Windows 11. Anyone going to install it? Plus discussion and observations, experience etc.

[melmerby]

25 minutes ago, RFS said:

 

Great! Just in time for 23H2 which is due in the next few weeks.

I've got it set to receive updates as soon as they are available

 

The update hasn't upset any of my personalisations so a happy bunny there.

[RFS]

8 hours ago, melmerby said:

I've got it set to receive updates as soon as they are available

 

The update hasn't upset any of my personalisations so a happy bunny there.

 

23H2 is now available. It's just an enablement package, as all the new stuff is in the latest 22H2 cumulative update but turned off. The package just flicks a switch or two and then you have to reboot.

 

It should come any time now via WU, but if you want it now the package can be downloaded from the Windows 11 Forum website. Once downloaded, just double-click it and run. It only takes a few seconds as I've just run it on my laptop that's not on Insider Preview so wasn't able to take it early. 

[melmerby]

2 hours ago, RFS said:

 

23H2 is now available. It's just an enablement package, as all the new stuff is in the latest 22H2 cumulative update but turned off. The package just flicks a switch or two and then you have to reboot.

 

It should come any time now via WU, but if you want it now the package can be downloaded from the Windows 11 Forum website. Once downloaded, just double-click it and run. It only takes a few seconds as I've just run it on my laptop that's not on Insider Preview so wasn't able to take it early. 

I'm in no particular rush to get updates but I would like it not to get behind like it just has. It has updated every time on or near update day but for some reason (presumably the disabled TPM) never did 22H2.

I only noticed by accident whilst seeing the soon to be available 23H2, that mine was still on 21H2.

[Chris Turnbull]

21 hours ago, melmerby said:

Tried again

Everything went through as it should, now on 22H2.

It's also found some more updates!

 

Now all Finished

Version 22H2 (22621,2506)

 

Yup.  That's the same as me.  Well done.

 

I also regularly check my Firmware for updates.  I have a Dell and use either SupportAssist or Dell Update which both provide the same updates.  I use both alternately just to be sure I'm not missing anything.  I know this is unnecessary, I just like variety.  Had a fairly substantial one this morning (774MB) and held my breath as I restarted.  The fact that I'm typing this now proves all went OK.

 

Chris Turnbull 

[Chris Turnbull]

10 hours ago, melmerby said:

I'm in no particular rush to get updates but I would like it not to get behind like it just has.

 

Very wise.  Like you, I'm in no rush to install 23H2.  When Windows tells me it's ready then I'll install it.

 

Interestingly, last year 22H2 was not available for my wife's ASUS laptop until about ten days after I had installed it on my Dell.  I was beginning to wonder whether there was something wrong when it turned up.  I don't know why there should be this time lag - any ideas?

 

Chris Turnbull

Edited November 1, 2023 by Chris Turnbull
Typo

[Miss Prism]

2 hours ago, Chris Turnbull said:

I don't know why there should be this time lag - any ideas?

 

I'm guessing it might be Microsoft not wanting every machine in the world to be wanting a download at the same time.

 

[RFS]

2 hours ago, Chris Turnbull said:

 

Very wise.  Like you, I'm in no rush to install 23H2.  When Windows tells me it's ready then I'll install it.

 

Interestingly, last year 22H2 was not available for my wife's ASUS laptop until about ten days after I had installed it on my Dell.  I was beginning to wonder whether there was something wrong when it turned up.  I don't know why there should be this time lag - any ideas?

 

Chris Turnbull

 

Sometimes the roll-out of new function like this is staggered by MS so there's reduced risk of a lot of people having problems at the same time. 

[melmerby]

4 hours ago, RFS said:

 

Sometimes the roll-out of new function like this is staggered by MS so there's reduced risk of a lot of people having problems at the same time. 

I've noticed that on the PCs in this house.

 

Incidentally I've another PC which is Win 11 compatible except for the processor which is not quite good enough and cheaply remedied (around £50)

It's got a SSD C: drive and plenty of Ram.

It originally had Win 7, which was upgraded to Win 10 but I rather stupidly overwrit the Win 10 with Linux.

Is there anyway of re-instating Windows without a new purchase?

Edited November 1, 2023 by melmerby

[RFS]

44 minutes ago, melmerby said:

I've noticed that on the PCs in this house.

