I have just completed installing Windows 11 on six non-compliant Windows 10 systems.
These systems are eight years or older, but they are helpful in my operations.
I considered the ESU programme, but it seemed complex and fragile, and I also didn't want to create an MS account on these systems.
Systems were updated with Rufus as follows:
T7900 Dell workstation, Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5-2698 v4 @ 2.20GHz (2.20 GHz) (2 processors), RAM 128 GB, Nvidia Quadro M6000 24Gb (Dual Cards) - Currently a Revit/AutoCAD production workstation.
Del Precision 7710, Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E3-1545M v5 @ 2.90GHz (2.90 GHz), RAM 64.0 GB, Nvidia Quadro M5000M - Back-up laptop and web authoring.
Dell Precision M6700 Red Edition, Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3920XM CPU @ 2.90GHz, 32Gb RAM, NVIDIA Quadro K5000M - Scanning duties.
An Asus-based workstation, Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-9600K CPU @ 3.70GHz (3.70 GHz), 32Gb RAM, NVIDIA Quadro P1000 - used for AutoCAD script processing.
Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd H270M-D3H, Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-7700 CPU @ 3.60GHz (3.60 GHz), 32Gb RAM, Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti, - old gaming and VR PC. This one had a legacy bios.
Surface Pro 3 (circa 2014) Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4650U CPU @ 1.70GHz (2.30 GHz), RAM 8.00 GB, Intel(R) HD Graphics 5000.
All of these systems are nearing the end of their life and would have remained on Windows 10 until they broke, if Microsoft had continued to provide security updates.
Issues
Things went quite smoothly with some minor issues:
Dell 7710 had an incompatible driver issue with the Dell Support Assist, so I removed it.
The Surface Pro would not update existing apps, etc., until I reset the install language to US English.
It had been installed with Great British English, which the Windows 11 iso does not support.
Changed the default language in the registry from 0809 to 0409, and things worked.
Lost the pin login in the process, but was able to reset it.
Everything else worked great, and I find very little difference in operation compared with Windows 10.
IMO, Windows 11 is Windows 10 with a new skin and tweaks to improve security and make it incompatible with older hardware to fill the world's landfills. I know that with previous versions of Windows, support ended after the user base dropped below 5%, but with Windows 10, there is still a roughly 30%/40% installed base. MS is a monopoly and I consider it has a moral obligation to continue security support of these older systems until the user base drops below 5%. "Around 400 million devices worldwide are expected to remain on Windows 10 after support ends on October 14, 2025"
In New Zealand, it is reported that 30% of PCs are still running Windows 10 and will continue to do so.
I wonder if I can upgrade my Surface 2 🙂
