disk 0. From a 1TB disk the full Disk backup will be about... 1/2 the total "used space", on the Disk.
Once you have that backup... then just do an In-Place Upgrade from Windows 10 to Windows 11.

The In-Place upgrade should have the best chance of bringing your Optane along with it.
If the In-Place doesn't work, you will have the full Disk backup to restore from (if needed).

Like 95% of the time if an In-Place upgrade can't succeed, it just rolls back to the way it was before it started.

In-Place Upgrade from Windows 10 to Windows 11...


Here is the short version of the In-place upgrade tutorial...

DISABLE non-Microsoft:
a) antivirus software
b) firewall software
c) drive encryption software

Make a full OS backup with a program like Macrium Reflect (free)
Macrium Software | Macrium Reflect Free

Go here and get the Windows 11 ISO (use the 3rd option), and save the ISO to your desktop.
Download Windows 11
The ISO must be downloaded in the same language as you are using in Windows, to be able to keep your Programs and Files.








Right click the ISO image and choose: MOUNT
Open File Explorer and you will see a new drive letter. It will "look" like a DVD optical drive.
Double click the new drive letter to open it.
Find setup.exe and double click it to start the in-place upgrade.

Choose the Keep personal files and apps option.

After it's all done... to UNmount the ISO image, right click the new drive letter and choose: EJECT.


The ONLY thing you will lose is some of your personalizations. Your programs and data will be intact.

P.S. Every time I've upgraded from Win 10 to Win 11, I've just done an In-Place Upgrade. It works great.





This is the option to use to do a complete Disk backup. (ALL the partitions and the data on the Disk).




As you can see at the very bottom of this pic... it's only "counting" the "used space", of my 500GB Disk 1.
And the backup of that, will be about 1/2 of that total, or approx. 20 GB in my case.

About the only thing that I think the programmers need to work on is their lack of consistency in naming of things. A holdover in Win10 and Win11 is the name Windows Explorer didn't get renamed to File Explorer going forward from when the change was announced with Win8.. There's several features in Win 10 and Win11 that still refer to Windows Explorer. It's always credibility that gets in the way of good things. But then I got started back in '92 with Win3.1 and its Program Manager and File Manager.