The upgrade itself is free for any activated Windows 10 machine that meets the hardware bar — if you have not confirmed that yet, start with the eligibility checklist, because everything below assumes a qualifying PC. And if the machine cannot qualify, do not force it: enroll it in ESU and plan the replacement instead.
Before you touch anything
- Back up. Today, not "recently." A synced OneDrive, or a full copy to an external drive. The upgrade is designed to keep everything in place — and almost always does — but "almost" is not a backup strategy.
- Update Windows 10 fully. Settings → Windows Update, install everything, restart. The upgrade path expects a current machine.
- Free up disk space. The Installation Assistant needs 9 GB free for the download alone; give it 20 GB of headroom so the upgrade is not fighting a full drive.
- Note your critical software. One line-of-business app with a dongle or an old driver is the only thing that ever genuinely breaks. Know what yours is before you start, not after.
Route one: Windows Update — the patient path
Settings → Windows Update. If Microsoft has cleared your machine, a banner offers "Upgrade to Windows 11" with a Download and install button. Click it, keep using the PC while it stages in the background, restart when asked. This is the gentlest route because Microsoft has already validated your exact hardware against known issues.
If the banner is absent, the machine either fails a requirement, is not fully updated, or is simply still in the queue — the rollout is staged, and being offered it late means nothing is wrong.
Route two: the Installation Assistant — skip the queue
Microsoft's Windows 11 download page offers the Installation Assistant, which it calls the best option for upgrading the device you are currently using. Download it, run it, and it verifies eligibility and starts the same in-place upgrade immediately — no waiting for the rollout to reach you.
Its stated requirements: an activated Windows 10 machine on version 2004 or later, 9 GB of free space, and an x64 processor (it does not run on ARM PCs). The process takes one to two hours on a healthy machine, most of it unattended, with the PC usable until the final restarts.
Route three: clean install — the fresh start
The same download page offers the Media Creation Tool and raw ISO for building a bootable USB (8 GB or larger). This erases and reinstalls rather than upgrades: right for a machine changing hands, a drive swap, or a PC whose Windows install has years of scar tissue. It demands a complete backup first and reinstalling every application after — a weekend job, not an afternoon one.
One warning worth quoting directly, because workaround guides skip it: Microsoft states that installing Windows 11 on a PC that does not meet the minimum requirements is not recommended, may result in compatibility issues, and the PC is no longer guaranteed to receive updates. An unpatched Windows 11 is the same problem as an unpatched Windows 10 with extra steps. Do not do it.
After the upgrade
- Run Windows Update again. Post-upgrade patches and driver updates land immediately; install them before judging performance.
- Check the oddballs. Printers, scanners, VPN clients, and anything with a dongle — the five minutes of testing now beats discovering it during an invoice run.
- Know the escape hatch. For 10 days, Settings → System → Recovery offers "Go back" — a built-in return to Windows 10 with your files intact. After 10 days the rollback files are cleaned up and the door closes.
- Confirm activation. Settings → System → Activation should read "Active" with a digital license. It carries over from Windows 10 automatically.
If a machine refuses the upgrade, throws errors halfway, or you would simply rather hand the whole thing over: our repair bench does upgrades daily — including the firmware-settings cases where "incompatible" PCs turn out to be fine — and for a whole office, staged fleet upgrades are standard managed IT work. Take a brief.
Frequently asked questions
Yes — every time, no exceptions. The in-place upgrade is designed to keep your files and applications, and it almost always does. Almost is the word that matters: a power cut, a failing drive or a corrupted update can turn a routine upgrade into a recovery job. A synced OneDrive or an external-drive backup taken the same day is cheap insurance.
Three usual reasons: the machine fails a hardware requirement (often TPM 2.0 or Secure Boot switched off in firmware rather than genuinely missing), Windows 10 is not fully updated yet, or Microsoft simply has not offered it to your device yet — the rollout is staged. The PC Health Check app tells you which case you are in, and the Installation Assistant skips the queue for eligible machines.
Same upgrade, different trigger. Windows Update waits for Microsoft to offer your machine the upgrade; the Installation Assistant is a small tool you run to start it immediately on an eligible PC. If the banner has not appeared and the machine qualifies, the Assistant is the faster path.
It carries over. A genuine, activated Windows 10 machine upgrades to Windows 11 at no cost and activates automatically with a digital license — you do not need to buy anything or type in a key.
For most people, no — the in-place upgrade keeps everything and takes an afternoon. A clean install makes sense when the machine has years of accumulated problems, is changing hands, or you want a fresh start; it erases the drive, so it demands a complete backup and reinstalling every application afterwards.