Windows 10 will run out of support in October 2025

I agree, but people need to understand that they can't expect new hardware or software to run on older machines.

 

Not in the long term I agree. However, many people only use their computers for email, browsing the internet and the occasional letter. It will be some years before their computers become unusable. My wife's machine still runs on Windows 8 and does all she needs of it.
People certainly need to be aware of the situation but shouldn't be panicked into upgrading or replacing machines. My own laptop is vintage 2017, running Windows 10 and can't run Windows 11. I have no plans to change it.

 

My device is 2020, why should I have to upgrade OS or device. It's another con that needs sorting before we run out of planet. The only reason I really use it is for the keyboard, else it would likely be a tablet. Voice to text is getting better and better, so pretty soon I'll also simply use the mobile and talk to it....

 

I agree. It's not that long ago that Microsoft would support the current version plus the last 2. Now they seem to get round that by issuing version.1, version.2 etc and dumping support for anything else. They are only interested in screwing every last penny out of customers.

 

I have a laptop but use it with external keyboard and large external monitor. When we holiday in the UK I occasionally take the laptop, but generally just check for e-mail on my phone.

 

I don't get many calls on my mobile so that element isn't an issue. It is useful for scanning through e-mails, although I rarely actually reply until we get back home. We keep 'e' versions of travel documents on the phone, but also have hardcopy.

 

Building desktop pc systems is what i do, as well as updating / upgrading and repairing them etc.

I have customers that are still on WinXP!! and are still happy. Support for Win7 came to an end some time ago, but some still get an occasional update.

All operating systems require updates and upgrades, even linux.

Victorian Britain in the days of the industrial revolution etc built stuff to last forever. This is great for the consumer.................. or is it!? Many companies and businesses went bust.

Well, arguably it's not a good thing at all because if you have an operating system / computer that lasts forever and doesn't require replacing, the manufacturer goes "Out Of Business" because they have no renewed income to continue to support their products and so on.

Linux is not free altogether. It may be free to those that help themselves and resolve issues with help from various forums. But if you want to use linux to provide a service and require professional help, then it's expensive.

I build and repair M$ systems but use Linux in the workshop and on my personal desktop computer and laptop but do need an M$ PC too.

All products and services are manufactured to fail or require repurchase in some way after an amount of time nowadays so that companies continue to survive.

It's rumoured that Win13/14 and onward will actually be FREE for home / domestic use but at a cost................ Advertising on your screen. To escape onscreen advertisements, you'll need to pay a monthly subscription. Critical updates may be free to everybody, but other updates and OS upgrades may only be offered to subscribers. We'll have to wait and see what the future has in-store for Microsoft products though because Microsoft change their minds as often as the wind changes direction!!

I think Microsoft's end game is to produce an operating system that does update and upgrade forever to those that pay a monthly subscription. Getting there will be a transitional one and may take a few more upgrades yet. They've more or less achieved this with Office365.

You can avoid having a Microsoft Account with Win11 Home if you know how to do it, but it's rumoured that with Win12 "You Must" have internet connectivity and having a Microsoft Account will be mandatory too, to which you must always be signed in ..... One step closer to a subscription service.

 

I have a couple of questions please.
How long does it take to upgrade from W10 to W11?
Will my printer continue to work?

 

How old is your Computer? What is the motherboard model, CPU, How much memory and what's the size and type of Hard Drive?

How long it will take is a very difficult one to answer..... What's your internet connection like, as it can take some time to initially download. If you have several programs running in the background and a memory hungry antivirus application running, it could take hours.

On the other hand, with a fast internet connection, with all background programs shutdown completely, lots of memory and a good quality motherboard and processor the process could take 40mins.

Can you get and download Win11 drivers FIRSTLY for the motherboard and any other hardware. Will your printer run on Win11 and if so download the driver for it before you start. Will all your other bits n bobs run on Win11? Don't forget to download all drivers for all your connected stuff, webcams, scanners, printers, card readers and more.

Downloading all these drivers before upgrade and putting them onto an external drive in advance may seem to be a pain but can save a lot of hassle later on, especially any network drivers for Ethernet and wifi controllers. If you lose these drivers during the upgrade process, you won't have access to the internet to download them later!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

To add to what @akwe-xavante has just said -
Best to go to Microsofts site and run the Compatability test to ensure your PC will take W11.
How to check if your device meets Windows 11 system requirements after changing device hardware - Microsoft Support

There are two basic ways to take W11, as an upgrade to your existing system, or to do a Clean Install which means you have to reinstall all your programs and data.
The latter means if your old W10 system was getting slow etc a clean install will usually cure that.

Either way its best to do a System Image Backup of your C drive first so you can always go back to that. Various free programs to do that, but you need a second internal or external drive to do that if you hve one ?

Go to your Printer manufacturers site and look in their Drivers section to see if there is a W11 driver for your model ( most probably is as it runs on w10 already)
Normally you will do not have to download drivers as W11 typically installs them for you.

 

I wouldn't get too paranoid about upgrading to Win11. My wife's laptop runs Windows 8 and still chugs along happily. The laptop battery doesn't hold much charge any more, but as she only uses it at home that's not a problem. We've always used 3rd party AV software so no concerns there either.
The laptop I'm using can't run Win11 according to Microsoft so I don't have to make the decision.

 

MS will and can either use existing drivers present sometimes or the upgrade process will have downloaded MS generic signed drivers to use if available. If existing drivers are incompatible with Win11 and MS doesn't have a generic driver to get you going on the first reboot after install, then you can be stuffed if you haven't pre-downloaded Win11 drivers from the hardware manufacturer's website in advance and saved them.

The initial Win11 upgrade download only contains the most common up-to-date MS signed drivers for Win11 compatible hardware. Hardware manufacturers don't always share these drivers with MS because it can be too expensive for them to do so, but you can "If they exist" download them for free from the manufacturer's website.

MS drivers typically only give you basic limited use of hardware to get you going. Drivers downloaded from the manufacturers websites give you a lot more.

At the mo we don't know how old and or what the computer is, and it may have already been upgraded from Win7 or Win8/8.1 already, making a Win11 upgrade far less likely to succeed.

 

I still have a Win7 laptop that's running perfectly well.

The poster is possibly thinking about upgrading to Win11 in the hope of a free Win12 upgrade in the Autumn this year............. by then it'll probably not be an option, tooooooo old and incompatible.

Win11 has been out for some years now and will be replaced by Win12 this year, so i'm guessing the computer is 4yrs old or older and MS will withdraw any free Win10 to 11 upgrades shortly.