How to change from Win-10 To Win-11 in New Workstation

[dan99t]

Hi,

I am getting a new Dell workstation.

In OS choice I have to select one of two options.

(1) Windows 10 Pro for Workstations (6 cores, Includes Windows 11 Pro License) English

(2) Windows -11

I have never used any of them. So I am inclined to choose Win-10 to see what it is like.

My question is what does option 1 mean ? Do I get a key for Win-11 ?

I know I will get Win-10 in a single 512GB NVMe Partition.

(1) If I want to then Limit Win-10 partition to 220 GB, how would I do that so that I can have two more partitions for data in that NVME 512GB SSD with Win-10 ?

(2) If I want to try or switch to Win-11, how would I do that ?

(3) I am also getting 2nd M.2 NVME 512GB SSD. Can I install Win-11 in that SSD & then remove Win-10 SSD & place Win-11 SSD & boot & try Win-11 that way ? If so how ?

(4) Can I dual boot Win-10 & Win-11 ? If so how & how much space will be needed for both OS ?

I would really appreciate all the help.

Thank You

[Brandon H Supervisor]

On 19/09/2022 at 04:24, dan99t said:

(1) Windows 10 Pro for Workstations (6 cores, Includes Windows 11 Pro License) English

My question is what does option 1 mean ? Do I get a key for Win-11 ?

yeah it's just a bad way to word that you can upgrade at any time to 11

[goretsky Supervisor]

Hello,

For OS Choice Question #1, This means that the computer will be shipped with a licensed copy of Microsoft Windows 10 Pro for Workstations, but have a license Microsoft Windows 11 Pro for Workstations.  Of the two offerings, I would suggest going with this one since it lets you run Windows 10 for now as it is something of a known quantity, being seven (7) years old at this point.
 

You probably will not receive an actual separate Product ID Key-style license key (e.g., something that looks like ABCDE-12345-ABCDE-12345-ABCDE) but rather the license key embedded in the new computer's firmware will be enabled for Microsoft Windows 10 Pro for Workstations as well as Microsoft Windows 11 Pro for Workstations.

In response to your other questions:

 

1. You would probably want to re-size the operating system partition on the 512MB M.2 NVMe SSD after you receive the computer.  Bear in mind that the 512MB M.2 NVMe SSD will likely contain several partitions, and look something like this:
   ┌───────────────┬─────────────────────┬───────────────┐
   │ ░░░100 MB EFI │ ░░░500 GB NTFS░░░░░ │ ░░░500 MB░░░░ │
   │ ░░░System░░░░ │ ░░░Windows 10░░░░░░ │ ░░░Recovery░░ │
   │ ░░░Partition░ │ ░░░Partition ░░░░░░ │ ░░░Partition░ │
   └───────────────┴─────────────────────┴───────────────┘
   It is the middle partition you would want to resize, while leaving the EFI system partition (used to boot Windows in UEFI mode) and the recovery partition alone.
    
2. Under Settings → Update & Security → Windows Updates you will likely see an offer to upgrade the computer from Windows 10 to Windows 11.  As a matter of fact, you will probably keep receiving periodic offers each time Windows 10 receives its monthly set of updates.
   
   Probably.
   
   I don't know how Dell handles operating system recovery media, but it is possible your computer might either ship with two sets of recovery media, one for Windows 10 and one for Windows 11.  Or, there may be a tool you can run to create the recovery media for your workstation that is installed on it, or that you can download from Dell's website.  Or maybe Dell has a phone number you can to call to order the recovery media.  Or, failing all of that, you can use Microsoft's own Windows Media Creation Tool.  Keep in mind, though, that Microsoft's tool just creates generic Windows installation media, and it will not contain all the Dell-specific drivers and software your computer needs.  You may (or may not) be able to download some of that from Dell's support website, though.
   
   If you do have the option to create the recovery media yourself, I would suggest using a 32GB USB flash drive.  The last time I made recovery media for a computer I owned (a Lenovo ThinkPad laptop) the recovery media was just a little over 16GB in size, so I needed to use a 32GB USB flash drive in order for it to fit.
    
3. Probably.  I would not recommend it, though, as this can lead to problems with the boot loader for Windows 11 being on the same drive as Windows 10.  In other words, if you remove the first M.2 NVMe SSD from the computer containing Windows 10, Windows 11 no longer boots because its boot loader was on the first M.2 NVMe SSD and not on the second one.
   
   Instead, I would recommend removing the first 512GB M.2 NVMe SSD containing Windows 10, installing the blank 512GB M.2 NVMe SSD, and using your Windows 11 recovery media to perform a clean installation of Windows 11 to that drive.
    
4. Maybe.  I myself don't multi-boot operating systems because I have found that it causes more problems that it solves, but perhaps some of our forum members can make some suggestions on how to do it.  I believe Microsoft recommends 64GB of space as the minimum storage capacity for each operating system.  That said, I would expect each one to work but perform poorly with such a small amount of disk space.  I more realistic option might be 120-240GB of space per operating system.  This also depends upon how much applications and data you store on each operating system's partition.

 

One thing I would suggest it that you might want to get some books (or other reference material) on Windows 10 and Windows 11.  You are skipping over about thirteen years of operating system, hardware and software changes, and there are going to be a lot of things that are going to be new to you or behave differently than they did under the 2009-era Windows 7.  Make sure you have a good backup plan in place for your data, in case you find yourself needing to reinstall one of the operating systems.

 

Regards,

 

Aryeh Goretsky