What's the verdict? Windows 11 Discussion Thread

[xrobwx71]

I just got done installing Win 11 on my home PC. So far, all is fine.

The path I took was: I navigated to here and utilized the Windows 11 Installation Assistant. It went smooth and took about 20 minutes from the initial click to a usable Win 11 Desktop.

I did have to initiate a network troubleshooting (from the ethernet adapter itself)wizard to fix a problem with the ethernet driver. After the install of Win 11, I had no internet. I noticed it was switched to a Public network, I ran the troubleshooting wizard and it switched it back to Private Network which fixed my internet connection.

I'm not having any issues with the new Taskbar. I like it.

The rounded edges of the U.I., the font, and the window that pops up in the middle when you click the Start button or hit the Windows key make me think of Ubuntu. I'm not saying it's like Ubuntu, it just has a "feel".



I do not have the extra apps others have mentioned above perhaps because I used the Installation Assistant and did not clean install.



I'll play a game or 2 and see if my FPS has been affected as some reports say.

 

[xrobwx71]

Update: I tried to open Outlook and received an error message that Office needed to be repaired. I opened the Control Panel and right-clicked on Microsoft 365 and chose change, then chose repair. After the repair was finished, I was able to open Outlook as before.

 

[x BlueRobot]

I do not have the extra apps others have mentioned above perhaps because I used the Installation Assistant and did not clean install.

I installed Windows 11 through Windows Update?

 

[xrobwx71]

@x BlueRobot I had not been offered it yet and got impatient.

Update: Every time I reboot, I have no internet. Going through the Control Panel>Change Adapter Settings>Right clicking on connected Adapter>clicking Diagnose, would fix it.

This was a P.I.T.A. so, I found a solution:
Open an elevated command prompt and run these commands separately, after each command hit enter. To open an elevated command, hit the Start button, type cmd, then CTRL+SHIFT+ENTER (an elevated command prompt should open)

ipconfig /release

netsh int ip reset

ipconfig /flushdns

ipconfig /renew

Restart your PC.

This fixed the issue for me.

 

[xrobwx71]

update:

I played a few games and noticed no significant fps drops. I did notice my GPU temps are a little lower (by a few degrees) than normal on the same games.

 

[Will]

Potentially just a change in behaviour - but I have some wireless headphones I connect via a dongle. Windows 11 seems to be changing my audio device away from my headphones - noticed sound suddenly coming out my monitor.

This might be as they're often "off" until you press the button to turn back on, but it's annoying that I'm often having to alt tab out of the application I'm in to adjust the sound settings.

 

[xrobwx71]

Potentially just a change in behaviour - but I have some wireless headphones I connect via a dongle. Windows 11 seems to be changing my audio device away from my headphones - noticed sound suddenly coming out my monitor.

This might be as they're often "off" until you press the button to turn back on, but it's annoying that I'm often having to alt tab out of the application I'm in to adjust the sound settings.

I was just getting ready to post this update for myself. For me, after a reboot, I have to click the sound mixer and change it back to "Speaker". I have not found a fix but when I do, I'll post it.

 

[Tekno Venus]

Just got a new laptop which came with Windows 11 preinstalled and am liking it so far.

Honestly it's not that different from 10 in day-to-day use, although the interface does feel a bit more cohesive and I quite like the design style (feels less harsh). New settings page is a big improvement. Feels very fast, although hard to tell if that's W11 or the new laptop!

Main PC is still running 10 but I'll probably upgrade that at some point soon.

 

[Tekno Venus]

Well I've found one thing to grumble about when it comes to Windows 11.... It think it's Windows 10!

As a developer, identifying the Windows version an app is running on isn't exactly straightforward at the best of times. Microsoft's official solution is the versionhelpers.h header, which contains functions like:

IsWindows10OrGreater Indicates if the current OS version matches, or is greater than, the Windows 10 version.

IsWindows7OrGreater Indicates if the current OS version matches, or is greater than, the Windows 7 version.

IsWindows7SP1OrGreater Indicates if the current OS version matches, or is greater than, the Windows 7 with Service Pack 1 (SP1) version.

IsWindows8OrGreater Indicates if the current OS version matches, or is greater than, the Windows 8 version.

Ok fine.... but where's the "IsWindows11OrGreater()" function? Oh wait, there isn't one in the Windows 11 SDK...

No problem, I'll just check the registry to read the version manually like I do to get the full build information... HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion is the normal go to location for checking version info. Ummm:


All the usual suspects still say Windows 10!

• CurrentMajorVersionNumber = 10
• Product Name = "Windows 10 Pro"
• Display Version = 21H2 (same as Windows 10 21H2)

So the only thing I have to go on is the build - build 22000 == Windows 11. That's quite a jump from Windows 10 (which is using 18xxx and 19xxx depending how old the version is). So I assume they put a big enough gap between the build numbers that Windows 10 will never reach 22000, but that's a big assumption.

This means to check if we're on Windows 11, I'd first have to check if "IsWindows10OrGreater" is true, then check the build number and work it out from there. That's not what I call intuitive! Why is CurrentMajorVersion number 10 still?! Out of everything, surely that should have been incremented, let alone the ProductName string!

 

[britechguy]

Why is CurrentMajorVersion number 10 still?!

Because of the development history and the attitude, "We'll change trivialities like this after it's released."

I'm not defending the latter, either, but it was abundantly clear that Windows 11 was not meant to be Windows 11 until the last possible moment and that all energies were going into creating the UI side so that it looked like a new OS. It's underpinnings are almost entirely the same as Windows 10.

I do expect that value to be changed, though, probably at the first feature update if not by a patch before then.

 

[xrobwx71]

@Tekno Venus From the registry, mine is identical to yours. I did not clean install.

 

[x BlueRobot]

All the usual suspects still say Windows 10!

