I'm working as a junior site admin in a large enterprise mostly using Dell machines. I thought all Windows 10 upgrades to Windows 11 were free if the hardware meets the requirements, so I've been deploying Windows 11 images on compatible systems we receive back in IT. However, my head of infrastructure disagrees and claims we could get fined during a software audit because the OEM license doesn't transfer. I'm confused about where he's getting this information from, as everything I find online, including Microsoft's own messages, suggests the upgrade is free. I contacted Dell, and they mentioned that if a laptop is equipped with a Windows 11 Pro upgrade, there shouldn't be any issue during an audit. They also hinted that it's tough to verify if a machine has this upgrade without looking up the system specs. A sysadmin friend of mine also believes the upgrade is completely free. I want to ensure we're compliant and avoid fines, so I'd really appreciate your insights on whether using OEM licenses for the Windows 10 to 11 upgrade is acceptable, especially since I'm maintaining the same version—upgrading from Windows 10 Pro to Windows 11 Pro.
1 Answer
I’ve upgraded from Windows 10 to 11 without any major issues, though I've noticed that older systems—especially those with less than 10th gen Intel—perform a bit slower. If you can, I recommend avoiding those older machines for the upgrade. For budget reasons, we usually only upgrade about 10-15 machines yearly. I also used a script to roll out the upgrades, and about 15 machines needed extra RAM to meet compliance since EoL is coming up in October. Regarding potential fines, I'm not sure anyone ever gets fined during audits; I’ve had audit flags here and there, but no real financial penalties.
I get that—I'm not putting Windows 11 on anything with less than 8GB RAM either. Thanks for sharing!