win11

Windows 11

 

Windows 11 is now the current standard operating system for college-owned Windows computers at Wellesley College.  Microsoft released Windows 11 on October 5, 2021. Visit Microsoft’s website to learn more about the latest version of the Windows operating system.

LTS has actively tested College licensed software on Windows 11 and has found no incompatibilities.  If you try to print directly after installing a printer and get a printer status error message, try printing again and the second attempt will go through.  Sometimes the computer needs a little time to fully configure the printer on your computer.

Have a computer running Windows 10? It is time to upgrade to Windows 11.

Microsoft has announced that it will no longer provide security updates to any Windows 10 computers after October 14, 2025.  In preparation for Microsoft's end of support of Windows 10, we have been testing and are now ready to begin supporting a campus wide migration to Windows 11.

All classrooms and labs have already been updated.  All faculty and staff office computers will migrate to Windows 11 this year unless otherwise required for software compatibility. We will be contacting all Windows 10 users to schedule this. 

 

If you would like to get a head start on migrating your college-owned computer to Windows 11, you can do so by running the Windows 11 Windows update which will appear in your Windows Update list if your computer is compatible with Windows 11.  If you are unsure whether or not your computer is compatible with Windows 11, Microsoft provides a PC Health Check app to determine if your computer meets Windows 11 requirements.

 

Some important things to note before upgrading to Windows 11:

 

  • If you are running an earlier version of Windows 10 than v.2004, you will need to update to the latest version of Windows 10 via Windows Update before you can install Windows 11. You can check for your current version of Windows by following these instructions from Microsoft.

  • Windows 11 requires a TPM 2.0 chip, found in most laptop models released since 2018. It also requires a recent processor model. Microsoft has a comprehensive list of hardware requirements available on their website.

  • If you use highly specialized academic software or have installed unique personal software, please verify with the vendor that it will be compatible with Windows 11 before upgrading, or contact LTS for assistance with this.

  • Before any upgrade, as always, we strongly recommend that you perform a backup of all your data.

  • If you think your computer should meet the Windows 11 requirements, but the PC Health Check app says that your computer isn’t compatible, there is a chance one of the requirements is disabled in the BIOS. If you run into this issue, please reach out to the Helpdesk for assistance.

 

Please contact the LTS Computing Help Desk with any questions.