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Microsoft Starts Offering Windows 11 Upgrade to More PCs

'We will also provide status updates as we further increase availability over time,' the company says.

 & Michael Kan Principal Reporter

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More Windows 10 users should start seeing a notice that they can switch to Windows 11

On Wednesday, Microsoft began rolling out the Windows 11 upgrade to a new round of officially supported PCs. “The availability of Windows 11 has been increased and we are leveraging our latest generation machine learning model to offer the upgrade to an expanded set of eligible devices,” the company wrote in a support document. 

“We will continue to train our machine learning model throughout the phased rollout to deliver a smooth upgrade experience,” Microsoft adds. “We will also provide status updates as we further increase availability over time.”

We’ve reached out to Microsoft on which PCs will get the update, and we’ll update the story if we hear back. However, the Windows 11 rollout plan is scheduled to continue until mid-2022. So many users may still need to wait several months before they can receive the update. 

The company has released a PC Health Check app to let users know whether their system can officially support the new OS. Last week, Microsoft began force-installing the app on all Windows 10 users, although you can easily uninstall it. 

For eligible PCs, the free upgrade is arriving via the automatic Windows Update feature. "If you have an eligible device, open Windows Update Settings and select Check for updates. Once the upgrade is ready for your device, you will see the option to download and install," the company says. If you don’t like Windows 11, you can also roll back the installation, but only within a 10-day period. 

In the event Microsoft says your PC doesn’t meet the minimum system requirements for the new OS, you can probably still install Windows 11 on the PC, but you’ll have to do so manually. The company has quietly supplied instructions on a way to bypass some of the minimum system requirements for Windows 11. However, Microsoft warns the OS may cause malfunctions on an unsupported PC.

About Our Expert

Michael Kan

Michael Kan

Principal Reporter

My Experience

I've been a journalist for over 15 years. I got my start as a schools and cities reporter in Kansas City and joined PCMag in 2017, where I cover satellite internet services, cybersecurity, PC hardware, and more. I'm currently based in San Francisco, but previously spent over five years in China, covering the country's technology sector.

Since 2020, I've covered the launch and explosive growth of SpaceX's Starlink satellite internet service, writing 600+ stories on availability and feature launches, but also the regulatory battles over the expansion of satellite constellations, fights with rival providers like AST SpaceMobile and Amazon, and the effort to expand into satellite-based mobile service. I've combed through FCC filings for the latest news and driven to remote corners of California to test Starlink's cellular service.

I also cover cyber threats, from ransomware gangs to the emergence of AI-based malware. In 2024 and 2025, the FTC forced Avast to pay consumers $16.5 million for secretly harvesting and selling their personal information to third-party clients, as revealed in my joint investigation with Motherboard.

I also cover the PC graphics card market. Pandemic-era shortages led me to camp out in front of a Best Buy to get an RTX 3000. I'm now following how the AI-driven memory shortage is impacting the entire consumer electronics market. I'm always eager to learn more, so please jump in the comments with feedback and send me tips.

The Best Tech I've Had:

  • My first video game console: a Nintendo Famicom
  • I loved my Sega Saturn despite PlayStation's popularity.
  • The iPod Video I received as a gift in college
  • Xbox 360 FTW
  • The Galaxy Nexus was the first smartphone I was proud to own.
  • The PC desktop I built in 2013, which still works to this day.

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