Microsoft officially released Windows 11 on June 24 and the company said that the operating system will be launched to ordinary consumers later this year. It is reported that Windows 11 will be launched in October or November together with the Windows 10 21H2 version, which is the so-called Windows 10 October 2021 update.
Microsoft said that Windows 11 will be provided as a free upgrade to devices that meet the minimum hardware requirements. To upgrade directly on Windows 10 through Windows Update, Microsoft said that users need to run Windows 10 version 20H1 (updated in May 2020) or a newer version of the system.
If you are currently using Windows 10 Professional/Home Edition that is an earlier version than the 20H1 version released in 2020, the update process may not be possible through Windows Update. In addition, Microsoft said that it will take longer to download Windows 11 than typical feature updates, such as October or May 2021.
Microsoft said in a tweet published on June 30: Upgrading to Windows 11 applies to devices running Windows 10 20H1 or later on eligible hardware. The download and installation of Windows 11 may be better than typical Windows 10 features. The update will take longer.
According to Microsoft executives, the minimum Windows 10 version requirement for corporate customers is version 1909 (updated in November 2019). Therefore, if you are using Windows 10 Enterprise Edition (version 1909), you can directly upgrade to Windows 11 without installing the latest feature updates.
For Windows 7, Microsoft stated that a clean installation is required for direct upgrades, which means that users need to manually back up files. For consumers, Microsoft will not force users to upgrade to Windows 11, which means that users need to manually seek to update to Windows 11.
Before the official launch, a list of Windows 11 SKUs also appeared on the Bluetooth SIG, indicating that the operating system is one step closer to the official release. According to the certification, Microsoft is developing a new SKU called Mixed Reality, which may be announced later this year.
