Will there be a full retail boxed version?

...I am planning toe make the jump from W7 to 11 Pro so I will need to do a clean install.

Will there be the traditional "physical" (boxed) retail version with a USB drive (since DVDs are outdated) I can install from? The only versions I am currently finding that install from physical media are OEMs which are only licenced to the motherboards they are installed on.

As I will be an early adopter, I could see the chance of having to upgrade my system (such as when DDR5 becomes the standard).

BC shelby said:

...I am planning toe make the jump from W7 to 11 Pro so I will need to do a clean install.

Will there be the traditional "physical" (boxed) retail version with a USB drive (since DVDs are outdated) I can install from? The only versions I am currently finding that install from physical media are OEMs which are only licenced to the motherboards they are installed on.

As I will be an early adopter, I could see the chance of having to upgrade my system (such as when DDR5 becomes the standard).

Click to expand...

BC shelby said:

...I am planning toe make the jump from W7 to 11 Pro so I will need to do a clean install.

Will there be the traditional "physical" (boxed) retail version with a USB drive (since DVDs are outdated) I can install from? The only versions I am currently finding that install from physical media are OEMs which are only licenced to the motherboards they are installed on.

As I will be an early adopter, I could see the chance of having to upgrade my system (such as when DDR5 becomes the standard).

Click to expand...

Hi there
O.T but worth posting as it will save you money (legitimately).

You can upgrade to W11 directly from W7 - install and use the key from W7 -- I assume your original W7 Pro was a retail license.

Apart from that I'd assume there will be some sort of boxed retail version but these days even "boxed retail versions" of a lot of software e.g Ms Office 2019 retail versions come just with a license key and the product is downloaded from the web. That seems to be the way of the future. I agree DVD's and CD roms are definitely going the way of the DODO now.

(If the W7-->W11 in one go doesn't activate - go via W10 -- that still works - I activated a W10 system last week using an old Technet W7 key. I couldn't install W11 directly on that system as it was quite an old one but I'll probably have a go next week trying W11 with a W7 key -- getting a new machine next week).

Cheers
jimbo

As I posted in the post @Ghot wrote, post #2, they're probably trying to sell all the Windows 10 discs in the warehouses before introducing the Windows 11 discs.

As @jimbo45 indicates, if your Windows 7 key should work. If that doesn't, but Windows 10 and use that key.

None of us here using Windows 11 installed it from a Windows 11 disc with a Windows 11 license key. We all used the keys we had that are indicated to work. I know I used my Windows 10 license key.

BC shelby said:

...I am planning toe make the jump from W7 to 11 Pro so I will need to do a clean install.

Will there be the traditional "physical" (boxed) retail version with a USB drive (since DVDs are outdated) I can install from? The only versions I am currently finding that install from physical media are OEMs which are only licenced to the motherboards they are installed on.

As I will be an early adopter, I could see the chance of having to upgrade my system (such as when DDR5 becomes the standard).

Click to expand...

I would suggest buying a copy of 10 home or pro and then getting a copy of 11 from MS.. the ISO. From there you can perform a clean instillation of 11 using the 10 key. I've done that with no issues.,.. ie installing 11 with a 10 home key.

HTH

I wonder whether Win 11 is intended to be OEM and upgrade only? Microsoft has done that in the past. They provide no support for OEM versions. (Not that the 90 days of free support was generous for retail copies.)

Responding to several replies:



..." Jimbo45. ... unfortunately my W7 Pro is an OEM that I got when I built the current system I am using. Too many individuals I know have issues when updating who then had no trouble when they did a clean install, particularly on older hardware. My system is not yet compliant with W11 (working on that angle do the direct update will not work and I would rather remain in the W7 environment until I can upgrade my hardware. Yeah, I remember installing Windows from long obsolete media, floppies (I believe it was something like 9 or 10 total).

Am hoping that when it is released it is on a USB stick (along with a recovery version) as I prefer having physical media to perform clean installs with.

---

@ Bunny J, ...as I mentioned above It will be a little while before I can settle on a hardware upgrade that suits my budget and needs (will just be upgrading the CPU, MB and memory on my current system). I would rather remain on W7 until I am able to make the change (if I'm going to have to learn to adapt to a radically different OS environment, I'd prefer to do so only once).

---

@ Bobkin, ...that sounds pretty bad on their part given that W10 is still supported until 2025 which means adopting 11 earlier would extend it usage life. If I make an upgrade of my system that includes a new MB (such as to move to DDR5 that means I have to purchase another OEM rather than simply transfer the licence to the updated build With a Key that required downloading whereas with it on physical media it is easier to do a clean install which is always better.

BC shelby said:

...I am planning to make the jump from W7 to 11 Pro so I will need to do a clean install.

Click to expand...

Not necessarily. You cannot upgrade directly from W7 to W11 with an in-place upgrade, if you try to then it will not let you keep your installed apps.



But you can upgrade W7 Pro to W10 Pro, keeping your files and installed apps, and will be activated with a digital licence for W10 Pro. Ther is no need for you to but W10, the upgrade from W7 to W10 is still free.

If this was a 64-bit install of W7, then once upgraded to W10 you could then upgrade from W10 to W11 and keep your files and apps (again, this is a free upgrade). However, a machine that was built for and supplied with Windows 7 may not meet the hardware requirements for Windows 11.

...I already understand that and have backed up those files I will need. Again As I mentioned above I would rather stay with W7 until I the hardware upgrades are completed so I can move to W11.

As my current system is not compatible with W11 there no reason to move to 10 beforehand. I am looking at several months down the road as I would like to make sure the hardware upgrade is a real "upgrade", not just a temporary "band aid" and is within my budget. Again I already plan to do a clean install of W11, and the other software I work with (primarily 2D and 3D graphics).

BC shelby said:

As my current system is not compatible with W11 there no reason to move to 10 beforehand.

Click to expand...

Not if you want to do a clean install. But if you want to keep all your installed apps then the only way is to upgrade first to W10, then from W10 to W11.

I'ved use Win 11 iso to usb for clean install then used Zinstall to transfer old computer Win 7 8 or 10 to the newly installed computer.
It copies all user file and progams - check this site if interested

Bree said:

Not if you want to do a clean install. But if you want to keep all your installed apps then the only way is to upgrade first to W10, then from W10 to W11.

Click to expand...

...again the current system is not compatible with W10 as it has a CPU and motherboard not on the W11 list. Therefore using W10 as a "bridge" is pretty meaningless as the upgrade would essentially be a totally "new" system. (not going to move W10 to the updated system as that's just an extra unneeded step in the process). I did the same procedure from Xp to W7, bypassing Vista and ended up with an incredibly stable system. Again, as I've mentioned I a;ready have been backing up data files from the boot drive to reinstall afterwards (some of which will go on a new third storage drive). I have all the user data files for my graphics software already installed on a secondary "Library"drive.

BC shelby said:

Am hoping that when it is released it is on a USB stick (along with a recovery version) as I prefer having physical media to perform clean installs with.

Click to expand...

You get the physical media to perform clean installs with by creating it yourself:

@BC shelby , If you decided to buy a Win 11 key in the future, I recommend you buy the full retail version instead of the OEM version. It will cost a little more to buy but you can transfer it to another computer if you ever need to move it.