Windows 11 General Discussion

[Caring1]

meh

I want to install the kiosk version, let me know when they allow that.

Isn't that Windows PE?

 

[lexluthermiester]

Isn't that Windows PE?

No. Windows PE(Preinstall Environment) is a special implementation of Windows that is specifically intended to be a light-weight portable version of Windows designed for prepping a system for a Windows install or image copy. It's also used as a bootable utility environment for troubleshooting.

 

[Launcestonian]

After installing a new dGPU into one of my systems here, win 11 bitlocker has now decided this is radical enough to think the drive which has the OS on it has been stolen & is in another system.... now I have to go throw the painful process of getting around this (which is a nightmare because the screen asking for the bitlocker key in a field) does not recognise alpha characters on my keyboard...
Looking like a re-install of the OS is now a timely task to do at this point. I have the keys but can't enter the data properly! which moron thought of this fiasco?? honestly, you'd think they would allow the keyboard standard US layout to be acceptable when entering bitlocker keys from the pre boot windows environment!

 

[lexluthermiester]

After installing a new dGPU into one of my systems here, win 11 bitlocker has now decided this is radical enough to think the drive which has the OS on it has been stolen & is in another system.... now I have to go throw the painful process of getting around this (which is a nightmare because the screen asking for the bitlocker key in a field) does not recognise alpha characters on my keyboard...
Looking like a re-install of the OS is now a timely task to do at this point. I have the keys but can't enter the data properly! which moron thought of this fiasco?? honestly, you'd think they would allow the keyboard standard US layout to be acceptable when entering bitlocker keys from the pre boot windows environment!

Why were you using bitlocker in the first place? Not trying to shift the blame to you at all. Just asking because bitlocker is well know for it's issues and problems. It's something general consumers need to actively avoid.

 

[Launcestonian]

Why were you using bitlocker in the first place? Not trying to shift the blame to you at all. Just asking because bitlocker is well know for it's issues and problems. It's something general consumers need to actively avoid.

It's enabled now by default with 24H2 installs. I've never used it before so thought I'd give it a try. If you have 3 disks or drives it enabled it by default, I have another system here with only 2 drives but its not enabled by default. Anyway, no big deal, I won't enable it again or have to get it to decrypt once the install is done. Happily all my personal data is on a backup but this botched "security" system is just that - a dog's breakfast waiting to be vomited back up!

 

[lexluthermiester]

It's enabled now by default with 24H2 installs.

Yes and no. It depends on how you set your system up.

I've never used it before so thought I'd give it a try.

Fair enough. I suspect "lesson learned"...

If you have 3 disks or drives it enabled it by default, I have another system here with only 2 drives but its not enabled by default.

This is one reason why disconnecting all but the intended install drive during setup is good practice.

but this botched "security" system is just that - a dog's breakfast waiting to be vomited back up!

Oh you're being nice.

 

[Launcestonian]

Yes and no. It depends on how you set your system up.

Fair enough. I suspect "lesson learned"...

This is one reason why disconnected all but the intended install drive is good practice.

Oh you're being nice.

All true, no arguments there but at the end of the day I don't bother much with custom installs of Windows. Vanilla is good enough for me minus a few personalized uninstalls of some stuff they have. I mean each time you update the OS, more crap comes down & for all I know they could very well be turning stuff back on that you the end user turned off. After many yrs of windows installs, this customizing scheme that some enthusiasts engage in is merely a very short term thing anyway before MS gets there way. If folks hate MS enough, then don't use them!

 

[Wasteland]

This is one reason why disconnecting all but the intended install drive during setup is good practice.

Is Win11 still doing that thing where it splits the EFI system partition among all connected disks? At least I think that's what it was doing. Years ago I mistakenly installed Win10 on a machine with several drives connected. ("Eh, it'll probably be fine!") Later on when I went to do an image backup, the OS insisted on backing up every disk in one giant lump, as if they comprised a single storage volume. The only fix was a full reinstall of the OS, after unplugging my extra disks.