 

Incidentally I've another PC which is Win 11 compatible except for the processor which is not quite good enough and cheaply remedied (around £50)

It's got a SSD C: drive and plenty of Ram.

It originally had Win 7, which was upgraded to Win 10 but I rather stupidly overwrit the Win 10 with Linux.

Is there anyway of re-instating Windows without a new purchase?

 

MS will have your motherboard id recorded on its servers and will not be aware it's been running Linux. So you should have no problem re-installing W10 and then upgrading to W11.

[melmerby]

Installed Win 10 22H2 on the PC, the only thing stopping Win 11 is the processor see here:

 

Can the processor bit be bypassed or isn't it worth it?

[RFS]

1 hour ago, melmerby said:

Installed Win 10 22H2 on the PC, the only thing stopping Win 11 is the processor see here:

 

Can the processor bit be bypassed or isn't it worth it?

 

Yes the CPU requirement can be bypassed quite easily. In fact MS themselves provide an "official" means to do this. Have a look at this article and skip down to the section "How to Bypass Windows 11 TPM the Official Microsoft Way". Then you should be able to upgrade to Windows 11. Download Windows 11 as an ISO file and then double-click on it which will cause it to be mounted as a virtual DVD.  Then click on the "setup" file and away you go. When you've finished "eject" the DVD. 

 

Many people are running W11 on unsupported devices, some of which are considerably less supported than yours!

 

As to whether it's worth it, only time will tell. You can always go back to W10 at any time. With the wife's 8-year-old PC, which she only very lightly uses, I decided I didn't want to have to support W10 and W11, so replaced MB, CPU and RAM, and also installed a 256Gb NVMe SSD. Made a big difference performance-wise, and sold her old MB on Ebay too so only cost me around £150. 

[melmerby]

The PC is the one I had just built when we got flooded in 2018.

I claimed for a new PC as it wouldn't work after being drowned!

The new one I built to a higher spec than the dead one with a new Win 10 license but still had an unsupported CPU when Win 11 was announced.

I decided to go up to Win 11 so changed the processor to a much better one.

 

Later I decided to investigate the drowned PC, I used the processor out of the new build, found a spare graphics card, tried a single DDR4 memory module (out of the new one) and bingo it all worked (the motherboard had survived so I completed the job with a full set of memory and the SSD out of the new one which I replaced with an NVME M.2.

 

As i was going to use it for odds and ends e.g. JMRI and suchlike I decided to install Linux but instead of dual booting I overewrit the Windows.

I've since bought a Pi400 for JMRI use so have gone back to Windows.

 

Upgrading it to Win 11 would mean a PC which is a lot more up to date one than this core i7 one,  which is several tiers below the minimum CPU and the only available TPM 2.0 ( a module) does not support Win 11. It's also the older DDR3 memory

As it's Intel the CPU can't be replaced with a newer one, unlike the AMD CPUs, due to using different sockets.

[Chris Turnbull]

23H2 has just appeared on my Dell and I'm downloading it now.  I'll let you know how I get on.  Fingers crossed!

 

Chris Turnbull

[kevinlms]

47 minutes ago, Chris Turnbull said:

23H2 has just appeared on my Dell and I'm downloading it now.  I'll let you know how I get on.  Fingers crossed!

 

Chris Turnbull

If you can!

[Hroth]

Just done an update check on my Dell, its saying that Windows 11, version 23H2 is available.

 

I'll wait to see how Chris gets on...

 

 

I've just had a look through what the update offers, Microsofts key headlines include

 

https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows/inside-this-update-93c5c27c-f96e-43c2-a08e-5812d92f220d?OCID=WUSettings#windowsupdate=22631

 

Inside this update

Windows 11 Windows 10

The latest Windows updates focus on the needs you’ve expressed to us as we all continue to navigate the world of remote work more securely and with confidence.

 

• Use Copilot in Windows for AI assistance
• A new way to browse your photos
• Find and browse AI hub in the Microsoft Store
• Review your key info in Settings
• Type with your voice
• Use your PC without a mouse
• Go password-free with passkeys
• Spend less time setting up, more time coding
• An all-in-one backup solution

 

I'm not sure that they are killer features as far as I'm concerned, I mean I've used a PC without a mouse long before Windows even arrived...

