Upgrading to Windows 11 .... now that the end of Windows 10 is looming :-(((

[SlimPaling]

At some point, in the not too distant future,  it looks as if I will have to upgrade my aging Win10 computer in order to move up to Windows 11 😞   Th every thought of it gives me the shudders!!!

I use a whole assortment of software when I process my deep sky LRGB/HSO images and video sequences for Solar Imaging ..... but my main question is just how badly will the move to Win11 affect my existing software?

To list all of the programs that I use might take some time to put together here .... but here are a few to get started .... PixInsight, Maxim DL, CdC, Stellarium, Astrometrica, Aladin, RegiStax, Firecapture, Photoshop, etc etc.

Any help to tell me what future I am looking at would be very much appreciated!  But ..... do I really have to upgrade to Win11 or is it inevitable????

Mike

[Dr_Ju_ju]

So you want to get more marketing shoved down your throat ?? 

Personally I wouldn't worry about it & forget the whole upgrade procedure, especially as I'm not going to be forced into upgrading the hardware to accommodate the win11 update, so I'll just stick to Win10/Server2019 which do all I require, and for a lot of newer things I'm using a lot more Linux based systems....

[DaveL59]

I started down this route after deciding to look at the upgrade options. Went for some HP ProDesk 600 mini Gen5 i5 PC's that are available 2nd user for reasonable money and can be upgraded to 64GB RAM and take 1x NVMe + 1x SATA 2.5-inch or 2x NVMe according to your needs. Small, quiet, fast tho they do run quite warm.

If you want to keep W10 it's much like still running XP/W7 - don't let it access the interweb. Either operate it on its own network/vLAN or block it at the firewall. I still have W2012 running here for a couple things and its on a vLAN with no internet access with no issues.

[Mr Spock]

I've been using W11 since it came out. All my software works perfectly. Though I do understand users who are not PC savvy being apprehensive.

54 minutes ago, Dr_Ju_ju said:

So you want to get more marketing shoved down your throat ?? 

Such an angry comment. Perhaps you'd like to explain what you mean by marketing.

[carastro]

I find it more of a problem with drivers when l have to move operating systems. 
 

l have just bought a W11.  I can’t get my Guide camera to work on it.
l have an old Guide camera.  Luckily l still have an old W7 l can use for that.  
 

Photoshop and Stellarium works fine.  
 

Carole

[Albir phil]

1 hour ago, Dr_Ju_ju said:

So you want to get more marketing shoved down your throat ?? 

Personally I wouldn't worry about it & forget the whole upgrade procedure, especially as I'm not going to be forced into upgrading the hardware to accommodate the win11 update, so I'll just stick to Win10/Server2019 which do all I require, and for a lot of newer things I'm using a lot more Linux based systems....

Yeah I use w10 ,not upgrading, if I works I say leave it alone.

[Vroobel]

5 minutes ago, carastro said:

I find it more of a problem with drivers when l have to move operating systems. 
 

l have just bought a W11.  I can’t get my Guide camera to work on it.
l have an old Guide camera.  Luckily l still have an old W7 l can use for that.  
 

Photoshop and Stellarium works fine.  
 

Carole

 

Did you try to run them in a Win10/7 compatibility mode? 

[Bluemoonjim]

If your processor is up to the job (8th generation +) then I don't think the move to Windows 11 will be as disastrous as you seem to think.

[Xilman]

3 hours ago, SlimPaling said:

At some point, in the not too distant future,  it looks as if I will have to upgrade my aging Win10 computer in order to move up to Windows 11 😞 

If it aint broke, why do you have to fix it? IOW, what is your overpowering reason to move to Win 11?

My TCS stayed on Win 7 until the hardware broke beyond economic repair a couple of years ago. The replacement machine came with Win 10. I have absolutely no intention of "upgrading" the software while it still does what I need doing on the hardware I own.

 

[carastro]

2 hours ago, Vroobel said:

 

Did you try to run them in a Win10/7 compatibility mode? 

I have no idea how to do that. 

[Vroobel]

16 minutes ago, carastro said:

I have no idea how to do that. 

 

Instead of double-clicking on the program (exe file or its shortcut) right-click on it, select Properties and then go to a Compatibility tab. Select 'Run this program in compatibility mode for:' and select the latest version of Windows, in my case it's Windows 8. It may help, but I cannot guarantee. To be honest, I expected to see Windows 10 there as well, but it didn't happen, so I guess that Microsoft assumes that there are no differences between Windows 10 and Windows 11 in terms of compatibility. It's possible that the problematic software may need to be installed in compatibility mode. Can any more experienced Windows user correct me if I'm wrong?

 

Edited Wednesday at 20:15 by Vroobel

[mcrowle]

I'm not looking forward to Win10 support ending, as I have 3 PCs, 2 of which will not be compatible with Win11 according to the MS utility.

The 3rd machine is already Win11, but is a mini-notepad of such low spec (4Gb RAM, 64Gb storage) that there's very little room to install anything! My main machine, used for all image processing and most Internet stuff has a higher spec (8Gb RAM, 1Tb storage) but apparently can't be upgraded to Win11.

