Windows 11 stability compared to Windows 10

In my years of using Windows 10, I was pretty pleased with it. One thing in particular: STABILITY
I think out of all that time I used Windows 10 regularly, I experienced a BSOD about 2 or 3 times over the last 6 years. and that was sometimes hardware related (USB port). Overall, seriously stable.

Earlier this year, I bought an HP ZBook (a variant of their Elitebook) running Windows 11 Pro. It's a great notebook in many respects, especially for a reduction in size while having just as much screen real estate as my HP Pavilion (Windows 10). About 3 months into ownership, I had my first BSOD. Windows 11 has an impressive recovery system, so after a few reboots, everything was normal. But then, another month later and another BSOD. Usually while using Google Chrome (participating on forums), or Windows Explorer.

A few days ago, it happened again. And this time I had 3 in one day. In all of these instances I was either using Google Chrome or Windows Explorer, dealing with web pages or media files. However, the very last one was most peculiar. The file index was somehow corrupted, where my file search criteria was failing to turn up hits. I could see files by browsing without criteria, but none appeared with criteria. When trying to load some images, I got a dialog error saying the file could not be displayed. Then... BSOD. When it rebooted, a ScanDisk/CHKDSK like procedure was activated. Somehow some system file corruption must've happened on the SSD. When it finished, it rebooted, then applied an "install update". Once done I was able to log back in. I then went to Windows Update and saw there was another update pending. A firmware update from HP. So I had that applied. When I rebooted... my two user profiles were treated as if they were logging in for the first time. My primary account wouldn't recognize fingerprints. The PIN was stated as needing to be set up. So I select that and... I get a message that my PIN was "unable to be set at this time, try again" (or something to that effect). Thankfully Microsoft employs an authenticator app installed on smartphones. I was finally able to get to a screen where I was prompted to use it, and after matching a 2 digit code, I was authenticated. I could set my PIN and then set fingerprints.

All told, I would say I've had roughly 8 to 10 BSOD instances over the past 6 months. Is that... normal for Windows 11 (or Pro)?

Btw, side note: My mother's laptop is an HP Pavilion about 3 years old that has been running Windows 11 (standard). She doesn't have any crashes, but she had a terrible lag issue. The OS was painfully slow. Turns out the "Windows Widgets" feature was the culprit. When I uninstalled it, the laptop performance notably improved. On my ZBook, I have the "Windows Feature Experience Pack" installed... and I'm wondering, is that component known for instabilities?

cytherian said:

Is that... normal for Windows 11

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You can't compare two operating systems, on different computers.
An accurate comparison would be comparing say... Win 10 to Win 11 on the same computer.

I would suggest posting in the BSOD section, supplying the requested logs and letting one of our BSOD gurus have a look-see.



By itself... Windows 11 is just as stable as Windows 10. I have compared them on the "same" computer, and haven't had stability issues with either OS.

The one main difference, is that Windows 10 is undergoing less "experimentation" by Microsoft, as it's been around longer.
On Windows 11 now... it seems MS tosses a monkey wrench into the works with just about every other patch. A few years ago, they were doing the same with Windows 10. But now that Win 10 has TENure... they pretty much leave it alone.

This has pretty much been MS's method of operation for a looooong time.



Back in the days of yore... MS used to actually "test" OSes and patches "before" they released them. Sometime since then, some idiot realized it was much cheaper to let us do the testing, and just monitor all the complaints.
So now... we're guinea pigs for MS.

Ghot said:

You can't compare two operating systems, on different computers.
An accurate comparison would be comparing say... Win 10 to Win 11 on the same computer.

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This^^^

The only "blue screen" I've seen is this one.

cytherian said:

In my years of using Windows 10, I was pretty pleased with it. One thing in particular: STABILITY.....
.....Earlier this year, I bought an HP ZBook (a variant of their Elitebook) running Windows 11 Pro.....
.....All told, I would say I've had roughly 8 to 10 BSOD instances over the past 6 months. Is that... normal for Windows 11 (or Pro)?

Click to expand...

All my Win10 laptops have been stable, so are all my Win11 ones - even those running Insider Beta or Dev builds.
It's more likely to be down to that PC, either a hardware fault, a design fault, or a bug in any OEM bundled software (in particular, any 3rd party AV) - not the OS it's running.

Same brand with same problem, but in Win10....

cytherian said:

All told, I would say I've had roughly 8 to 10 BSOD instances over the past 6 months. Is that... normal for Windows 11 (or Pro)?

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No, in my experience that isn't normal for Windows 11. I've used Windows 11 Pro on several different computers since it was introduced and it's been very reliably stable.

@Ghot has it right. We are MS testers since we're the ones who have access to every configuration of hardware known to man that Windows has to run on and that hardware is changing at a rapid pace. I've never had a BSOD in 11. I only had one in all the years of using 10 due to a flaky cpu. From what I have garnered from reading the BSOD threads here is that the bulk of them are caused by the physical hardware, bad manufacturer drivers, and flaky third party apps rather than Windows, pretty much the same as in was in 10. As far as most of the weird events one might encounter in both OSes with explorer, apps, etc, IMO the best tool MS ever gave us is the repair install which usually works wonders on the windows side. However, it does zero if the issue is on the user account side since most problems there have been caused by the user himself. This includes the applications he chooses to use and the tweaks he makes.

I've only had BSOD from 11 only due to Driver but lately hasn't happened. I build my own computers so any BSOD is a OEM Crap issue I guess

Blue Screen of Death (also known as a blue screen or BSoD) is an error screen displayed on a Windows computer system after a fatal system error, also known as a system crash: when the operating system reaches a condition where it can no longer operate safely. BSoDs can be caused by poorly written device drivers or malfunctioning hardware, such as faulty memory, power supply issues, overheating of components, or hardware running beyond its specification limits.

FreeBooter said:

Blue Screen of Death (also known as a blue screen or BSoD)

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For Windows 11 Microsoft have changed the colour of a BSoD from blue to black, the initials still work though
(Insider builds still have a green GSoD)

The Black Death!

How appropriate!

I BSOD a month? Hell, back on the days of 95, we probably got 2 or more a day. You really learnt the 2 golden rules of computing:

1) Save data frequently

2) If any doubt, refer back to rule 1.

TraderGary said:

The Black Death!

How appropriate!

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Crash your own system on purpose if you want to see one...

Never had stability issues with Windows 11 in almost 2 years of using it.