Tag: UEFI

Is it worth upgrading to Windows 11?

Paul

Windows 11

Windows 11 is now Available

Microsoft releases Windows 11 last week and people all around have had their opinions from it’s good to not so much like I have said.   It just isn’t worth it right now to upgrade.   You have to worry about encryption of the HDD to having a TPM installed on your system.   All these requirements doesn’t mean it is any safer than before.   I know that Microsoft is preaching how this will help increase security in their OS.   I personally think it is just a lot of hot air, any security that they might think will help, will eventually have some hacker or virus get around.   It is a good idea for the short term but maybe no in the long term.    We’ve seen blogs talk about how it isn’t worth it and others where Microsoft talked about all these things that will come along but have yet not even seen anything on Windows 11.

Upgrade Woes

Even if you wanted to upgrade, you still have to go through a lot of system preparation for you to even upgrade to Windows 11.   You’ll need to enable TPM if you have it and also you will then need to make sure you have UEFI enabled.   This also makes you to turn your hard drive partition from MBR into a GPT to be able to use Windows 11.   This a lot of system just to use Windows 11.   I am hopeful that Microsoft will release a good tool to help you with this issue because I am sure most systems don’t even have GPT being used in Windows 10.   Microsoft has said in the past that you can avoid some of this if you install Windows 11 on a new system because you don’t have to encrypt your hard drive or use TPM.   So downloading Windows 11 might work for some of you but I am little hesitant due to Microsoft saying that may not support them in the future but I don’t see this being the issue because of the security risks involve.

Should you upgrade

This has been the question for most people around the world.   I’ve seen people wonder if they should upgrade.   I say probably not right now, due it being so new.   There are still problems and nothing is that compelling to install Windows 11 unless Microsoft brings on something so compelling that you will want Windows 11.   If they supported DDR5 and helped make the system faster, I am sure it would be something that might compel people to upgrade to Windows 11.   I am sticking with Windows 10 ]until I have to consider upgrading or installing a Linux Distro.   I am going to say just wait and see what happens in the near future.   Only you can really know for sure if you should upgrade.   Are you going to upgrade or are you going to wait?  Why Not leave a comment and tell me what your thoughts are about Windows 11.

My Initial thoughts on Windows 11!

Paul
Windows 11 — Just is!

It’s like pulling teeth!

I finally installed Windows 11 Windows Preview build into my system. Later last week I was wondering what they had done with Windows 11 and requirements. So I thought it would be a great idea to try to install Windows 11 with my current system that I built last year. Thanks to building this system just last year and thinking ahead, I got everything I could to prepare for the future needs. I even made sure it had TPM 2.0 just in case, I thought I’d not need this. I guess I was completely and most definitely wrong. I will say after talking about how to update Windows 10 to GPT and Secure Boot, that part went rather smoothly. I did find that if you have a Linux partition and a Windows partition then the converter will not be able to work. I had to erase the Linux Mint Distro partition to be able to convert it to GPT. I however divided the size to possibly install Linux mint along side Windows 11. I am curious to see just how well that will happen. That’s my next step in the next few days.

I didn’t like the setup

After converting the partitions and joining the Windows insiders program, I was able after a few attempts and fixing the CMOS.  It seems strange that I had to keep going into CMOS to enable even more things than I initially thought.   I had to enable secure boot, UEFI, and PTT (For those on Gigabyte Motherboards).   It wasn’t easy to say the least, I’d update one and the other and find out I had to enable more in the bios so Microsoft would see I met the requirements to download and install Windows 11.

Privacy is a Real concern!

I know on my Windows 10 system, I didn’t have my account linked to Microsoft but when I installed Windows 11.  It automatically linked my account to Microsoft.  I’d think if I am upgrading to Windows 11and it sees that it was a local account it would not link it to the Microsoft account.  The Bad news was I had to delete that account and remove all the data so Microsoft wouldn’t be watching me.  I had to re-install all my apps and loose some of my personally files but it was worth it to keep the information safe.  I wish I could of had an easy way to go back to my local account without having to jump through so many hoops.

It’s Just isn’t that good!

