Hey everyone! I'm getting ready to upgrade our company from Windows 10 to Windows 11. We're currently on Windows 10 Pro with the ESU, and we're not using Intune. Instead, we handle everything through GPOs and push settings via Matrix42. I've noticed that systems that are upgraded in place have some issues, while fresh installs after joining the domain and downloading GPOs are not functioning well at all (like the Start Menu not working). It seems like there are conflicts with the GPOs, which didn't cause problems with Windows 10. I'd like to document all the policies we're using and start fresh with a more basic GPO setup for our 300-person company, focusing on a solid baseline for Windows 11. Does anyone have recommendations on resources or tools for determining essential Windows 11 policies and settings? What should I be paying attention to during the upgrade process?
2 Answers
Make sure to back up all your BitLocker recovery keys before you upgrade; I'm not sure if your RMM handles that automatically. Also, keep in mind that some of the GPO policies might not work anymore or are deprecated, and they could be specific to the education version of Windows. If you have the option, using the LTSC version of Windows 11 may help. One big change is that longstanding shortcuts and shell extensions have been moved to the Settings menu, which can be a bit of an adjustment. You might want to create manual shortcuts for some things, like the Printers control panel, to help users out. Good luck with your upgrade!
In my experience with a large migration from Windows 10 to 11, clean installs were significantly faster for most machines. While we did manage in-place upgrades in some locations, many of our PCs were using MBR with secure boot turned off. Given your GPO issues, I'd recommend using the latest ADMX templates from Microsoft to avoid conflicts and ensure compatibility.
Thanks for the input! I agree that a clean install seems better in theory, but with how our users keep files, I doubt management will allow that just yet. I do appreciate the heads-up about the ADMX templates!
Great tip about BitLocker keys! I hadn’t thought of the settings menu changes for shortcuts; I’ll definitely want to encourage users to have easy access to their most-used features.