Windows 11 Upgrade Guide

A practical checklist for upgrading Windows 10 environments — written for IT teams and MSPs supporting small businesses.

🚩 Step 1: Check Hardware Compatibility

Before anything else, verify that the devices in question can actually run Windows 11. The official requirements include:

  • TPM 2.0
  • Secure Boot
  • 8th Gen Intel / 2nd Gen Ryzen or newer
  • 4GB RAM minimum (8GB+ recommended)
  • 64GB storage (SSD strongly preferred)

Tools to check:

⚠️ Tip: Many domain-joined machines have TPM disabled in BIOS. It’s worth enabling remotely if your RMM supports it.

🛠 Step 2: Decide Upgrade vs Replace

Just because a device is compatible doesn’t mean it’s worth upgrading.

Good candidates for upgrade:

  • Less than 4 years old
  • Already on SSD
  • 16GB RAM or more

Better off replacing:

  • 7+ years old (especially if spinning HDD)
  • Frequent support issues
  • Doesn’t meet CPU requirements

Use the upgrade project as a budgeting milestone. Even if you don’t replace this year, plan for it.

📦 Step 3: Choose a Deployment Method

For smaller environments or one-offs:

For managed environments:

  • Use Intune or Configuration Manager with upgrade task sequences
  • Set up custom upgrade rings

Pro tip: Deploy Windows 11 Enterprise even if you’re coming from Pro — it has better control over feature updates.

🧪 Step 4: Test First, Always

  • Run pilot upgrades on a handful of devices
  • Confirm LOB apps, printers, VPNs still work
  • Watch for UI issues or driver quirks

Tip: Block automatic feature updates in Intune/Group Policy to avoid early rollout bugs.

📬 Step 5: Communicate with Users

Users hate change. What they hate more is a surprise reboot.

  • Give advance notice (email templates help)
  • Offer a one-page cheat sheet for the new UI (start menu, settings)
  • Consider short screen recordings to help staff orient quickly

🧹 Step 6: Clean Up Post-Upgrade

  • Use Disk Cleanup to remove Windows.old
  • Reconfirm antivirus is registered in Security Center
  • Document any issues

You can use PowerShell to audit upgrade status across endpoints and generate a compliance report.

Bonus: What If a Client Refuses?

  • Windows 10 will stop getting security updates after October 2025
  • Unsupported OS = compliance and insurance risks

At minimum, isolate unupgraded systems from core networks.

Final Thoughts

Upgrading to Windows 11 is a process, not a single day event. Start with discovery, budget replacements smartly, and use it as an opportunity to clean up legacy environments.

Need help managing the upgrade lifecycle for a client? We’ve built tools to track and automate it.

Originally published on the Quantum Toolset Blog — helping small IT teams automate smarter.