Windows 11 Launching October 5

Windows 11
(Image credit: Microsoft)

Microsoft will release Windows 11 on October 5, it announced in a blog post today. The new operating system will be a free upgrade to eligible Windows 10 PCs and come on a series of new PCs that will be sold with it preinstalled.

October 5 is just the beginning of the rollout, however. On October 5, new devices will be the first to be given the chance to upgrade. It will then continue to current devices  "based on intelligence models that consider hardware eligibility, reliability metrics, age of device and other factors that impact the upgrade experience," wrote Aaron Woodman, general manager of Windows marketing. That rollout should give all devices that can upgrade to Windows 11 the option to upgrade by mid-2022.

Those with PCs running Windows can will be able to check when it is eligible for an upgrade by going through Windows Update.

One feature from the original announcement won't make it to the Windows 11 launch: Android apps.

"We look forward to continuing our journey to bring Android apps to Windows 11 and the Microsoft Store through our collaboration with Amazon and Intel; this will start with a preview for Windows Insiders over the coming months," Woodman wrote.

Last week, Microsoft expanded its list of compatible hardware slightly, adding select 7th Gen Intel processors to its list of approved processors. Those with approved processors that otherwise meet the system requirements (1GHz, dual-core CPU; 4GB RAM, 64GB storage, DirectX 12 graphics; TPM 1.2) will be able to install Windows 11 with an ISO, though Microsoft may not provide access to updates.

Microsoft is reiterating that for those who have a PC that can't run Windows 11, support for Windows 10 will run through October 14, 2025. It's getting a new feature update, 21H2, later this year with WP3 standards for Wi-Fi security and GPU compute support in the Windows subsystem for Linux, among other features.

While a slew of new PCs are likely to release to coincide with Windows 11's release, Microsoft made sure in its announcement to point out that many existing  Windows 10 devices on the market are all likely to get updates, including its own Surface laptops and options from other companies like Dell, Asus and Lenovo.

Andrew E. Freedman

Andrew E. Freedman is a senior editor at Tom's Hardware focusing on laptops, desktops and gaming. He also keeps up with the latest news. A lover of all things gaming and tech, his previous work has shown up in Tom's Guide, Laptop Mag, Kotaku, PCMag and Complex, among others. Follow him on Threads @FreedmanAE and Mastodon @FreedmanAE.mastodon.social.

  • MichaelNowik
    I feel that Fedora Linux is a safer software developing group to affiliate with than Microsoft for people similar to me.
    Reply
  • Todd Sauve
    Has anyone heard if all the Windows 10 software, like MS Office 2003, will continue to work with Windows 11?
    Reply
  • Loadedaxe
    MichaelNowik said:
    I feel that Fedora Linux is a safer software developing group to affiliate with than Microsoft for people similar to me.

    Heres your Linux Award.

    Reply
  • Colif
    Todd Sauve said:
    Has anyone heard if all the Windows 10 software, like MS Office 2003, will continue to work with Windows 11?
    MS Office 2003 had issues working with 10 as is so its hard to say about specific software, I have only run into 1 program that doesn't fully work in Windows 11, and its from Microsoft so I assume it will be fixed. Everything else works as if I am on a slightly modified version of win 10...
    Reply
  • Todd Sauve
    Colif said:
    MS Office 2003 had issues working with 10 as is so its hard to say about specific software, I have only run into 1 program that doesn't fully work in Windows 11, and its from Microsoft so I assume it will be fixed. Everything else works as if I am on a slightly modified version of win 10...
    I have not had one issue using Office 2003 with Win 10. But I only really use Word 2003. What problems have you had?
    Reply
  • Colif
    Todd Sauve said:
    I have not had one issue using Office 2003 with Win 10. But I only really use Word 2003. What problems have you had?
    I was going from reports I could find online, I don't have it myself (or if I did, I am not using it anymore as I have office 365)
    Reply
  • Todd Sauve
    Colif said:
    I was going from reports I could find online, I don't have it myself (or if I did, I am not using it anymore as I have office 365)
    Yes, there are so many different configurations of PCs that it is likely someone somewhere has had problems with it. But for anyone who reads this and has a copy of Office 2003, it has worked perfectly for me with Win 10.
    Reply