The more I think about my experience with Windows over the last three decades, the gladder I am not to use it anymore. At least not at home. It is still the best overall OS for software compatibility, no question, but its reputation as the trouble-free option seems highly overblown. Microsoft's quality control is evidently on the decline, too. Expect worse going forward, not better.

 

[Frick]

So I installed it on the desktop last week and now I'm replacing it with Windows 10. I can't live without toolbars in the taskbar and the Start11 thing from Stardock makes everything look like a modded Windows so back to 10 we go. What really shocked me with 11 though is how slow and glitchy the installation process was. Win10 takes no time at all to create partitions on unallocated space, Win11 took a whole bunch of seconds, with no indication that it was doing anything, it just froze.

EDIT to add the Win10 install requires one reboot, the Win11 one was like three, but even accounting for that the Win10 installation is much quicker. Since I've started writing the post (15 minutes) I've made a bootable USB AND installed Windows 10 and installed Firefox. Gods I love modern computers.

It's enabled now by default with 24H2 installs. I've never used it before so thought I'd give it a try. If you have 3 disks or drives it enabled it by default, I have another system here with only 2 drives but its not enabled by default. Anyway, no big deal, I won't enable it again or have to get it to decrypt once the install is done. Happily all my personal data is on a backup but this botched "security" system is just that - a dog's breakfast waiting to be vomited back up!

I installed Win11 22H2 with like five disks and it was not enabled by default.

 

[windwhirl]

Is Win11 still doing that thing where it splits the EFI system partition among all connected disks?

I'm not sure it ever did that... I guess it could happen if all disks are not formatted? Otherwise I don't see the installer ever touching the partition arrangement unless you tell it to.

I have heard, that it does screw with Linux EFI bootloaders under some conditions but I have never experienced it myself.

Expect worse going forward, not better.

"Move fast and break things"

 

[TechBuyingHavoc]

Ok, now do away with the account requirement. Why? Because that too is what is correct and right. Asking(strongly even) users to create an account is one thing. Requiring it is completely another and crosses a line that is unacceptable, immoral, unethical and in some places, unlawful. There's your next change.

You want to know why the PC market is in decline? You and all the other greedy fools making dumbass decisions that hurt citizen freedoms and liberties. People are sick of it. Fix your mentally bereft business tactics and make choices that are harmonious for a civilized world.

Can I add to this excellent list the ability to move around the taskbar and a few other UI tweaks? It just feels bad and short-sighted when the new OS takes away a basic UI feature that has existed for over 20 years in Windows.

The fact that so many power users resort to third party UI software to hack around Microsoft's arbitrary design choices should be a massive red flag to the execs.

How many people who avoid Win 11 do so because the UI is different (and that you CAN'T restore it to the old paradigm)? I would wager it is a substantial fraction.

The "people don't upgrade Windows" is entirely a self-created problem by Microsoft. Offer us a improved product that has zero regressions over the previous generation and we will move over without complaint. People did it for Windows 95 over 3.0/3.1, and for XP over Windows 95/98.

Edit = Thank you Frick for proving my point. The UI restrictions are leaving money on the table for Microsoft.

 

[Launcestonian]

...


I installed Win11 22H2 with like five disks and it was not enabled by default.

22H2 is not the latest ISO from MS to download & install the OS, they are on 24H2 now.

 

[lexluthermiester]

Is Win11 still doing that thing where it splits the EFI system partition among all connected disks?

Yes and it's fricken irritating as all hell. Windows 10 does the same thing as well.

 

[Frick]

22H2 is not the latest ISO from MS to download & install the OS, they are on 24H2 now.

Yeah I meant 24H2 typo.

 

[Onasi]

I feel like they have already flip-flopped on this before (with similar "we were misunderstood" language). Seems like they aren't happy with 10 to 11 conversion rates? In any case, it isn't bad considering that the end of support is coming anyway.

Microsoft Policy Reinstates Free Upgrades from Windows 10 to Windows 11

Microsoft has revised its recent decision regarding the free upgrade offer from Windows 10 to Windows 11.The company removed a blog post from its Tech Community that implied a potential time limit for the upgrade, citing inaccuracies and a misleading headline as reasons for the withdrawal.

www.guru3d.com

 

[windwhirl]

They should just give free upgrades to everyone, get rid of the stupid requirements (TPM2.0/SecureBoot/MS Account) and call it a day. Save themselves more PR nightmares.

