I did enroll in the extended security updates to buy time. But also realistically for me, my computer is plenty good enough to do more than everything I ask it to do, so one year isnāt going to be enough time to convince me to replace it. I want to get as much use out of it as I can (without opening security holes).
I think I figured out my computer. holy crap was that opaque. I had to dive into parts of the Windows OS that I didnāt even know existed but I think I managed to tweak some software stuff to finally make Windows 11 happy. It honestly reminded me of that time that I ran Ubuntu as a dual boot setup and that I didnāt really want to have to go there if I didnāt have to.
There are still things that MS is doing that make me unhappy. That may still push me to Linuxā¦or possibly Mac for my next desktop.
I just want to add that there are legal ways to install Windows 11 on unsupported PC. There are many videos on youtube on the subject and itās really easy if you have some IT background. Otherwise, your local IT tech may be able to help.
I did it on my old 10 years old laptop. I kept all my files and it ran smoothly. Itās not perfect and not as good as a brand new computer. It can introduce some bugs for the audio stuff or other issues that you did not have on Windows 10. But, I assume some people will not want to trash their computer after the 1 year ESU, move to Linux or stay on Windows 10 without security updates. So, thatās why I wanted to share that there is a fourth option after the 1 year extension. Itās not necessarily better or worse than the other options. Itās just a different one which has its own pros and cons.
Yeah, I read about that option but IMO itās not a whole lot better than just staying on Win 10 past the extended service update period. Articles like this that run down those limitations (makes it sound like the chances of hardware problems increases over time) spooked me off.
So the process I went through is something I bet is tripping up a lot of people. Turns out my PC was 100% compatible but there were some VERY core settings that needed to change. Otherwise it appeared to Windows as though my computer was incompatible. If you have no idea what your BIOS is or how to check its firmware, then the following steps can brick your computer if you donāt do them right. You might need to pay someone to do this. Itās not as simple as installing Win 11 the āunsupportedā way. But if your computer is actually compatible (but canāt tell that itās compatible) then this is a way to get a fully supported OS, at least until MS decides to brick Win 11 devices.
First step:
Check the partition type of your boot drive. Say what? Yeah, exactly. So my partition type was āMBRā (Master Boot Record). In order to change some security settings that Win 11 requires, I needed it to be GPT (no, not ChatGPT, GUI Partition Table). There are also some requirements about how those partitions are arranged on your hard drive, too. Mine was arranged just fine so I didnāt have to deal with it but I did see that for some folks this was a problem. In order to do that, I had to download the Windows Preinstallation Environment (WindowsPE) and create a bootable thumb drive with that. Basically, all it is is a DOS command prompt, taking you on a time warp to the late 1980ās/early 1990ās.
Once I booted up with the WindowsPE, I was able to run a program called MBR2GPT. Itās built into Windows (unlike WindowsPE), but to do this as cleanly as possible, itās best to run it in WindowsPE. There is a command that will let it run out of a Windows command prompt, but it does some extra stuff to make that work and I didnāt want more partitions on my hard drive. If you have everything set up correctly, it runs quickly and smoothly. But it took me awhile to get it right. LOTS of booting/rebooting/etc.
Next, check your BIOS firmware. I didnāt do this until later and it caused headaches. Do this now. BIOS is one of those things that you donāt tend to think about and my BIOS version was dated from 2017 or somesuch. More rebooting. Lots more rebooting.
Now, look up your particular motherboardās BIOS settings for enabling Secure Boot, TPM 2.0, and UEFI. For that matter, check to make sure your BIOS is compatible with all of these things. Thereās a good chance theyāre called something else or buried somewhere. On mine, I had to enable them in exactly the correct order. If I didnāt, BIOS would freeze on startup and Iād have to shut down my computer, unplug it, remove the coin cell battery on my motherboard, hold the power button to discharge any remaining charge, put it all back together, go back into BIOS and change ANY settings back. Also would be beneficial to save your BIOS settings somewhere before you start messing with anything. This process required LOTS MORE REBOOTING. Even if I got it all correct the first time, it would take a lot of rebooting.
