Now that Windows 11 is out, some people are worried they will be forced to pull the plug and update. Here’s why you shouldn’t worry about that.
Windows 11's rollout is currently underway. After a period of beta testing through Microsoft's Insider Preview program, Windows 11 is now rolling out to stable users worldwide. But the launch of Microsoft's new operating system has not been one without concerns.
Back when its predecessor, Windows 10, launched in 2015, Microsoft went with an unusually aggressive strategy to get Windows 10 up and running in people's computers. Some users are worried the company will now force users to download Windows 11. So, will you be forced to upgrade to Windows 11? And how will the rollout work exactly?
Microsoft has just finished testing Windows 11 on the Insider Preview program, meaning that it's now ready for rolling out to users worldwide. And that rollout is currently ongoing at the time of writing.
It's an in-place upgrade from Windows 10, and millions of computers worldwide are now running the latest version of Windows. The way the rollout will work, though, is probably much slower than you think, as Microsoft doesn't want everyone on Windows 11 immediately.
It's a staged rollout, as it's usually the case with most Windows updates. However, this time it's very staged, to the point some people won't be getting their respective Windows 11 update through Windows Update until mid-2022. A lot of computers (mine included) have not been offered an update to Windows 11 yet, being instead served by cumulative Windows 10 updates and patches. And a lot of computers will not be offered an update at all if they're not eligible for one.
Users who want to skip the line and install Windows 11 now are free to do so. You can download the Windows 11 Installation Assistant for an in-place update to Windows 11, or you can create an installation media or download an ISO and update that way as well. But if you want to get Windows 11 via Windows Update and it hasn't shown up for you yet, you're going to have to wait.
There are a lot of reasons for this. First of all, Microsoft wants to squash as many bugs as it can before everyone is running Windows 11. Bugs often arise during the first few days, and bugs have, indeed, arisen. AMD users found themselves with performance issues on Windows 11 that could have a sizable impact on their gaming performance.
And not only does Microsoft need to ensure it runs well on every computer, but it also needs to ensure it works properly with most third-party software. Some programs might not work properly on Windows 11, which requires either an update from the manufacturer or a fix on Microsoft's end.
There's also the fact that Windows 11 is lacking some Windows 10 features, some of which some people might miss. And Microsoft wants the upgrade process to go as smoothly as possible for those people.
Features like the Windows 10 Timeline, Tablet mode, vertical taskbar support, Cortana, and Internet Explorer are all gone. The company might bring some features back at some point, but others, like Cortana and Internet Explorer, are gone for good.
Microsoft wants you to upgrade, but ultimately, it can't make you upgrade. You have plenty of options if you're looking to avoid the Windows 11 update, either for now or indefinitely.
If you have an unsupported PC (with a pre-2018 CPU from either AMD or Intel or without TPM 2.0), then good news: you won't even be offered the update in the first place. Microsoft has made Windows 11 requirements pretty steep. You can upgrade using an ISO on these unsupported systems, but your mileage might vary.
If your PC is supported and you're being offered a Windows 11 update right now, you can choose to skip the upgrade. On the Windows Update page in Settings, you're given the option to "stay on Windows 10 for now" if you don't want to install Windows 11. That should dismiss the dialog and keep the upgrade from showing up again, at least for a few weeks. The keyword here is "for now," though. Microsoft might eventually make it mandatory for eligible Windows 10 users. But that's not likely to happen for a good time, if at all.
While that should do the trick, more extreme methods should keep the Windows 11 update at bay if you don't want it gracing your device for now. These methods are, however, for blocking Windows Update, either in a temporary manner or permanently. While this will avoid your computer from downloading Windows 11, it'll also keep it from downloading all other updates, including security ones.
You can learn more in our guide on the best ways to stop Windows Updates in Windows 10.
The short answer is no. If anything, Microsoft might get pushier as we get closer to Windows 10's end-of-life date in 2025. But as for straight-out making it mandatory, we don't think that's happening.
Microsoft offered a free upgrade to Windows 10 to eligible Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 users but didn't force the upgrade to those people, as many people successfully skirted it and are still running those OS versions well into this time and age (even though there are several reasons why you shouldn't do that).
What might make you upgrade instead, though, is not Microsoft. Rather, it's third-party software that might end up driving people to upgrade to Windows 11. Right now, all of your programs fully support Windows 10, and some of them might even support Windows 10 better than they support Windows 11. But that will not be the case three years down the road. Windows 10 will become a deprecated platform at one point, and developers will begin dropping support for it, meaning that updates will cease coming out as they will favor Windows 11 instead.
You still have a few years before that happens—Windows 10 will live on until October 14, 2025, and that's a little less than four years at the time of writing. But as we get closer to the date, it's going to start aging badly. A lot of modern programs only support Windows 10 and have already dropped older operating systems like Windows 7. The same will happen now.
Microsoft won't make you upgrade forcibly, and it's likely the company won't do that at all. But while it might be fine to stick to Windows 10 for now, you should still think about an upgrade to Windows 11 at some point or other.
Honestly, though, it's wise to just wait until Microsoft offers the update to your computer—as we mentioned previously, the rollout will go on until next year, so you have plenty of time to think about it.
Arol is a tech journalist and Staff Writer at MakeUseOf. He has also worked as a news/feature writer at XDA-Developers and Pixel Spot. Currently a Pharmacy student at the Central University of Venezuela, Arol has had a soft spot for everything tech-related since he was a child. When not writing, you’ll either find him nose-deep into his textbooks or playing video games.
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