How to Install Windows 11 Right Now (Even If You Don’t Have an Update)
After all the news, hype and previews, Microsoft’s Windows 11 is finally here. You will probably be happy to update your Windows 10 PC to experience all of the new features and changes that Microsoft added with its latest update. Great! But updating may not be as easy as usual, so we’ll walk you through installing Windows 11 on your PC, even if you don’t see the update yet.
Microsoft doesn’t want Windows 11 to run on all machines
As you’ve probably heard, Microsoft’s hardware requirements for Windows 11 are pretty strict. To download and install the latest update on your computer using a Microsoft approved method, you need:
- Intel 8th Gen Coffee Lake or Zen 2 or higher
- 64-bit processor with a clock speed of 1 GHz with at least two cores
- TPM 2.0 support
- 4 GB of RAM
- At least 64 GB of free storage space
If your computer or laptop doesn’t meet these requirements, don’t worry; there are still legitimate ways to get Windows 11 installed on your computer. We will discuss them later. For now, we are assuming that you do have a computer that supports Windows 11. Where do you go from here?
How to check if Windows 11 is available on your PC
Unfortunately, Microsoft is not immediately rolling out this update to computers. Instead, it does it gradually, prioritizing new hardware from the start. He promises that all eligible cars will be asked to upgrade by mid-2022, which is, uh, a very long time.
The first thing you need to do is check to see if Microsoft deemed your machine worthy of an upgrade invitation. To do this, go to Settings> Update & Security> Windows Update and see if there are any new updates. If your machine is one of the lucky ones, you should see a Windows 11 update available just like any other Windows update. Congratulations! Go ahead and follow the onscreen instructions to download and install the software.
How to install Windows 11 if an update is not available
If you don’t see this update, no big deal – due to Microsoft’s whims, only a limited pool of computers will find a ready Windows 11 update in their Settings app. First, check if your PC actually meets the requirements for an official update through Microsoft using the PC Health Check app, which you can download here if you don’t already have it.
If your computer meets Microsoft’s hardware requirements, you can manually install the Windows 11 update without waiting for Microsoft to add it to your update page. To do this, go to Microsoft’s ” Download Windows 11 ” page. From there, you have three options to install the Windows 11 update on your computer:
- Windows 11 Setup Assistant : Microsoft recommends this option for those who don’t already have the update on their device. An assistant will guide you through the installation process. Just click ” Download Now ” to get started. You can find additional installation instructions by clicking ” Before You Begin ” on this page.
- Create Windows 11 installation media : This option allows you to perform a clean installation of Windows 11 on your computer using the Windows 11 ISO image. To install on your computer, you need a blank DVD or USB drive. This type of installation can be tricky if you’ve never done one before. Follow Microsoft’s instructions to install Windows 11 this way by clicking ” Before You Begin ” on this page.
- Download Windows 11 Disc Image (ISO) : This option allows you to download the Windows 11 ISO image to work with as you see fit. You can install it from a DVD or USB stick as described above, or install it directly from an ISO file. Again, this type of installation can be tricky; you can follow Microsoft’s installation instructions by clicking Before You Begin on this page.
How to install Windows 11 on an unsupported computer
If your computer does not support Microsoft’s hardware requirements for Windows 11, you can still install the software on your computer. You will need to use the Create Windows 11 Installation Media or Download Windows 11 Disc Image (ISO ) options from step above as Microsoft will not let you use the Installation Assistant on unsupported hardware. However, the company recommends not installing ISOs on an unsupported machine and warns that those who do may not receive automatic updates. This means that you will need to install every Windows 11 update from an ISO file as they are released.
If this sounds like a bigger problem than it’s worth, there are other options you can explore. We’ve put together a step-by-step guide to make Windows 10 look more like Windows 11 when you can’t (or don’t want to) upgrade. This way you get the aesthetic benefits of Windows 11 while avoiding the hassle of multiple ISO installations of the operating system.
[ The Verge ]