Upgrading 'incompatible' Windows 10 PC to Windows 11 - anyone done it?

[Trell]

The EOL of Windows 10 is October 25 so updates until then, but after that none, though it's uncertain if that includes virus definition updates to Defender as well.

I've built a new PC for my wife and could use one of the Windows 10 Pro retail licenses I have that was used on a PC that dies a couple of years ago. The license activation and so forth works just fine so far, but it was before registered as a digital license on the old PC.

In a few weeks I can deactivate my wife's Windows license and proceed with a new PC build for me.

So I've two PC's that worked for over 12 years before replacement and one that borked after 10. A good run, I'd say.

 

[trochetier]

I had a near trumatic experience last few days. My attempt to upgrade my (one and only machine) MS Surface pro 3 with its tiny 128GB SSD to Win 11 pro was a near disaster. I could only do a clean install but then I could not reload my files they kept getting truncated. In frustration I deleted the windows.old folder to make space. Still no joy!. Finally managed to restore the computer back to the very last backup before the upgrade attempt with a Repair DVD I had made in 2019 and nearly forgot about. PHEW!

BTW only the chip is incompatible in my machine for Win 11.

Looks like Win 11 Pro is bloated with stuff most that I don't care about. So I am considering upgrading to the lean Win 11 LTSC IoT as Jim suggested. Then get a license at the end of the trial period.

 

[trochetier]

A question for Jim or any other expert -

If I install Win 11 IoT LTSC (or any version) on a portable USB drive using RUFUS keeping my win 10 settings and files can I later move/clone it to my internal hard drive with a disk cloning app like Easus or Diskgenius? IOW reverse this video -

After my near traumatic experience described in the previous post I think it may be a safer approach, if possible.