Is there any disadvantage to upgrading Win10->Win11 as opposed to a fresh install?

My main PC is running Windows 10 x64, and I'm lookin at moving to Win11. Normally I would always clean the disk and do a fresh install. However, I've read that many Win10 machines are eligible for a free upgrade to Win11, which would save me buying a licence key.

I haven't yet checked if the machine is eligible (anyone know how you do that?), but assuming it is, I was wondering about backing up my data, cleaning the disk, doing a fresh install of Win10, then an upgrade to Win11.

Are there any disadvantages to this over a fresh install of Win11, ignoring the cost of the licence key? I'm always a bit suspicious of upgrades

Thanks

There is no cost to upgrade but pc must be windows 11 capable.

Overall, W11 is fine - some minor issues - gui related but nothing major. It is rock solid performance wise.

If you have an embedded licence Key, [from an OEM supplier Dell HP Etc.] or a digital licence [the latest way that Microsoft installs licence data] then you will not need to purchase a new licence, This covers both a clean or an upgrade install.

I have performed multiple upgrade installs and have not had any major issues, the advantage of the upgrade route is that you are quickly up and running with all your existing software [this is especially true with the upgrade from Windows 10 to Windows 11 where not many major changes were done at low level]

The only time I would prefer and recommend a clean install over an upgrade is the case where the existing install is having issues as these will likely be retained

MrYossu said:

I haven't yet checked if the machine is eligible (anyone know how you do that?),

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Welcome to Eleven Forum.

One easy way to check is with WhyNotWin11.

MrYossu said:

.....but assuming it is, I was wondering about backing up my data, cleaning the disk, doing a fresh install of Win10, then an upgrade to Win11.

Are there any disadvantages to this over a fresh install of Win11, ignoring the cost of the licence key? I'm always a bit suspicious of upgrades

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No need to buy a key. If the PC already has a digital licence for Win10 then that is also valid for Win11. A clean install should activate from the existing digital licence.

I have done it both ways. My System One in My Computers below is a supported device for Windows 11 and was upgraded from 10 to 11. I have two other supported devices (you'll find them in the 'Other Info' section of My Computers). Those both got a clean install.

There is no noticeable difference in the installed Windows 11 between the upgrade and the clean installs.

Got a new Notebook Oct. 2021 and new Desktop April 2022, both with Win10 Pro and free license for Win11. Both are working quite nicely, most things are available from Win10 but the GUI is different in places, e.g. many things in Control Panel are now on the right-click of the Start button which is good for some of the things I need.

As to a fresh install or a clean reinstall it's simply a choice with Upgrading possible as most programs that work on Win10 will work on Win11. Only real downside with Win11 is there is no x86/32-bit version available, shuts out a lot of older computers' possibility of upgrading. Also involved is the CPU supported and the TPM module, I have a Win10 Desktop that has the TPM socket but the Core i7 CPU isn't on the list, neither is my Win10 ASUS desktop with an AMD CPU. With the Win10 to Win11 Upgrades I've done I haven't lost any programs.

Wow, what a load of great replies! Thanks to everyone.

I perhaps wasn't so clear on one point though. When I asked about checking if my PC was eligible, I meant if going from Win10->Win11 would reuse the Win10 licence, as opposed to needing a new key. I have already checked that the PC is physically/technically capable of running Win11 (ie UEFI, Secure Boot, etc).

I don't want to do an in-place upgrade, as my Win10 installation is showing some weird symptoms, and I want a clean install of something. That's why I mentioned scrubbing the disk, installing a clean Win10 then upgrading to Win11, rather than upgrading in-place.

Maybe I'll try a fresh install of Win11, and see if it activates. If so, great. If not, I'll clean and install Win10 and then upgrade. From the replies here, it sounds like that won't give any problems and will hopefully allow activation.

Thanks again to everyone.

MrYossu said:

Wow, what a load of great replies! Thanks to everyone.

I perhaps wasn't so clear on one point though. When I asked about checking if my PC was eligible, I meant if going from Win10->Win11 would reuse the Win10 licence, as opposed to needing a new key. I have already checked that the PC is physically/technically capable of running Win11 (ie UEFI, Secure Boot, etc).

I don't want to do an in-place upgrade, as my Win10 installation is showing some weird symptoms, and I want a clean install of something. That's why I mentioned scrubbing the disk, installing a clean Win10 then upgrading to Win11, rather than upgrading in-place.

Maybe I'll try a fresh install of Win11, and see if it activates. If so, great. If not, I'll clean and install Win10 and then upgrade. From the replies here, it sounds like that won't give any problems and will hopefully allow activation.

Thanks again to everyone.

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Before you do that, I strongly recommend you make an image backup of existing drive using tool like Macrium Reflect Free just in case something goes wrong.

A computer that came with Win10 can qualify for the Win11 license, the code for activation is built into the motherboard. My main Win10 Desktop came with Win8 then I Upgraded to Win8.1 and has been running Win10 since 2016, never had to enter the Product Key. That was a change with OEM Win8 machines not having the COA sticker with the key.

cereberus said:

Before you do that, I strongly recommend you make an image backup of existing drive using tool like Macrium Reflect Free just in case something goes wrong.

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I have Reflect Free doing a disk image every night, so always have that. Used it for years.

Thanks for the reminder though

Even if the Windows license isn't built into the motherboard, your Windows 10 license qualifies for 11.

If you clean install 11, the machine may activate online immediately. Failing that, you might have to use the Activation Troubleshooter. It's very unlikely that you'd have to get help with the activation from Microsoft. You could, though, in the event things came to that.

MrYossu said:

When I asked about checking if my PC was eligible, I meant if going from Win10->Win11 would reuse the Win10 licence, as opposed to needing a new key.