Regards, Mike.

[carastro]

Wish they wouldn't do that not everyone can afford to keep replacing their Desktops and laptops, plus the faff of transferring everything over is a right PITA.  

I have 2 imaging laptops, one is W7 and one is W10, guess they'll both be obsolete soon, I already daren't put the W7 on the internet (except I do for Teamviewer so I can monitor my imaging.  the W10 doesn't work for Polemaster (I think it was, and doesn't show any controls in Stellarium!!!  

As long as these two work I won't be putting my W11 outside for imaging, but would be good to have it ready if needed.

@Vroobel   

I'll give that a try - thanks.  

Carole 

[ONIKKINEN]

I'm surprised that Microsoft is still seriously going ahead with the end of service thing for WIn10, considering that (according to some stats i just found) 67% of Windows systems in use today are running windows 10. More than a billion devices!

I really hope there is some regulatory action taken against Microsoft here and they have to postpone this deadline. Its just wrong to tell 67% of your customers to pay up for the new version and cut the lifeline for the old one, and most of those billion devices dont meet the arbitrary silly requirements of windows 11, so we are looking at thousands of tons of e-waste because Microsoft wants to get an early paycheck.

[carastro]

Quote

Instead of double-clicking on the program (exe file or its shortcut) right-click on it, select Properties and then go to a Compatibility tab. Select 'Run this program in compatibility mode for:' and select the latest version of Windows, in my case it's Windows 8. It may help, but I cannot guarantee. To be honest, I expected to see Windows 10 there as well, but it didn't happen, so I guess that Microsoft assumes that there are no differences between Windows 10 and Windows 11 in terms of compatibility. It's possible that the problematic software may need to be installed in compatibility mode. Can any more experienced Windows user correct me if I'm wrong?

I tried it, did not get an option for compatibility mode, but found it in Properties (I think), but still didn;t work even after a computer trouble shoot.  

I am sure it is the driver is no good with W11.  Trouble is I can;t find an on line driver for it as the camera is an old version,  

[Louis D]

I've still got old 98SE, XP, 7, 8, and 10 systems around the house for old peripherals that have no driver update path and software than doesn't run correctly in compatibility mode.  Does anyone know of a 1998 Minolta slide scanner on SCSI through PCI driver update?  I didn't think so.  How about Firewire driver support for downloading MiniDV video files?  Again, I don't think so.  Believe me, there are plenty of people I've helped move their old videos off of tape lately, so don't say I need to ditch that hardware just because Microsoft quit supporting it long ago.

One problem with OS upgrades is that Windows keeps taking away software access to hardware primitives to protect the user from rogue software.  We ran into that at work trying to test our PCI cards in the mid-2000s.  Suddenly with a particular OS upgrade, we could no longer directly access PCI hardware primitives with our low level software and had to go through OS calls that didn't do what we needed them to do for low level compliance testing.  Thus, we kept an old OS machine lying around for that purpose.

I never upgrade my OS for the following reasons:

1. The new OS is generally such a resource hog that it bogs down the old hardware.
2. Much of the old software and drivers won't work even in compatibility mode for the reasons listed above.
3. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.  Why upgrade the OS when the old one is working just fine?  If you're worried about internet safety, then don't access the web from your old machines.  Move your files over to newer machines via flash drives for upload after you're done processing them on older machines with older software and peripherals.

I just buy or build a new machine when the latest OS becomes mature and the old machines are starting to get flaky from bad OS patches late in the support window.  I'd swear Microsoft sabotages their old OS users in the last year of support to force them over to the new OS.  I've had this happen to multiple OSs over the last 25 years.

[Mr Spock]

1 hour ago, ONIKKINEN said:

Its just wrong to tell 67% of your customers to pay up for the new version

The upgrade is free. 
https://uk.pcmag.com/migrated-3765-windows-10/136412/how-to-upgrade-to-windows-11-for-free

[Dr_Ju_ju]

19 hours ago, Mr Spock said:

Perhaps you'd like to explain what you mean by marketing.

Anything that pushes useless products and services (Advertising etc.)...   

[ONIKKINEN]

1 hour ago, Mr Spock said:

The upgrade is free. 
https://uk.pcmag.com/migrated-3765-windows-10/136412/how-to-upgrade-to-windows-11-for-free

That it is, which is nice i suppose. However, there are still the hardware requirements which mean many devices dont get to update.

My rig has an i7-6700k which is a bit old but still a very good CPU, but its too old for win11. So realistically i would need a new motherboard, CPU, RAM to be able to install win11 (without registry hacks, which id rather not do). So looking at a real cost of at least 500€ for a new operating system.

I do wonder if Linux sees a surge in users in the next few years. Seriously considering that myself.

