Upgrading to Win 11: I would like to upgrade my computer to Windows 11. I keep getting pop-ups from Microsoft suggesting I upgrade. If you have upgraded a Win 10 computer to Win 11...

Cheese

I would like to upgrade my computer to Windows 11. I keep getting pop-ups from Microsoft suggesting I upgrade.

If you have upgraded a Win 10 computer to Win 11, can you tell me:

1. Approx how long does the upgrade take?

2. Do I need to sit in front of the screen the whole time, or can I start the upgrade at night and go to bed?

3. Approx how much free hard drive space does Win 11 need? I have a 4 TB HDD, but only have about 200 GB of free space.

Thanks.

Laramie Loc: Tempe

1. I don't know, I started my update and went on my day, checking later.
2. Ditto
3. It might fit, but I would free up some space, as the update also adds a WindowsOld folder which will be big.
Press the Start button and type Disk Cleanup, then select when it appears. Select most everything on the list, unless you store files
in %temp%. Move some files off your disk anyway, as it may have already started affecting performance.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

My wife waited. I had to get a new computer, it came with 11.
After I got my computer the way I want it she asked what I thought of 11.
Told her it seems fine, so she decided to let her computer update from 10 to 11.
She has no anomalies yet. All seems fine.

1. Approx how long does the upgrade take?
She said about 1.5 hours between the download and install times.
She said it restarted a few times during the process.

2. Do I need to sit in front of the screen the whole time, or can I start the upgrade at night and go to bed?
No, it required no user interaction.

3. Approx how much free hard drive space does Win 11 need? I have a 4 TB HDD, but only have about 200 GB of free space.
Not sure, but I'm reasonably sure the install routine will check to see if the space it needs is available before it starts. My wife's computer has a 512Gb drive. I'll guess over 400Gb is probably available.

Cheese

Laramie wrote:

1. I don't know, I started my update and went on my day, checking later.
2. Ditto
3. It might fit, but I would free up some space, as the update also adds a WindowsOld folder which will be big.
Press the Start button and type Disk Cleanup, then select when it appears. Select most everything on the list, unless you store files
in %temp%. Move some files off your disk anyway, as it may have already started affecting performance.

Thanks.

Cheese

Longshadow wrote:

My wife waited. I had to get a new computer, it ca... (show quote)

Thanks. That helps.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

Cheese wrote:

I would like to upgrade my computer to Windows 11. I keep getting pop-ups from Microsoft suggesting I upgrade.

If you have upgraded a Win 10 computer to Win 11, can you tell me:

1. Approx how long does the upgrade take?

2. Do I need to sit in front of the screen the whole time, or can I start the upgrade at night and go to bed?

3. Approx how much free hard drive space does Win 11 need? I have a 4 TB HDD, but only have about 200 GB of free space.

Thanks.

1. No idea, but I’d expect an hour or so depending on your ISP speed - I went to bed, and when I got up it was running 11 (I noticed the display was different).

2. You do not need to monitor the process (see number 1)

3. That’s more than enough available memory. Since it stores the Win10 changes in a Win.old file, you can see the difference. For me, after erasing the old Win 10 folder, I would guess it’s <10 GB larger than before the update.

chikid68 Loc: Tennesse USA

Cheese wrote:

I would like to upgrade my computer to Windows 11. I keep getting pop-ups from Microsoft suggesting I upgrade.

If you have upgraded a Win 10 computer to Win 11, can you tell me:

1. Approx how long does the upgrade take?

2. Do I need to sit in front of the screen the whole time, or can I start the upgrade at night and go to bed?

3. Approx how much free hard drive space does Win 11 need? I have a 4 TB HDD, but only have about 200 GB of free space.

Thanks.

The majority of the hour or so will be spent on downloading windows 11
The actual install just takes a few minutes.
Since I seem to end up installing it on not just the half dozen of my computers and laptops but also on several machines belonging to friends and family what I did was to download it using the media creation tool and saved it to a flash drive which I install it from.

AirWalter Loc: Tipp City, Ohio

Cheese wrote:

I would like to upgrade my computer to Windows 11. I keep getting pop-ups from Microsoft suggesting I upgrade.

If you have upgraded a Win 10 computer to Win 11, can you tell me:

1. Approx how long does the upgrade take?

2. Do I need to sit in front of the screen the whole time, or can I start the upgrade at night and go to bed?

3. Approx how much free hard drive space does Win 11 need? I have a 4 TB HDD, but only have about 200 GB of free space.

Thanks.

Not sure, but I doubt if that is enough free space. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . My bad, I need another cup of coffee this morning. I swear, I thought he said he had 200mb free space!

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

AirWalter wrote:

Not sure, but I doubt if that is enough free space.

From Microsoft.com:
How many GB is Windows 11 update?
Your PC must have 9 GB of free disk space to download Windows 11.

AirWalter Loc: Tipp City, Ohio

Longshadow wrote:

From Microsoft.com:
How many GB is Windows 11 update?
Your PC must have 9 GB of free disk space to download Windows 11.

I need some more coffee this morning Longshadow. I swear when I first read his post I thought he said he had 200 MB of free space. My bad!

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

AirWalter wrote:

I need some more coffee this morning Longshadow. I swear when I first read his post I thought he said he had 200 MB of free space. My bad!

Hahaha, yup!
I'm on my third cup!

Schoee Loc: Europe

Cheese wrote:

I would like to upgrade my computer to Windows 11. I keep getting pop-ups from Microsoft suggesting I upgrade.

If you have upgraded a Win 10 computer to Win 11, can you tell me:

1. Approx how long does the upgrade take?

2. Do I need to sit in front of the screen the whole time, or can I start the upgrade at night and go to bed?

3. Approx how much free hard drive space does Win 11 need? I have a 4 TB HDD, but only have about 200 GB of free space.

Thanks.

Your drive is 95% full. I would reduce that a LOT before doing anything else. I try to keep at least 25% free.

FrumCA

Cheese wrote:

I would like to upgrade my computer to Windows 11. I keep getting pop-ups from Microsoft suggesting I upgrade.

If you have upgraded a Win 10 computer to Win 11, can you tell me:

1. Approx how long does the upgrade take?

2. Do I need to sit in front of the screen the whole time, or can I start the upgrade at night and go to bed?

3. Approx how much free hard drive space does Win 11 need? I have a 4 TB HDD, but only have about 200 GB of free space.

Thanks.

The "size" of Win 11 is about 3.5GB but the overall "space" requirements vary perhaps up to 64 GB (according to Microsoft). Evidently this is due to the files that are being added and removed during the install cycle. Don't forget to check that your PC meets the other install requirements: Processor, RAM, Graphics card, etc.

Papa Joe Loc: Midwest U.S.

Hi Cheese,
I recently upgraded to Win. 11 on a laptop (very slow processor) and I'd estimate it took about an hour for the main download. Then of course there were the necessary updates to bring it up to date, which I did, casually throughout the entire afternoon. I didn't have to stay glued to the computer. Each time it requited a 'restart' it notified me and I'd so so.
I guess the actual time element of downloading and installing would primarily depend on the speed of your connection and computer.
Good Luck,
God Bless,
Papa Joe

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

Btw, you may need the activation code for the original OS that was purchased (either installed on your computer by the mfg or one that you purchased if you built the machine). If you run BelArc advisor, it will report the activation code for your current Win 10 installation and also Win 7 if that was your original OS and upgraded previously to 10. I found that it wouldn’t accept the win 10 code (which was a free upgrade from 7), but did accept the Win 7 code for the OEM version of 7 I purchased when I built my last machine.