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As far as licensing is concerned there's no difference between 10 and 11. All digital licences and keys are valid for Windows 10/11.

MrYossu said:

Wow, what a load of great replies! Thanks to everyone.

I perhaps wasn't so clear on one point though. When I asked about checking if my PC was eligible, I meant if going from Win10->Win11 would reuse the Win10 licence, as opposed to needing a new key. I have already checked that the PC is physically/technically capable of running Win11 (ie UEFI, Secure Boot, etc).

I don't want to do an in-place upgrade, as my Win10 installation is showing some weird symptoms, and I want a clean install of something. That's why I mentioned scrubbing the disk, installing a clean Win10 then upgrading to Win11, rather than upgrading in-place.

Maybe I'll try a fresh install of Win11, and see if it activates. If so, great. If not, I'll clean and install Win10 and then upgrade. From the replies here, it sounds like that won't give any problems and will hopefully allow activation.

Thanks again to everyone.

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Then a clean install would be my recommended choice. Especially if it's on an SSD, as in - you'll have Windows running in no time (funny enough - took me less time to install Windows 11 fresh - than doing the actual upgrade).

Yeah, it's only MY view -- but I would advise against a clean install -- unless you really need it.

The "cost" of a clean install is not the few minutes to install the OS, but the hours spent redoing the customizations, including installed third-party apps, custom settings, and online account recreations in the browsers you use. With a clean install, you lose nearly ALL of those and have to start over from scratch.

I have this information saved in spreadsheets but even then, it takes me several HOURS to reinstall all the apps, reapply all the settings, and migrate over all the browser online account info.

Compared to the few minutes it takes to do an in-place upgrade, this can be a LOT of time -- and work -- needed to get everything working as you want on a new install.

But -- it's YOUR time and effort, so it's YOUR choice.

If your Windows 10 installation is corrupt, an upgrade to 11 may not fix it. (It might, though.)

Here's a slightly bizarre suggestion: try an upgrade-in-place (aka repair install) of Windows 10 first. It may also fail to fix 10, but it might work.

If you're going to do a clean install, I suggest that you backup your drivers first. You may need them. Backup and Restore Device Drivers in Windows 11 Tutorial

It's free to upgrade from Windows 10 to Windows 11 so there should be no licensing issues either by upgrade or clean install.

Some disk drives with Windows 10 may have the old partition architecture with the recovery partition on the left and / or multiple recovery partitions.

Some computers may not have computer parameters to pass the Windows upgrade assistant check.

For the above a clean install is better as it will fix the partition architecture and it does not require the parameter check by the upgrade assistant.

The clean install method allows unsupported Windows 11 installations.



Windows 11 uses DCH drivers as compared to Windows 10.

Mark Phelps said:

Yeah, it's only MY view -- but I would advise against a clean install -- unless you really need it.

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You're 100% correct about the pain of copying all your settings, but as I mentioned, my Win10 installation is in a bad state, and I want a clean install of Win11. My question was really about installing a clean Win10 and then upgrading to Win11 against a fresh install of Win11. As the overwhelming opinion here seems to be that I will be able to activate Win11, I'm going to go for a clean install of that.

I will make a clone of my current drive, so I can always pop it in and boot into it if I need to get anything off it. Been there, done that, learnt that trick!

bobkn said:

If your Windows 10 installation is corrupt, an upgrade to 11 may not fix it. (It might, though.)

Here's a slightly bizarre suggestion: try an upgrade-in-place (aka repair install) of Windows 10 first. It may also fail to fix 10, but it might work.

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Thanks, but I really want a clean install. I just don't trust what I have now.

Winuser said:

If you're going to do a clean install, I suggest that you backup your drivers first. You may need them. Backup and Restore Device Drivers in Windows 11 Tutorial

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Never thought of that one, thanks for the suggestion.

MrYossu said:

You're 100% correct about the pain of copying all your settings, but as I mentioned, my Win10 installation is in a bad state, and I want a clean install of Win11. My question was really about installing a clean Win10 and then upgrading to Win11 against a fresh install of Win11. As the overwhelming opinion here seems to be that I will be able to activate Win11, I'm going to go for a clean install of that.

I will make a clone of my current drive, so I can always pop it in and boot into it if I need to get anything off it. Been there, done that, learnt that trick!


Thanks, but I really want a clean install. I just don't trust what I have now.


Never thought of that one, thanks for the suggestion.

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You're welcome. I just went it with my Beelink Mini PC. I did a restore of an image made from a different Mini PC to my Beelink. I wanted to keep all of my programs and settings. I had to go to the Beelink website to find my needed drivers. I wanted just the Chipset drivers but the only download option was for all of the drivers. Long story short, I just had to point Device Manager to the downloaded folder to install all of the needed drivers.

@OP I have been mulling over the essentially same issue for some time and did a test with RevoUninstaller (that I normally do not use) recently. I cleared out several GBs of crud with some gentle cleaning (I do not want to use aggressive cleaning) and there may still be several GBs of crud left in the old W10 machine (which BTW still runs very well, both with a lot of crud or with less crud, I don't notice a difference) These several GBs of crud may be carried over in case of a cloning to a new W10 machine & upgrade to W11, but I can confirm that several GBs of crud is likely to be inconsequential from a practical point of view.

Looking at the issue from the other side (new machine with W11 pre-installed) there won't be any crud carried over, but new crud will of course be generated. Then there is the issue of restoring user data, installing and configuring user apps, etc. I have documented what it takes, and I estimate that it will take me half a day to a day, which may however also be inconsequential in the greater scheme of things.

At the present time, I am leaning towards 'everything new'. Good luck to you!