Itās worth noting that the preinstallation checks will say youāre ready to go to install Windows 11 if you happen to have TPM 2.0 enabled and UEFI enabled, but secure boot is not enabled. As I understand it, you need to actually enable secure boot, also.
Once I got all of these steps taken care of, and my boot drive was in the GPT partition type and I had Secure Boot enabled, TPM 2.0 enabled, and UEFI enabled, I was able to download and install Windows 11. I did the automated download/install that was at the top of the list in the video above (he scrolled right on past that option). I let it run overnight. When I sat down to my PC this morning and turned it on, it had a few initialization steps to go but it started up right quick.
I only had one error crop up and it was related to the Corsair LINK 4 software and a process that it runs in the background (it basically manages my fancy PC cooler). Uninstalled that program and everything works. Aside from the most complicated setup process Iāve had to deal with since installing a Windows/Linux dual boot system, it updated with the fewest errors of any OS upgrade Iāve done.
It buys me a little more time. Time will tell if it pisses me off enough to install a Linux dual boot system anyway (before I need to replace this computer outrightā¦at which point Iāll be considering Mac, also). If I do that, I think Iāll need to change up my hard drives. Iām tapped out on how many internal drives I can install. A couple of them are old ones that I use for data storage, but Iāll need a bigger SSD if Iām going to run a dual boot. Which means replacing one of those old HDDās.
IME, switching to Linux isnāt too far off from that. And Linux is more reliant on command line stuff than Windows is these days (I know some distros are able to use less command line work than others), with different commands and syntax youāve gotta learn. So thereās a learning curve to adopting it.
Itās a shame that it took all that to install Win 11, though. Not many people will be willing (or even able) to do that for a computer that would otherwise be fine for it. Pretty sure this is a significant reason why adoption has been so slow. Itās going to make for a lot of e-waste. Might make for some good thrift store computer purchases if youāre willing to do all that or wipe it and install Linux.
My personal view, born of 30 years of using Linux desktop as my primary desktop for both work and personal use (and having used Windows a fair bit during this time) is that is a common misunderstanding.
For 98% of the things I would do on Windows, I use the GUI, just as I would with Windows.
For the other 2%, I use command line because I know it well, and can do it far quicker and more efficiently with a couple of commands, rather than get RSI doing it on the GUI.
Or, itās something that just isnāt practical or possible to do in Windows (certainly not in the GUI).
Linux is massively flexible, customisable, and adaptable. You can make your Linux desktop look like Windows, like Mac, or something completely different, and thatās just the desktop look and feel.
If thereās an aspect of your system you donāt like, thereās probably a way to change it. Often that requires getting into the guts.
But if you donāt want to tinker, you donāt have to. You can just stick with GUI tools and do everything you would normally do in Windows (and often a lot more).
Linux power users do stuff in the command line because they can, not because they have to.
Getting the dual boot setup running took tinkering in the guts of partitions and BIOS before I ever got Linux installed.
If doing a fresh install, then that wouldnāt have been part of it.
I wonāt say I needed to use the command line a lot in Linux but I did need to use it more than windows requires these days. And given that the syntax is different than MS uses, even limited use of it was a challenge because I had to look up how to write out the syntax. And shoot, what MS uses now only sortof resembles the DOS syntax I learned BITD so I have to look a lot of that up, too.
I wonāt call myself a power user, but I do know enough to get myself into trouble (and enough to sometimes get myself out of that trouble).
Yes, if you are dual booting or (as I used to a long time ago) triple boot, then setting this up is tricky if you have an established Windows partition. I actually think itās easier to install a new drive and boot Linux from that.
But Linux, itself, tends to be VERY easy to install, especially compared with Windows. Most people get Windows pre-installed and tuned for them on the computer they buy, so never have to install it from scratch. But, IME, itās a lot harder to install than Linux on a fresh system.
I should point out that Iām still using basically the same desktop and (updated version of) applications I was using in 2009 when In was using Mandrake Linux. Iāve upgraded my system countless times since then, including switching to Mandriva, then Linux Mint, then KDE Neon, and now Kubuntu, but my system has, essentially remained the same.
