New
#11
You always get contradictory advice when asking a question, as answers depend on repliers personal preferences.
In the end, only you can make the decision, but there are methods you can use to help you decide BEFORE committing.
1) do nothing and wait until MS offer it to you as @ Bree says, then do following BEFORE upgrading
Make an image backup of existing W10 installation (applies to all following as well)
2) Make an image backup of existing W10 installation, and upgrade now - a little riskier than step
3) Clean install Windows 11 in a virtual machine and try it before upgrading main OS
4) Clone existing installation to a virtual hard drive, attach it to a virtual machine, and upgrade inside VM.
This sounds complicated but it means you can test your apps on W11 before committing to upgrade
5) Do as 4, but then native boot VHD as a dual boot option by adding a boot entry to W10 BCD.
This is a superb way of testing Windows 11 without affecting main installation. However, you have to accept there is a small risk the existing installation could be affected (very low but not zero
You can also do full dual boot solutions but these involved messing with partition sizes, and you can totally screw up things if not careful. I would not go there unless you understand the risks. VHDs are safer.
In the end, it really comes down to how much of a risk taker you are. The most important thing is that image backup first.
I cannot tell you how many times a Macrium Reflect image backup has saved my bacon, but I take risks knowing it will always save me, so I am quite cavalier in upgrades.
Q: When is it a good time to upgrade to 11?
A: Autumn 2025
syntoh
@Arkas
Another way is to create a full W11 system on to a Virtual hard Disk -- note Not a VM. - This disk can be external or anywhere in any partition. A better option than VM for those who like gaming etc. A VM is fine for standard "Officy things", email, browsing etc.
1) On CURRENT system create a Virtual hard disk of size big enough to contain the OS.
2) Attach the virtual hard drive
3) install W11 to Virtual hard drive
4) modify boot :
5) note driver letter of windows in vhdx (say E:)
6) from admin command prompt type
bcdboot E:\windows /p /d
Reboot pc and you can now select vhd(x) to boot from. It's a full physical system and leaves existing OS untouched.
Cheers
jimbo
As you can see from last few posts, they exemplify my earlier point about contradictory opinions.
I have to say that the W11 1st release is a lot more polished than the W10 1st release in terms of bugs, so although I dislike some of the design, I do not think it is a major risk upgrading.
In the end, as I said earlier, you have to make up your own mind.
Hello @Arkas,
Sorry, I am a bit late on parade but I thought I would post this as it MAY help.
I think it is best to leave it for at least a few weeks while ANY bugs are addressed and hopefully fixed.
Of course, in the meantime, there is lots of advice, tips, and workarounds posted in the different Forums [ Windows 10 News, Installation and Upgrade, Windows Updates and Activation, etc ] on this site, which will allow you to hopefully decide when the time is RIGHT for you.
I hope this helps.
It would be helpful for all those poster who suggest a delay (waiting for bugs to be fixed), to post the critical or show stopper bugs that they are aware of, and how this will impact anyone who upgrades.