Windoze 11

[dilwyn]

After months of being told my PC wasn't able to upgrade to Windows 11, I'm suddenly the (almost) proud owner of a Windows 11 PC!

It seems that it was the graphics card which was preventing the upgrade in the end. My son found out there were two models of the card, one of which was capable of having its software updated to be able to work with Windows 11, the mk1 one I had couldn't have its software updated. It's a GeForce GT-710.

So having installed the suitable version, and enabled TPM etc in the BIOS, it suddenly decided my PC was suitable to upgrade, which worked first time. And this version of the card has more memory, so it can support 3 monitors and four if I use a driver like Spacedesk to add a fourth via Wifi or USB (I can use my Android tablet as a fourth small screen).

So it seems it's not quite as clear cut as a Windows 10 PC can or can't upgrade to Windows 11. Some, like mine, initially give the impression they can't but with a bit of thought, research and patience, they can in the end. Might prevent a few PCs ending up in landfill this year I suppose.

Most importantly, my QPC2 setup worked first time on the upgraded system. So I am very happy tonight.

[NormanDunbar]

Morning Dilwyn.

I saw an article recently, online, that Microsoft suddenly decided that a lot of computers previously "unable" to run Windows, suddenly became magically able almost overnight!

Don't forget to disable all the spyware.

Have fun.

Cheers,
Norm.

[dilwyn]

Thanks Norman.

Can I ask what you meant by "disable all the skyward"?

I was aware of Micro$oft loosening the upgrade conditions a little. But it simply refused to allow us to alter the necessary settings to upgrade with the original card.

As soon as we put the new one in we were suddenly able to change the necessary settings in the BIOS. The final stage was switching the SSD between MBR and GPT (hope I've got the second term right) which was done with Microsoft's online tool to do the job and suddenly we were there.

All along, I'd been missing the fact that the Win upgrade system had been deciding that there was an issue with the original graphics card, but it wasn't explaining that aspect very clearly, it wasn't obvious that the issue with the graphics card was the vital step preventing the upgrade.

My son happened to stumble across someone else online having the same issue with that graphics card and sent me a link, hoping it might help me. So glad he did - it's saved this PC from retirement later this year when Win10 support ends.

So far, all the software seems to work as before. I'm especially pleased of course that QPC2 seems to work seamlessly. Will need to try the other emulators during the week.

[RalfR]

It was similar for me. All existing PCs only had the graphics card problem when upgrading to Windows 11. Actually, that's total nonsense.

However, there are some videos on YouTube that show how you can install Windows 11 anyway. I haven't tried it yet, though.

[XorA]

I assume old card could not do DX11?

I think that's the minimum requirement now, which is actually quite sensible if you understand the GFX stack.

[dilwyn]

It was similar for me. All existing PCs only had the graphics card problem when upgrading to Windows 11. Actually, that's total nonsense.

However, there are some videos on YouTube that show how you can install Windows 11 anyway. I haven't tried it yet, though.

Some of those methods have been known to initially succeed, but then M$ change things and the upgrade stops working.

[dilwyn]

I assume old card could not do DX11?

I think that's the minimum requirement now, which is actually quite sensible if you understand the GFX stack.

We suspected it might be that, but weren't too sure. All the info we had from the Reddit thread was that the mk 1 card couldn't do it, but the mk 2 one could, without really explaining why. And so it proved. After replacing the card, suddenly the needed BIOS settings all became available.

The real issue was that Windows didn't explain the situation very well, so before this we were looking in the wrong place.

Audio didn't work at first, then realised the troubleshooters have been deprecated, realised they're now called "Get Help". Said it couldn't fix the audio issue, but in the process it had updated the drivers and it began to work OK.

Next to address the drivers for my old Epson and Brother printers to see if I can get those to work.

[XorA]

After replacing the card, suddenly the needed BIOS settings all became available.

That's the really weird bit and not anything to do with windows. I cannot think of why a GFX card would lock out any common bios settings. (As someone who writes bios code).

[dilwyn]

After replacing the card, suddenly the needed BIOS settings all became available.

That's the really weird bit and not anything to do with windows. I cannot think of why a GFX card would lock out any common bios settings. (As someone who writes bios code).

I don't have your level of knowledge of the inner workings, it's possible that there were more than one inter-dependent issues going on in parallel which coincidentally came together in both Windows and BIOS after changing the graphics card, giving me the wrong impression.

Whatever the truth, the messages the PC was giving us before the change of graphics card were extremely unhelpful and giving the wrong impression of the issue before the eventual solution.

Anyway, all working OK now, just fixing smaller and smaller issues as I find them.

[XorA]

Oh I think after a quick Google I know what the issue is. Apparently not all versions of that GFX card have a secure boot compliant firmware.