We’ve pulled together all kinds of resources to create a comprehensive guide to installing and upgrading to Windows 11. This includes advice and some step-by-step instructions for turning on officially required features like your TPM and Secure Boot, as well as official and unofficial ways to skirt the system-requirement checks on “unsupported” PCs, because Microsoft is not your parent and therefore cannot tell you what to do.
There are some changes in the 24H2 update that will keep you from running it on every ancient system that could run Windows 10, and there are new hardware requirements for some of the operating system’s new generative AI features. We’ve updated our guide with everything you need to know.
↫ Andrew Cunningham at Ars Technica
In the before time, the things you needed to do to make Windows somewhat usable mostly came down to installing applications replicating features other operating systems had been enjoying for decades, but as time went on and Windows 10 came out, users now also had to deal with disabling a ton of telemetry, deleting preinstalled adware, dodge the various dark patterns around Edge, and more. You have wonder if it was all worth it, but alas, Windows 10 at least looked like Windows, if you squinted.
With Windows 11, Microsoft really ramped up the steps users have to take to make it usable. There’s all of the above, but now you also have to deal with an ever-increasing number of ads, even more upsells and Edge dark patterns, even more data gathering, and the various hacks you have to employ to install it on perfectly fine and capable hardware. With Windows 10’s support ending next year, a lot of users are in a rough spot, since they can’t install Windows 11 without resorting to hacks, and they can’t keep using Windows 10 if they want to keep getting updates.
And here comes 24H2, which makes it all even worse. Not only have various avenues to make Windows 11 installable on capable hardware been closed, it also piles on a whole bunch of “AI” garbage, and accompanying upsells and dark patterns, Windows users are going to have to deal with. Who doesn’t want Copilot regurgitating nonsense in their operating system’s search tool, or have Paint strongly suggest it will “improve” your quick doodle to illustrate something to a friend with that unique AI Style™ we all love and enjoy so much?
Stay strong out there, Windows folks. Maybe it’ll get better. We’re rooting for you.
“Who doesn’t want Copilot regurgitating nonsense in their operating system’s search tool”
Don’t want it in the desktop search? Go into settings and disable it. Done.
Don’t want it in the Edge? Go into settings and disable it. Done.
You can Completely Remove a feature instead of disabling it with some registry hacks, but why bother?
I feel there is a lot of FUD going on the in commentary about Windows 11 gleaned from reading about rather than using the OS.
Adurbe,
I wanted to remove the cloud results from windows 11, which I absolutely hate to see polluting my start menu, It was very distracting every time I ran an application. I could not find a way to disable it though. I had to find a registry hack on the internet involving creating a secret key that didn’t exist and setting it to zero. This was no accident, Microsoft knew perfectly well people would want to disable it, and yet they provided no straightforward provisions for users to do so. I’d say at least some of the criticisms are justified.
Again, there is a toggle to turn that off.
Open Windows Settings.
Switch to the Privacy & security on the left side.
Click the Search permissions menu on the right side.
Find out the Cloud content search
Toggle the Microsoft account button to turn it off.
Could these options be better documented, certainly, but they are there.
But many of the criticisms are coming from lack of familiarity/knowledge. And are simply incorrect.
Adurbe,
I had already gone through and disabled everything I could find including the settings you mention. I tested it just now and I’m afraid that doesn’t actually stop windows 11 from spamming non-application results. I don’t know how to disable these without the registry…
https://www.ghacks.net/2021/11/26/how-to-turn-off-search-the-web-results-in-windows-11/
If you know of a discoverable GUI way to do this without the registry/group policy, then let me know and I’ll gladly take a look. Otherwise I think you ought to agree that it’s a problem.
Well this feels circular… I’ve provided two solutions to two “problems” and the response is to find another variation of a problem?