I understand if they don't want to support processors without POPCNT, that makes sense to me. Everything else is just dumb.

 

[lexluthermiester]

They should just give free upgrades to everyone, get rid of the stupid requirements (TPM2.0/SecureBoot/MS Account) and call it a day. Save themselves more PR nightmares.

I understand if they don't want to support processors without POPCNT, that makes sense to me. Everything else is just dumb.

Wouldn't THAT be a breath of fresh air... Not holding my breath, ironically..

 

[Shrek]

They should just give free upgrades to everyone

They need to make a profit; they are not a charity.

 

[lexluthermiester]

They need to make a profit; they are not a charity.

If they charged reasonable prices, they would be swimming in money from Windows sales. But no. They don't want to do something as smart as adapting to modern times in a reasonable way.

 

[80-watt Hamster]

If they charged reasonable prices, they would be swimming in money from Windows sales. But no. They don't want to do something as smart as adapting to modern times in a reasonable way.

Nope; they'd clearly rather adapt to modern times in an unreasonable way. It took me until embarrassingly recently to finally come to the realization that Windows is now adware. And not the good* kind, where you can remove ads by paying a one-time charge.

I'd love to believe that you're right, but am not convinced. You and I would gladly pay a fair* price for Windows (If legitimate US licenses of WPro were, say, $80, MS would have several hundred more of my dollars than they do now), but we could easily be in a significant minority.

*For a certain values of "good" and "fair"

 

[windwhirl]

They need to make a profit; they are not a charity.

That's fine. But personally I'm tired of these guys changing their minds every five minutes. They should just say "we're doing X" and then do X, not start doing X and then changing to Z just to go back to X and then do Y.

Plus, every single OEM machine out there has a paid license, and they have volume/enterprise licensing as well, so that's a constant income they have going. Retail licensing isn't the only thing.

 

[mtosev]

I have a quick question. Does the normal version of Windows 11 Pro supports threadripper CPUs (non pro)?
Basically I'm asking if you don't need the special version of Windows (pro for workstations) to run threadripper CPUs.

 

[datnguyencg]

I use a 13th workstation laptop. I use it 24h2 without any problems since it was released

 

[lexluthermiester]

Does the normal version of Windows 11 Pro supports threadripper CPUs (non pro)?

All versions of Windows 11 support all modern CPUs. Only the IOT version supports CPUs without POPCNT.

 

[windwhirl]

I have a quick question. Does the normal version of Windows 11 Pro supports threadripper CPUs (non pro)?
Basically I'm asking if you don't need the special version of Windows (pro for workstations) to run threadripper CPUs.

It seems the only difference is a few extra features.

Compare Windows 11 Business Editions | Microsoft

Compare Windows 11 business editions with this guide from Microsoft. Explore our Windows 11 editions comparison chart to see which features your organization can get.

www.microsoft.com

According to this, Pro for Workstations has:
ReFS support
Persistent memory support (NVDIMM)
SMB Direct... I believe this thing is present in standard Windows Pro? The description mentions RDMA-enabled network adapters, tho, so maybe there's a difference there.

As for CPU support, standard Windows Pro should support 64 cores at least, if not up to 128. But it seems Pro for Workstations is better suited for extreme core counts/RAM capacity, and probably required if you're using a multi-socket workstation.

Memory Limits for Windows and Windows Server Releases - Win32 apps

Describes the memory limits for supported Windows and Windows Server releases and provides lists of memory limits.

learn.microsoft.com

2 TB RAM maximum for Pro, 6 TB for Pro for Workstations.

I can't find properly documented core count limits tho. I'm seeing some answers online saying 64-cores for Home edition (kinda wild since it's, well, Home edition, but I'm not complaining), 128 cores at least for Pro, if not 256 cores, and also 256 cores for Pro for Workstations, with the main difference being Pro supporting up to dual socket CPUs, and PfW supporting quad-socket.