[Louis D]

I forgot to add that many older Windows 7 and 8 machines didn't come with TPM 2.0 capabilities.  I've got several Windows 10 machines built on older motherboards that don't have this, so there is no upgrade path to Windows 11 (which requires TMP 2.0 hardware support) for these machines.  Again, if you're not connecting a machine to the internet, there is no reason to have TPM 2.0 capabilities.

[GrumpiusMaximus]

24 minutes ago, ONIKKINEN said:

I do wonder if Linux sees a surge in users in the next few years. Seriously considering that myself.

I work for an IT Managed Services Provider so had to deal with Windows every day.  The minute I was no longer directly customer-facing I asked our MD if he was OK with me using Linux day-to-day on my work laptop.  This was four months ago and I haven't looked back since.  I am unbelievably sick of Microsoft and their drive to monetise every part of their Operating System.  I just want to get work done.  If I set something a certain way, it stays a certain way.  I can actually turn all notifications off.  Nobody is collecting my data.  There is no 'push' to use particular applications.

Furthermore, my work laptop's performance has improved enormously.  The only time I have to use Windows is for getting audit search results from 365 and I use a VM for that - and that's only every couple of months.

I've been on and off with Linux since 2006 and I've also used Macs extensively in that time.  The only Operating System that I've used that has actively got in my way has been Windows.  I cannot stand it.  I'm currently saving for a new Mac so have an old Thinkpad with Debian 12 installed on it for personal use and it's been excellent.

Edited Thursday at 14:46 by GrumpiusMaximus

[Cornelius Varley]

18 minutes ago, ONIKKINEN said:

That it is, which is nice i suppose. However, there are still the hardware requirements which mean many devices dont get to update.

My rig has an i7-6700k which is a bit old but still a very good CPU, but its too old for win11. So realistically i would need a new motherboard, CPU, RAM to be able to install win11 (without registry hacks, which id rather not do). So looking at a real cost of at least 500€ for a new operating system.

I do wonder if Linux sees a surge in users in the next few years. Seriously considering that myself.

My Lenovo X220 runs win11 quite happily, probably a bit better than win10. The cpu isn't compatible with win11 apparently, but that doesn't seem to bother either  the computer or the os. The update to win11 was done using rufus to bypass any compatibility checks and was absolutely painless, apart from the five hour installation time. Incidentally, the laptop is now a bit like my great grandfather broom. The only original parts are the ram, the hard drive cover, the surround to the screen and the chassis. Last year the original motherboard failed and I managed to purchase a replacement board for less than £20 from ebay. Unfortunately, the only x220 boards available were the i5 or i3 versions, not the i7 in the laptop. The replacement arrived as a complete laptop minus ram, hard drive, keyboard and wristpad. A quick mix n match saw the new board transferred into the original chassis together with the screen and lid. A new 500gb ssd hd allows the laptop to boot up in seconds rather than a couple of minutes on the old mechanical hd.

[GrumpiusMaximus]

Just now, Cornelius Varley said:

My Lenovo X220 runs win11 quite happily, probably a bit better than win10. The cpu isn't compatible with win11 apparently, but that doesn't seem to bother either  the computer or the os. The update to win11 was done using rufus to bypass any compatibility checks and was absolutely painless, apart from the five hour installation time. Incidentally, the laptop is now a bit like my great grandfather broom. The only original parts are the ram, the hard drive cover, the surround to the screen and the chassis. Last year the original motherboard failed and I managed to purchase a replacement board for less than £20 from ebay. Unfortunately, the only x220 boards available were the i5 or i3 versions, not the i7 in the laptop. The replacement arrived as a complete laptop minus ram, hard drive, keyboard and wristpad. A quick mix n match saw the new board transferred into the original chassis together with the screen and lid. A new 500gb ssd hd allows the laptop to boot up in seconds rather than a couple of minutes on the old mechanical hd.

I have a couple of X250s that came with the i3 chip, 4GB of ram and the rubbish 768 display.  One now has an i7, 8GB of RAM and a 1080 display, the other has an i5, 8GB of RAM and the stock display.  I also have a stack of removable batteries for them.  My old employer was literally throwing them away so I nabbed a half dozen.  Great laptops and I just fiddle about with them, trying increasingly obscure operating systems.

My main personal laptop at the moment is a Thinkpad A285 with 16GB of RAM that I bought for 100GBP on eBay a couple of months ago.  That has proven to be an absolute bargain.

[AstralFields]

I already upgraded last year to Linux Kubuntu - loving it. My laptop came with Windows 11 - lasted for a whole 30 minutes until I replaced the entire SSD.

For that one app that is not working SharpCap .. I just put a dual boot of Windows Tiny10 .. and I will keep on using it for that single purpose alone.. capture with SharpCap .. for everything else Linux is amazing.

Edited Thursday at 15:10 by AstralFields

[Alien 13]

I have to admit I am worried about the end of life thingy even though I can easily upgrade to Win 11 and do have that on some of my machines but cant say I like it. Have thought about moving to Linux but that is problematic too with far too many flavours etc, have to hope STEAM saves me with its own desktop OS based on Arch Linux I think..

Alan