Updating from Windows 10 Pro to Windows 11 Pro?
Updating from Windows 10 Pro to Windows 11 Pro?
My normal pattern has been to purchase new hardware when I move to a new Windows OS. I did this from WinXP to Win7 to Win10. I was about to do this with Win11, but I am running out of time. The typical pre-builts I went with in the past no longer exist. Most today have no flexibility in upgrading, or they are vastly overpriced. I am going to attempt a PC build, something I haven't done since my WinXP PC, but learning about the latest hardware is taking some time.
I am considering an update of my Windows 10 Pro PC to Windows 11 Pro to get me by for now. The PC hardware passes the test of what can be updated, so no special tweaks are needed. But this is uncharted territory for me.
If I run through the normal update process, what happens to the settings I currently have (i.e. Group Policy) in Windows 10 Pro? Do those carry over, or does the update to Windows 11 Pro use the default settings? What if I have an older version of Office (Office 2013)? Does that also carry over?
Windows Update showed compatibility long ago, but I changed a Group Policy to skip the Windows 11 update, setting it to version 22H2. I believe I should turn this off again to perform the PC Health Check. My system runs an i7-9700, RTX 2060, with 32 GB RAM (four 8 GB modules) and an OS installed on a 512 GB NVMe SSD. It's a Dell XPS 8930 running Windows 10 Pro, bought in 2019.
Yes, cancel that GPO.
All changes must be preserved.
For significant updates, a reliable backup is essential.
Get the Windows 11 ISO file, open it and execute setup.exe to begin the in-place upgrade. Windows 11 will activate itself automatically. You'll retain your files, applications, and settings.