More than half of PCs can’t upgrade to Windows 11 – report

Data released today by IT asset management platform provider Lansweeper indicates that upgrades to Windows 11 have nearly tripled in the past three months, but overall adoption rates remain very small.

A survey of more than 10 million Microsoft devices using Lansweeper’s PC management software found that 1.44% were currently running Windows 11, up from 0.52% of PCs running the operating system in January.

“General acceptance is still slow, almost six months since Windows 11 was first released to the public, as previous research by Lansweeper revealed that 55% of devices scanned were not available,” Lansweeper said. upgradeability to Windows 11”.

While the majority of Microsoft devices scanned by Lansweeper’s software pass the RAM test (91%), only about half of the workstation TPMs (Trusted Platform Modules) tested respond requests – 19% failed and 28% TPM incompatible or none. it was activated, Lansweeper’s tracking showed.

“For virtual workstations, the forecast is less optimistic,” Lansweeper said. “While CPU compatibility is a bit higher at 44.9%, our research shows that only 66.4% have enough RAM. As for TPM, the news is terrible, only 0. 23% of all virtual workstations have TPM 2.0 enabled. This is not a complete surprise TPM has never been required for Windows, and although pass-through TPM (vTPM) exists to provide it. single-TPM virtual machines, it’s rarely used. … Most VM workstations will need to be modified to get vTPM before they can be upgraded to Windows 11.

“TPM on physical servers only passed the test 1.49% of the time, which means about 98% of the time it won’t be upgradeable if Microsoft creates a server OS with similar requirements in the future.” For virtual servers, again almost no TPM is enabled at the host machine.”

Lansweeper’s data contrasts sharply with that of computer monitoring software provider AdDuplex, whose latest data shows an acceptance rate of 19.4%. However, research by AdDuplex shows that Windows 11 growth has stalled in the last month; it only increased 0.1% market share compared to other versions of Windows.

Alan Mendelevich, CEO of AdDuplex, said the disparity in adoption rates can be attributed mainly to the fact that Lansweeper’s data comes from business users’ PCs while AdDuplex’s mostly comes from systems. consumption system.

“I agree that’s not super accurate and I’m not a market analyst, but less than 1.5% … sounds unrealistic even if you just take the PCs,” Mendelevich said. running Windows 11 was just released,” Mendelevich said. “Normally, all the eligible PCs I’ve seen have had a chance to upgrade. So even if less than half of the PCs are eligible for the upgrade, it offers a decent install base. close to our numbers.”

Jack Gold, principal analyst at J. Gold Associates, said AdDuplex’s Windows 11 adoption numbers are too high and Lansweeper’s claim that 55% of machines can’t run Windows 11 is too low.

“I strongly doubt that Windows 11 is running on 19 percent of all machines in use today, as Windows 10 only runs on about 75 percent or more, depending on which number you believe. . “That means at 19%, about 25% of Windows 10 computers can be updated to Win11. I find it hard to believe that 25% of all Win10 machines on the market are even compatible with Win11. Win11, as many PCs in use are three. -ages 5 and up (maybe at least 40%).”

When evaluating data from both AdDuplex and Lansweeper, it’s important to understand how the companies come up with their respective numbers, whether through a web browser interacting with certain websites (a group of elective) or through a user who voluntarily runs said Gold.

“Without knowing exactly how they got their numbers, it’s hard to judge their accuracy,” he said. “But I would definitely lean towards a lower number over a higher number.”

Most likely any machine more than a few years old will be incompatible with (and therefore not upgradeable to) Windows 11. And PCs might even find it difficult to comply if they are older, lower-end machines, Gold said.

Lansweeper

In December, AdDuplex data showed that Windows 11 uptake was close to 9%; that figure is, again, in stark contrast to the figures published by Lansweeper; at that time it showed new platform with less than 1% adoption rate.

Microsoft has pushed users to upgrade to Windows 11, but the vast majority still choose to use Windows 10.

Roel Decneut, chief strategy officer at Lansweeper, said that unlike previous versions of Windows, Windows 11 is simply a tweaked version of Windows 10 and the core differences between the two are minimal. . “This is likely the main reason why businesses are more resistant to upgrading to a new and almost unproven version than keeping what they know with Windows 10,” Decneut said.

Steve Kleynhans, vice president of research at Gartner, agrees that commercial customers aren’t really learning about the new operating system. And they won’t do so until 2023.

However, Kleynhans said it’s “a bit early” to draw any conclusions about the success of Windows 11. He said in an earlier interview: “Technically, the system update though. operating for six months, but a very large percentage of machines were not offered updates until just a few months ago. “Present [install rate] may just be normal market movements in the early stages of any new OS release and not a sign of any real problems. “

AdDuplex

Lansweeper’s updated survey results show that the number of machines running “end of life” operating systems (i.e. platforms no longer supported by Microsoft) has dropped to 6.6%, compared with 9.75% in January. A significant portion of these systems are running Windows XP and Windows 7 – software that Microsoft stopped supporting in 2014 and 2020, respectively.

“While the adoption rate is increasing little by little, it is clear that the Windows 11 upgrade is not happening as quickly as Microsoft had hoped, especially in a business environment. Many organizations no longer have to buy new machines to meet these requirements [hardware] Decneut said.

Given the slightest difference between Windows 10 and 11, Windows 10’s slow uptake is likely to continue unless businesses GET a compelling reason to upgrade, Decnuet explained.

“For those looking to adopt Windows 11, the first step is to evaluate their existing device for upgradeability,” he said. “That’s why IT asset management is so important for organizations, having the ability to run in-depth device tests can tell the IT team the hardware specs of a machine so they can balance it. Consider how many devices are upgradeable and the potential cost of those devices a move.”