• CurrentMajorVersionNumber = 10
• Product Name = "Windows 10 Pro"
• Display Version = 21H2 (same as Windows 10 21H2)

So the only thing I have to go on is the build - build 22000 == Windows 11

I noticed that in WinDbg too, if you use the vertarget command it still reports that the operating system is Windows 10. I just remember if it states 22000 then it must be Windows 11.

 

[Will]

The Windows version numbers rarely make sense to me - they can't seem to decide if they want new versions to be "Minor" or "Major" version number updates:

Windows 95 - 4.0
Windows 98 - 4.1
Windows 2000 - 5.0
Windows ME - 4.9
Windows XP - 5.1
Server 2003 - 5.2
Windows Vista - 6.0
Server 2008 - 6.0
Windows 7 - 6.1
Home Server 2011 - 6.1
Server 2012 - 6.2
Windows 8 - 6.2
Windows 8.1 - 6.3
Windows 10 - 10.0 (all versions)
Windows 11 - 11.0


The naming convention started pre-Windows NT kernel as well, which sort of slid into the existing version numbers of the OS.


@Tekno Venus - That registry info is a whole bunch of mess.....

EditionID: Enterprise
Edition: Professional
Major Version: 10
Current Version: 6.3
Product Name: Windows 10 Professional
ReleaseID: 2009

What???

Surely it's not that difficult for MS to make the registry info at least vaguely consistent? If Professional is marked as "Enterprise" - what version is Windows Enterprise marked as?

 

[Will]

This means to check if we're on Windows 11, I'd first have to check if "IsWindows10OrGreater" is true, then check the build number and work it out from there. That's not what I call intuitive! Why is CurrentMajorVersion number 10 still?! Out of everything, surely that should have been incremented, let alone the ProductName string!

I wonder how Microsoft's own apps check this.

Are they just doing the same thing with build number? Or do they have some other method?

 

[Wrench97]

The Windows version numbers rarely make sense to me - they can't seem to decide if they want new versions to be "Minor" or "Major" version number updates:

Windows 95 - 4.0
Windows 98 - 4.1
Windows 2000 - 5.0
Windows ME - 4.9
Windows XP - 5.1
Server 2003 - 5.2
Windows Vista - 6.0
Server 2008 - 6.0
Windows 7 - 6.1
Home Server 2011 - 6.1
Server 2012 - 6.2
Windows 8 - 6.2
Windows 8.1 - 6.3
Windows 10 - 10.0 (all versions)
Windows 11 - 11.0


The naming convention started pre-Windows NT kernel as well, which sort of slid into the existing version numbers of the OS.


@Tekno Venus - That registry info is a whole bunch of mess.....

EditionID: Enterprise
Edition: Professional
Major Version: 10
Current Version: 6.3
Product Name: Windows 10 Professional
ReleaseID: 2009

What???

Surely it's not that difficult for MS to make the registry info at least vaguely consistent? If Professional is marked as "Enterprise" - what version is Windows Enterprise marked as?

My understanding was the only difference between Pro and Enterprise was the licensing terms.
The code remained the same so they see no need to differentiate between them.

 

[Will]

My understanding was the only difference between Pro and Enterprise was the licensing terms.
The code remained the same so they see no need to differentiate between them.

I think that's true historically - however MS have now launched a cloud based "Windows 11 Enterprise":
Windows 11 Enterprise | Microsoft 365

Surely this must have some more customisation to make it part of the new Windows 365 offering? Maybe they just use exactly the same version and it makes no difference.

 

[Will]

Not sure what exactly it actually adds to the OS, but at least this is what they advertise:

Windows 11 Enterprise E3 upgrades Windows 11 Pro and adds:​

• A broad range of options for operating system deployment and update control.
• Comprehensive device and app management.
• Serverless print management with Universal Print.
• Advanced protection against modern security threats.

 

[Wrench97]

Not sure if that's just a way to deploy the OS or actually use the OS in Win 11.

 

[fireweed]

Well, from an MSP standpoint I'm starting to get annoyed. We've had a few clients who have upgraded to W11, and then days after the rollback period ends they discover some issue that breaks a critical LOB app, and there isn't a fix yet. I was tasked with deploying a group policy on client's DCs that blocked the upgrade but it doesn't work on non domain joined or WFH devices. Or if they're a super user who knows how to get around it.

Then they get pissed at us because we tell them that the only way to fix it after the rollback period has ended is 1) wait for an update that fixes it or 2) bench redeploys the machine as W10. Might be other solutions but these block hour clients aren't going to be very pleased with a 10 hour ticket because QuickBooks broke.

Oh, end users. You never cease to baffle me.

 

[Gael]

The Windows version numbers rarely make sense to me - they can't seem to decide if they want new versions to be "Minor" or "Major" version number updates:

Windows 95 - 4.0
Windows 98 - 4.1
Windows 2000 - 5.0
Windows ME - 4.9
Windows XP - 5.1
Server 2003 - 5.2
Windows Vista - 6.0
Server 2008 - 6.0
Windows 7 - 6.1
Home Server 2011 - 6.1
Server 2012 - 6.2
Windows 8 - 6.2
Windows 8.1 - 6.3
Windows 10 - 10.0 (all versions)
Windows 11 - 11.0


The naming convention started pre-Windows NT kernel as well, which sort of slid into the existing version numbers of the OS.


@Tekno Venus - That registry info is a whole bunch of mess.....

EditionID: Enterprise
Edition: Professional
Major Version: 10
Current Version: 6.3
Product Name: Windows 10 Professional
ReleaseID: 2009

What???

Surely it's not that difficult for MS to make the registry info at least vaguely consistent? If Professional is marked as "Enterprise" - what version is Windows Enterprise marked as?

I have to agree with you here.