“this is a problem”
“here is the solution”
“oh.. well This is a problem”
“here is the solution”
“oh.. well This is a problem”
Let’s assume it Only has a registry change, why is that insufficient? is that all that different from making a cli change on Mac or Linux? It seems making anything outside the gui is an anathema when it’s windows, but encouraged when it linux/mac
Adurbe,
I was just a user experiencing a problem (singular not plural) and looking for a solution to it. The only solution I found was a registry hack, it’s really not my fault microsoft designed it this way.
If you don’t think it’s a problem to make users find registry hacks, then I wouldn’t have commented above, But my reason for commenting is what you said: “You can Completely Remove a feature instead of disabling it with some registry hacks, but why bother?”
I felt it relevant and appropriate to give an example of an unwanted feature I had to rely on the registry to fix.
This was never about linux, linux isn’t here nor there, If you are admitting that windows may need low level changes from time to time, then I don’t disagree with you on that. But personally I’m not a fan of microsoft hiding settings in the registry to disable what I consider start menu spam.
I don’t care what MS does with Windows and I don’t care who is or isn’t mad at it. I am not under the influence of MS because I use Linux.
I have a capable OS. I have enough applications to comfortably do my home computing. If I want to do something with an LLM, I use Alpaca with Ollama integrated and it neatly and swiftly runs locally on my graphics card. No need for Copilot.
The angst and gnashing of teeth in the Windows community is amusing though. More and more stuff they don’t really need and more and more anti-consumer stuff they (periodically) need to disable.
“I can’t leave because of X”. Well, if it isn’t in a professional capacity, you CAN leave despite X. You don’t have to have X, you just don’t want to do without. I know I had a lot of X-es back in 2000, but I did leave. Even back then it was clear that MS wasn’t there to provide end users an OS tailored to them. They were too busy cementing their dominance on the desktop. 23 years later, I have no need for the Windows ecosystem. I have my set of stuff on Linux.
I know, nobody wants to hear anything about their abusive OS provider. A contingent of you will even defend this behavior. I’m just putting it out here as a reminder that, when the pain becomes to intense, Linux/*BSD is there for you with open arms.
110% agreed. M$ doesn’t think of you as a customer: You’re just another sucker to be fleeced as far as they care.
I know that Linux/BSD isn’t perfect, but I would far rather spend a few minutes googling for a solution that hours fighting Windows to do what I want. The terminal and scripting doesn’t scare me.
If you absolutely, positively need to have Windows 11, install VMWare Workstation and put W11 in there. My current hardware does not have a “TPM 2.0” but VMWare Workstation emulates one to keep W11 happy. I moved to Linux in ’08. I have exactly one (1) “Windows only” app left, and it works fine in that VM.
You can run Windows software in VirtualBox, but for me, Windows is not nearly annoying enough to have Desktop Linux as a pointless middleman. Windows runs all Windows-specific software plus all the FOSS software I care about.
Even on Windows 11, you can have a local account with the “BYPASSNRO” trick. Much easier than setting up an OS within an OS and having to keeping both updated. And I get to run games at native speed.
And before someone mentions Wine, Windows is not nearly annoying enough to make me mess with Wine either.
And yet the point is that the “trick” shouldn’t be necessary in the first place. You shouldn’t need an undocumented workaround to prevent your OS vendor from forcing you into an online account they own just to use your device as it was intended. And what happens when Microsoft inevitably closes the loophole allowing you to trick the installer into letting you make a local account?
What happens when Microsoft decides you can’t run their OS (because even though you “licensed” it with your hardware, they still control it) without a 24/7 Internet connection? Your Wi-Fi drops and now the OS reverts to an unactivated state that doesn’t allow you to write to the storage device and powers itself down after 15 minutes until you restore your Internet connection? Because that’s exactly the direction they are headed with Windows.
So Microsoft is now developing two major operating systems, Windows and Azure Linux. This news hence only affects Windows and no such issues can be observed on Azure Linux? Interesting and good to see some internal competition at play.