So far, after only using this for so many hours.  I can’t see any major differences that I will like.  The Start button will be an issue because I just don’t like it in the middle.   Also finding what I might need in the Settings is a little bit more interesting and difficult for me because they looked like they buried some of that.  I have also noticed the Windows 11 hack to revert my Windows start menu doesn’t work.  I’m going to try the Windows 11 preview builds some more but I am not that impressed with them and I might just go Windows 10 when Windows 11 finally get’s released unless they allow the users to use windows there own way, like No TPM, Or Secure boot.  I hope Linux will hurry up and make it easier for people to install Linux along side Windows 11.  I am almost sure there is a way just haven’t had time to explore the possibility.

Boot Times

After install Windows 11 and using my NVME drive, I have found the boot times to be a bit longer.  That was to expected because of the encryptions that is being used to quote “Secure” windows from any virus tampering.   I can’t see this being an extreme issue but I don’t  like the fact that it takes several more seconds on my NVME to boot up Windows when it would just boot almost instantly with my NVME.   They better fix that problem also because I don’t care about their so call security if I am sitting there waiting for the system boot.   All in All the Windows 11 experience isn’t as much a good thing as a bad thing.   I already know Virus writers are creating viruses to get around the so called security and I have done some research on the topic.  I can’t wait to say to Microsoft “I told you so“.

What’s your thoughts on Windows 11?  Have you tried it?  Will you install it even with the TPM and Secure boot requirements?  I’d like to hear your thoughts on the issue.  Why not leave a comment and tell me what you think about Windows 11.

 

How to Convert your Windows 10 from MBR to GPT

Paul

Securing Windows 10

It’s complicated is what I’ve heard from people all around the world. The idea that We have to figure how to turn our Windows 10 into a secure boot, can seem difficult at best. Just like Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) isn’t always labeled right in the bios and that can be hard to find.   It seems that all the motherboard manufacturers wanted to make it extremely difficult for anyone who might want to enable or disable UEFI to be able to do it.   Then add on to the fact that the Motherboard manufacturers also made it hard to figure out how to turn on TPM in the bios also.   Can seem quite maddening to most because each manufacturer didn’t just call it TPM or UEFI.   Some of them Call it PTT (The intel Platform Trusted Technology) or even the AMD which is called fTPM(Firmware Trusted Platform Module).   Although the AMD version is a whole lot easier to understand since it does say TPM.  Intel on the other hand can be hard to find or even know what PTT stands for unless you google it.

Checking your system

The first step you should always do is make sure you can do this in the first place.   If you haven’t read my other post about this, I’d go over there and check to make sure you can do this in the first place.   As of currently Microsoft has stated that the requirements are the same for the previous few weeks.   So I don’t know if they will change when the final release comes out but it could very well change.

Have backups

Before I talk about the upgrading or updating your boot system to allow you to boot into Windows 10 Secure boot.  I’ll make this statement, please consider backing up all your important files that you might want to keep to a USB Flash Drive or even portable HDD or a HD that you can unplug from the bios to keep your important files safe while the upgrading of Windows 10 is being done.    What you do after this is on yourself and no one else.

can you upgrade to secure boot?

If you have checked the previous post and turned on what you can besides secure boot, but you know you have it.  You’re pretty much set to upgrade Windows 10 from Master Boot Record (MBR) to GPT(GUID Partition Table).  The process for converting your Master Boot record is relatively simple but will require you to boot into a Windows 10 on a USB!  Once you have done that you will then want to get to the command prompt the easiest way is to hit Windows+S and type in cmd then right click run as administrator.  Now you’re at the command problem.  Now is where the fun starts.

Type in :  mbr2gpt.exe  /allowFullOS /convert

Let it do it’s conversion and once done you’ll need to reboot but before you try to log into Windows again, you’ll need to go into the bios and enable secure boot.   Depending on how much Windows 10 needs to go through a new startup process will depend on the way GPT was converted.  It may take a few minutes even on the fastest system for Windows 10 to fully boot or it could be just as quick as before.   Once Windows 10 is booted, I suggest verify all your files are there and that everything is working correctly.   You might need to update software but that shouldn’t be to much a problem.   After That if you are on the Windows Insider Program than go check for updates and Windows 11 should be able to install.  If it still says you can’t upgrade I’d go back and check Whynotwin11 and Find out if you haven’t enabled TPM or what version of the TPM it is.   Other than that you should be set to go.

Enjoy Windows 11 Preview builds.