Microsoft to promote Windows 11 upgrades starting in April — Redmondmag.com

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Microsoft to offer Windows 11 upgrades starting in April

Microsoft announced Wednesday that it will encourage more Windows users to perform the free upgrade to Windows 11 version 23H2 “after the release of the April 2024 security update.”

The release date for this April 2024 security update is likely known as “Update Tuesday,” which is Microsoft’s target patch release date. Tuesday updates occur on the second Tuesday of each month. In this case, April 9th ​​(the Tuesday update date of that month) will likely be the start of Microsoft’s Windows 11 upgrade prompt, which will arrive to Windows users as a message with several options. Microsoft promised that there will be an option to continue using Windows 10.

This upgrade invitation message will be shown to users “after signing in, typically after a reboot,” the announcement states. This message is displayed only to Windows users working in the cloud and to domain-joined users. unmanaged Organizations that use tools such as “Microsoft Intune, Configuration Manager, Windows Autopatch, or other third-party management tools” are considered to be managing Windows devices, and those devices likely receive Microsoft upgrade messages. is not displayed.

The announcement showed a mockup of the message users can expect to see. There was a “Keep Windows 10” option in Microsoft’s mockup, but it’s a discreet link at the bottom.

Windows 10 Home Edition users are considered “guinea pig” users by Microsoft and are typically bombarded with free Windows 11 upgrade messages, but there is no guarantee that the upgrade will be successful. These Windows 10 Home user messages offer incorrect options to either upgrade to Windows 11 or be prompted again in three days (which doesn’t seem to happen).

Your organization is likely using Windows 10 Pro, and this announcement suggested that only unmanaged Windows 10 Pro devices will receive the upgrade message.

“that [the Windows 11 version 23H2 upgrade notice] will only appear on Windows 10 Pro and Pro Workstation devices that are eligible for Windows 11 and not managed by your IT department. ”

Almost two years ago, Microsoft indicated that Windows 10 Pro users would be required to use a Microsoft account during initial setup to use their devices for personal activities. This type of change may be an expected requirement for unmanaged Windows 10 Pro devices that accept future upgrade invitations. However, Microsoft indicated at the time that it would waive the Microsoft account requirement if Windows 10 Pro devices are used for work or school purposes.

Microsoft account users can enable Microsoft to see information such as “credentials, name and contact data, payment data, device and usage data, contacts, activity information, interests and favorites.” You must agree to Microsoft’s Privacy Statement document. . ”