Thatās one of the things I like about using Linux: upgrades and even complete re-installs tend to be pretty painless.
Personally, I use Linux because I donāt want to be a system admin fixing stuff or having to make major changes every few years because the OS vendors wants to sell me something new, or canāt be bothered to support older stuff. I have a bunch of legacy audio devices, for instance that work great on Linux, but which wonāt work on recent versions of Windows or Mac OS.
I also donāt want to be constrained by what the OS vendor thinks I need. Yes, doing deep customisation can require getting my hands dirty (and thereās some risk of breakage, but thatās why I run Timeshift), but it allows me to do stuff thatās simply not possible on other platforms.
Choice of distro is kinda of important though, especially if you want to do Music or other creative work. The ones I have mentioned previously (AV Linux, Ubuntu Studio) tend to be easier to upgrade and use in general.
Quite a lot of the time I see people who are using (for example) Arch Linux complaining that this or that doesnāt work properly. This is, really, because they have chosen the wrong distro (probably taken bad advice from a more advanced user). Arch Linux is really something only advanced users should install. Even the official Wiki says of Arch Linux:
It is targeted at the proficient GNU/Linux user, or anyone with a do-it-yourself attitude who is willing to read the documentation, and solve their own problems.
Donāt get me wrong, Arch Linux is great, but itās not for people who donāt want to get their hands dirty. AV Linux and UbuntuStudio are much more user friendly.
In case anyone isnāt aware, Linux distributions or ādistrosā are installable versions of Linux which come packaged with a whole load of software and utilities typically aimed at scratching a particular itch. Thereās dozens, possibly hundreds, of Linux distros if you go looking.
For example, some are aimed at IT security users (Kali, Parrot, BlachArch), some are aimed at gaming (Lakka, Batocera), some at more niche environments like Neuro-imaging Analysis (Lin4Neuro), Computer Aided Engineering (CAELinux) or Digital Forensics (CAINE, DEFT).
For Music thereās AV Linux and UbuntuStudio.
There even have been some more playful/jokey distros like Hannah Montana Linux, Biebian (for Justin Beiber fans) and Hello Kitty Slackware.
Of course thereās the more general purpose, mainstream distros like Debian, Fedora and Ubuntu, which tend to have big organisations supporting them.
Note that the people building these non-mainstream distros might only be one or two people. But it would be a mistake to assume that is always an issue. Assembling a distro involves taking an existing distro and packaging it slightly differently.
For example, MX Linux is based on Debian which is an extremely long-lived and well-supported Linux distro. MX Linux takes Debian and adds some stuff to make it a bit more user friendly. AV Linux takes MX Linux and adds stuff to make it work well for people who want to do AV work.
I could create my own āJustinGuitar Linuxā based on taking AV Linux and themeing for JG if I wanted to.
If the distribution stops being maintained, thatās generally not an issue as you can continue using it as the base system (ultimately, Debian, in this case) and can always fairly seamlessly switch to a different Linux distro, because many of them are similar.
For info, the main Ardour developers (Paul and Robin) both use Debian. I know, because I asked:
This option interests me a my last PC upgrade was in 2018 and according to MS it is not W11 compatible. Iāve gone for the extension at the moment but need to way up options. New PC, Unsupported upgrade to 11 or switch to Linux. At least I have a couple of laptops to explore the Linux option and see if that is a real option for the PC.
I have a number of drives on my W10 PC. The main drive with W10, apps and the boot is a SSD but I have other drives, one of which could be reformatted and dedicated to Linux.
I could then clean the SSD and use it solely for Reaper and my (these days few and far between) music projects.
For anyone interested in AV Linux, a new version has been released today:
AV Linux (AVL) and MX Moksha (MXM) 25 have been released after a long and laborious development period.
ā¦
AV Linux is slightly scaled back but is still presented as a full Content Creator production-ready system and MX Moksha contains the AVL utility infrastructure but a minimal basic complement of Applications so it can easily be molded into what the User wants.
