How Are You Upgrading to Windows 11 and Handling Compatibility Issues?
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TechGuru93
As Windows 11's official release approaches, I'm looking to automate the upgrade process using PowerShell with PDQ Deploy or Group Policy. I'm curious about how others are managing their upgrades, especially when it comes to machines that fail the Windows 11 hardware compatibility checks. Are you bypassing these checks, and if so, how? My company isn't allowing any additional installations, so I need to stick with scripts or GPOs. I'd love to hear what solutions you're implementing, as I'm keen to replicate them in my home lab.
Answers
We’ve been using compatible machines for Windows 11. We capture and deploy with MDT, which can handle non-supported hardware too. To bypass the requirements for the Win11-24H2 deployment, we initially created our own 23H2 image while blocking internet to avoid issues during capture. We’ve run into problems when letting the update roll through GPO in the past, so this has worked out better for us.
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We’re using the same tools as for all our other updates; it’s pretty straightforward once you have a system in place.
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We've mostly relied on Group Policy to set the Windows version we want and let the in-place upgrade take care of itself. It has been quite smooth so far, except for one machine that got stuck, but that was a BIOS issue, not Windows 11. If you're having trouble with hardware compatibility, I'd suggest checking how much non-compliant hardware you actually have. We recycled ours some time back, so it hasn't been an issue for us.
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Honestly, we just let Windows Update do its thing. For the machines that don’t upgrade after a while, we handle those separately. It's a low-key approach but works pretty well.
BackToBasics12: That sounds like a solid plan. Sometimes the simplest solutions are the best!
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For machines that don’t meet the specs, we just replaced them. No point in holding onto outdated equipment, especially with Windows 11 launching.
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UpgradeWizard45: I think I read something similar recently. I've seen mentions that Microsoft might be reconsidering strict hardware requirements, but who knows? It feels like they keep changing their stance on this.