Migrating from Windows 10 to Windows 11

Hi y'all,

I'm planing on buying a refurbished computer (i7-8700, 16GB DDR4, 512GB SSD Win11Pro) for $359. I now have (i7-4700, 32GB DDR3, 1TB SSD + 4TB SATA 2, NVidia GeForce GTX 1060 with 3GB RAM, Win10Pro). I plan to use the drives from my old computer as well as the dedicated video card and upgrade the newer computer to 64GB DDR4 (using a lot of virtual instruments with audio samples that use up a lot of RAM).

What would be my best migration path? Simply write down the Win11 key, swap the drives and upgrade my working copy of Win10? Note that I'm currently using my 1TB SSD as main C: drive with Win 10 as well as all my software (current usage is about 350GB). Reinstall my software on the newer computer with Win11 then clone the 512GB SSD to the 1TB SSD? Also I currently have an installation of Windows 10 that makes some use of my huge 4TB SATA drive. I migrated a few Windows folders such as Download, Music, My Documents... to the D: drive which a lot of my software makes use of. Thank you for taking the time to read this. Cheers!

Possibly, a better start, would be buying new 256gb NVME drive, purely for the OS.

If the "next machine", does not support NVME drive on the motherboard, then get one that does.

Also consider DELL Ex corp machine, that has Win 10 COA key embedded on board, that way no install or activation issues.

Dell 5070 Mini Tower, are cheap, with decent number of drive bays.

Sounds like a decent machine, though not cheap. What is the motherboard? Most of the 300 series mobo should have at least one nvme slot (gen3). There is nothing wrong with using your sata ssd you wont necessarily notice the difference for most tasks.

Win10 keys work for win11. If you end up needing to buy one they are only a few bucks.

My current machine with i5-8400 ( b365 motherboard 2x8gb 3200 ram ) cost about £170 a couple of years ago and would be less now, probably around £130 . I could now buy an 17-8700 for £52.

If you have a pc case and a power supply you could consider putting it together yourself.

You can just swap the drives from old PC to new PC and activate your windows 10 there if you still plan to stay with Windows 10.
Make an image backup then try a Win 11 in-place upgrade if you want to make a switch to Win 11. Again, as pointed out, make a backup image in case Win 11 in-place upgrade did not end up well. But usually, it just undo all the changes if the upgrade didn't go through.
But if I were you, I will just use the pre-installed Win 11 and install programs and drivers on demand instead of doing it all in one sitting. Transfer your data drive and leave the Windows 10 on the old PC as backup. It's always nice to start fresh with a new/refurbed machine.

If the new computer come with Win 11 pro activated, it has a win 10 & 11 digital license so you can do a clean install and it should activate.

I wouldn't trust a second hand computer with a OS so my advice is:
- The current Win 10 probably was upgraded many times and has a lot of trash in it so the new computer deserve a clean install.
- Backup all the drivers (Backup and Restore Device Drivers in Windows 11)
- Do a clean install on a small NVMe drive (256G) and use the current 1T SSD drive for data only.

Screech said:

What would be my best migration path? Simply write down the Win11 key, swap the drives and upgrade my working copy of Win10?

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Welcome to Eleven Forum.

Before you change anything over, on your new computer sign in to Windows 11 and check in Settings > System > Activation that it says 'Activated with a digital licence....' ('...linked to your Microsoft account' if you sign in with an MS account). If not (yet) you'll need to connect to the internet to get activation.

This digital licence will be for Pro, is stored on the MS activation servers, and is linked to the unique hardware ID of the PC. For licensing there's no difference between W10 and W11, the same digital licence will activate either. As the hardware ID excludes the drive(s) then you can swap in the one from the old PC and it will activate from the existing digital licence.