Windows 11 Auto Update warning

[KingMarti]

Word of warning for anyone that has a windows update due on a system that can run windows 11... the update might force the upgrade to windows 11.

I had to update yesterday to fix some driver issues, went off and got on with stuff while it was updating came back to an install of windows 11... now I cant find shit on my pc because they re-did the layouts of everything again (I had the panel on the start menu pinned with the applications I use everyday, so I have no idea how they are actually listed in the all programs menu and seeing the tile was normally the cue for "oh I should do this thing") .

I already upgraded to windows 11 once and went back down to 10 because 11 was such a cluster fuck. I didnt see any option for not installing windows 11 (there was a banner at the top of the update page which I didnt click that said "install windows 11 now"). Dont know if I should waste a day re-installing windows 10 again and setting it back up or just deal with windows 11 while I work out if theres anything I need that is windows only, if I waste a day installing windows 10 I feel like I am just going to end up being forced onto 11 again.

If anyone does end up being on the forced upgrade and likes their tool bar to work like a normal tool bar (being able to right click it, move it etc) StartAllBlack is the best solution I have found for adding that basic functionality back.

 

[rockin_rod]

Thank you for the warning! I was hoping they didn't make Win11 an auto update to Win10 (where the system meets that OS's requirements)........ one of the aspects of moving from Win7 to Win10 that I disliked was that you could only pause updates for max 30 days and then had to let it update, whereas previous versions you could choose to be in control of what the system updated.

 

[KingMarti]

Thank you for the warning! I was hoping they didn't make Win11 an auto update to Win10 (where the system meets that OS's requirements)........ one of the aspects of moving from Win7 to Win10 that I disliked was that you could only pause updates for max 30 days and then had to let it update, whereas previous versions you could choose to be in control of what the system updated.

I miss the days when microsoft charged for OS upgrades

I cant stand the new UI, I have had to spend so much time trying to get things working the way I like them (like having my tool bar at the top of the screen, I have had it that way for so long it feels wrong when it's at the bottom) that it would have been quicker to reinstall windows 10 (and it's still not 100% how I like it...like for some stupid reason file explorer now only shows 2/5 hard drives in my system on the left panel, to get to the others I have to go to this pc and the drives wont pin there... and ofc the ones that dont show up are the ones I use most often instead it's like you can have C and your archive drive )
My task bar is full of shit I cant get rid of like a tile for news, and microsoft chat... I never use these why cant I just right click them and remove so more time needs to be wasted on google and digging through settings to find out how to get rid of them.

If I had a spare system I would see how everything I need is running under linux or see if I can get OSX running stably, but right now I cant afford that kind of downtime to set up a new system and play about trying to get everything working on it, hopefully windows 12 will fix everything they messed up in 11 and will be out soon

ETA:
It didnt take long to remove them. The StartAllBlack tool bar added the option if you right click empty space on the tool bar, you just cant do it right clicking the icons.

 

[Finchomatic]

Is the downgrade option still available to you? (less than 10 days since the 'upgrade')

You can only downgrade to Windows 10 within 10 days of upgrading to Win 11.
If the upgrade to Windows 11 was performed more than 10 days ago, the only option is a complete reinstall of the OS from a Media Creation Device (USB).

To see if you are eligible for a downgrade:

1. Open Settings app on your Windows 11, go to System > Recovery. Under Recovery options, click Go back.
2. Select a reason for downgrading.
3. Make sure you remember your password and proceed through the prompts.
If the option is not present, it means you have to proceed with a complete reinstall from a Media Creation Device:

Redirecting

answers.microsoft.com

 

[KingMarti]

Is the downgrade option still available to you? (less than 10 days since the 'upgrade')

You can only downgrade to Windows 10 within 10 days of upgrading to Win 11.
If the upgrade to Windows 11 was performed more than 10 days ago, the only option is a complete reinstall of the OS from a Media Creation Device (USB).

To see if you are eligible for a downgrade:

1. Open Settings app on your Windows 11, go to System > Recovery. Under Recovery options, click Go back.
2. Select a reason for downgrading.
3. Make sure you remember your password and proceed through the prompts.
If the option is not present, it means you have to proceed with a complete reinstall from a Media Creation Device:

Redirecting

answers.microsoft.com

Yep the options there (I didnt know that was a thing so thanks). I have a feeling it's a loosing fight though if they are forcing windows 11 upgrades. Like you roll back to windows 10, and I have a feeling in a month or so they will just re-upgrade you.

It is nice to know that I dont have to do a complete clean install to get back down to windows 10 though, if it annoys me enough then maybe I will do that, now its more the inconvenience of going to do something and not being able to find what I am looking for, but if some of the software I use dosnt work or is unstable, then I'll downgrade and deal with properly having to downgrade again in the future, I'll use most of my main software packages tonight / tomorrow so I should know before the 10 days are up if something isnt working.

 

[Vixxen81]

Yep the options there (I didnt know that was a thing so thanks). I have a feeling it's a loosing fight though if they are forcing windows 11 upgrades. Like you roll back to windows 10, and I have a feeling in a month or so they will just re-upgrade you.

It is nice to know that I dont have to do a complete clean install to get back down to windows 10 though, if it annoys me enough then maybe I will do that, now its more the inconvenience of going to do something and not being able to find what I am looking for, but if some of the software I use dosnt work or is unstable, then I'll downgrade and deal with properly having to downgrade again in the future, I'll use most of my main software packages tonight / tomorrow so I should know before the 10 days are up if something isnt working.

You can probably still send bug reports and it'll affect 12. What's the alternative? Linux?

 

[Finchomatic]

@KingMarti

I'm running a Ryzen 2700x in my ITX system. There is no Win11 upgrade for me unless I install it from fresh.


My laptop on the other hand I had to revert once. Have not been forced to Win11 again.

This may be of use to you to stop Win10 from updating to Win11

Keep Windows 10 from Updating to Windows 11 (5 Ways)

This article introduces you 5 ways to keep Windows 10 from updating to Windows 11 and preserve the back way to restore in case of an accidental update to Windows 11.

www.ubackup.com

 

[rockin_rod]

This may be of use to you to stop Win10 from updating to Win11

Keep Windows 10 from Updating to Windows 11 (5 Ways)

This article introduces you 5 ways to keep Windows 10 from updating to Windows 11 and preserve the back way to restore in case of an accidental update to Windows 11.

www.ubackup.com

That's a great article, thanks for sharing here!

 

[KingMarti]

You can probably still send bug reports and it'll affect 12. What's the alternative? Linux?

Yep, linux or a patched up version of OSX. I have done osx on intel bassed machines before and had good results but my pc is on amd and since mac's are intel bassed it's not as straight forward and if you do get it working it's not as stable. I like linux, before I needed photoshop it was my primary os for years, but theres now a fair amount of software that I need that is windows / osx only now. I could proberly get some of it running under linux but that means spending time tinkering and right now I just want to be able to get on with shit.

 

[KylieJacobs]

I have been using windows 11 for the last 9 months since my new computer came with it. It took some getting used to, but now I don't think that I could go back to windows 10.

I stopped some of the startup programs that I didn't want automatically running.

I hated the task bar and start menu at first, but I was able to find options to put the start menu back to the left side, and make it so that my task menu would automatically disappear until I roll over the bottom area.

If anyone has questions, I can try to help.