There are more "bread and butter" updates towards the bottom of the page, which may be worth considering.

 

 

[Chris Turnbull]

I'm pleased to report that 23H2 has installed with no problems.  It was actually quite quick.

 

There's nothing obviously different so I'll go through the list of changes and see what works for me.  I see from Hroth's post that voice typing is an option.  I hope it's better than Alexa - she doesn't always get it right!

 

Chris Turnbull

[RFS]

My 3 systems have been on Release Preview so I've had 23H2 on them for several weeks now. Absolutely no problems at all - very stable release I'm pleased to say. I even have it now on my 11-year-old laptop that has neither TPM nor a compatible processor and it runs well too.

[Reorte]

1 hour ago, Hroth said:

I'm not sure that they are killer features as far as I'm concerned, I mean I've used a PC without a mouse long before Windows even arrived...

There are more "bread and butter" updates towards the bottom of the page, which may be worth considering.

Ditto, to the point where I've got no interest at all in them (although in some occasional circumstances easier mouseless support sounds good). Windows 11 doesn't need "features," it needs the basics sorting out. All the features I wanted and needed have been present since XP (only reasons to not still use that are security and hardware and software compatibility, the UI pretty much peaked then).

Edited November 3, 2023 by Reorte

[melmerby]

3 minutes ago, Reorte said:

it needs the basics sorting out.

Such as?

[Reorte]

38 minutes ago, melmerby said:

Such as?

The taskbar's still a pain, still hasn't entirely sorted out the control panel / settings mess, and it's a bit lacking on customisation. I'd rather like the option to switch off some of the changes, such as the file explorer right click menu and tabs. Can get around all of that sort of thing with third party addons but I'd much prefer not to. There's been far too much change for the sake of change over the years, which frequently seems to  mean changing things simply because they're "old." I'm generally not a fan of trying to shift more and more from menus to icons.

Edited November 3, 2023 by Reorte

[Hroth]

Not as bad as a recent update to the Thunderbird email program.  Instead of an unambiguous button labelled "Download New Messages", the update hipsters replaced it with an insignificant icon consisting of what I think is meant to be a cloud with an arrow dangling beneath it.

 

It looks rather constipated...

 

[Reorte]

2 hours ago, Hroth said:

Not as bad as a recent update to the Thunderbird email program.  Instead of an unambiguous button labelled "Download New Messages", the update hipsters replaced it with an insignificant icon consisting of what I think is meant to be a cloud with an arrow dangling beneath it.

 

It looks rather constipated...

I've got that but at least it says "Get messages" next to it.

[melmerby]

3 minutes ago, Reorte said:

I've got that but at least it says "Get messages" next to it.

Mine doesn't

I don't like the current layout of T'bird at all, I need to get into the options and change how it does some things.

 

It's like Windows 11 (or 10), the default is a mess but with a little work it is possible to get a lot nearer to what Win 7 was like

As it stands it seems as if it is aimed at the smartphone generation, not sure why as I doubt many would use it.

[Hroth]

22 minutes ago, Reorte said:

I've got that but at least it says "Get messages" next to it.

 

Only if you hover the cursor...

 

Back to downloadsville.

 

My Lenovo laptop had been refusing to have anything to do with the 2023-10 Cumulative Update for Windows 11 Version 22H2 for x64-based Systems (KB5031354).  It had been installing up to 25% then failed with error 0x800f081f.  Despite several attempts to navigate around this, it refused to play ball.

 

This morning, it downloaded a Lenovo "system update", then gobbled down 2023-10 Update for Windows 11 Version 22H2 for x64-based Systems (KB4023057), followed by the Windows 11, version 23H2 feature update, and now seems quite pleased with itself!

 

Hey ho.

 

 

May as well let the Dell have a go too...

 

 

 

Edited November 3, 2023 by Hroth
a bit more

[Hroth]

4 minutes ago, melmerby said:

As it stands it seems as if it is aimed at the smartphone generation, not sure why as I doubt many would use it.

 

Its probably been redesigned by the smartphone generation, who are really a bit clueless about how people work with laptop and desktop computers...

 

Its like many of the new options that are being offered in the 23H2 feature update.