Category Archives: Windows 11

Insider stuff, Recent Activity, WED Blog, Windows 11, Windows OS Musings

Windows 11 Device Driver Handling

June 30, 2021 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

Now that I’m getting past my first look, I’m starting to dig into the new OS. Right now, I’m thinking about device drivers. So far, Windows 11 device driver handling has been painless and on point. I have noticed a few items of interest, though, about which I’ll report here. First, though, I’ll take a detour to introduce and explain my investigation tool.

GitHub Project DriverStore Explorer

Aka RAPR.exe, DriverStore Explorer is free software from developer lostindark. It’s made available via GitHub. I’ve been using it for a decade or longer, and it does a great job of showing drivers in the Windows DriverStore and zooming in on duplicates and outdated elements therein. I’ve now run the tool against both of my Windows 11 test machines (X380 Yoga and X12 Detachable Tablet). In so doing, some interesting patterns have emerged.

Windows 11 Device Driver Handling Seen via RAPR

As I look over the in-store drivers via RAPR on Windows 11, one thing jumps out immediately. As shown in the lead-in graphic for this story, there are 5 duplicated of the same Bluetooth driver therein. They share a common filename — ibtusb.inf — plus common dates and driver versions — 22.50.0.4 and 4/19/2021, respectively. These appeared only after installing Windows 11, so I’m not speculating too wildly when I assert that something during the OS install process installed a bunch of duplicates.

Fortunately, the RAPR functions “Select Old Driver(s)” and “Delete Driver(s)” clean these duplicates out without problems. As you can see in the following “after” image, there are now only two entries left under the Bluetooth heading. Before, there were 10.

Now only two entries under Bluetooth versus 10 beforehand.
[Click image for full-sized view.]

In fact, the only duplicates/old drivers still handing around after cleanup are extensions for the Intel Iris Xe graphics (iigd_ext.inf). This kind of behavior is typical when a driver remains active during update. That’s why RAPR provides a Force Deletion checkbox (and why a follow-up reboot helps). Indeed the X12 graphics went wonky after forcibly removing the graphics drivers in use. A reboot set things right and now it is using the latest version, just as it should be.

Insider stuff, Recent Activity, Updates, WED Blog, Windows 11, Windows OS Musings

Windows 11 First Looks

June 29, 2021 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

Mid-afternoon yesterday, I caught the word that Windows 11 was out via Insider Preview Dev Channel. Right now, I’ve got two test PCs upgraded to the new OS. #1 is a Lenovo X380 Yoga; #2 is a Lenovo X12. Both machines meet all hardware requirements and gave me my Windows 11 first looks. I must say, unequivocally, so far I really, really like what I see — and feel.

The Two Target PCs, in More Detail

PC number 1 is a 2018 vintage Lenovo ThinkPad X380. It’s got an 8th generation i7-8650U CPU, 16 GB of soldered DDR4 2400 MHz RAM, a Toshiba 1TB PCIe x3 NVMeSSD, Intel AC-8625 Wi-Fi, and a reasonably capable 1920×1080 touchscreen, with fingerprint reader (no Hello-capable camera). I purchased this unit as a third-party refurb in late 2018 for around US$1200 (including all taxes and fees).

PC number 2 is a brand-new (2021) Lenovo ThinkPad X12 Detachable. It’s got an 11th Generation i7-1180G7 CPU, 16 GB of soldered DDR4 LPDDR4X 4267 MHz RAM, a Western Digital 1TB PCIe x4 NVMe SSD, an Intel AX201 Wi-Fi6 adapter, and a decent 1920×1280 touchscreen, with fingerprint reader and Hello IR camera. This is unit is on extended loan from Lenovo, to give me a chance to fly it using Windows 11 for some time.

Both machines worked quite well with Windows 10, where the X380 has been a Dev Channel Insider Preview test unit since day 1. Until yesterday, the X12 had been running production Windows 10. Both machines upgraded to Windows 11 with no difficulty. Each one took less than half an hour to make its way through that process.

What Do My Windows 11 First Looks Tell Me?

OK, it’s hard to get one’s head around a brand-new OS after a few hours in the saddle. That said, I’ve been messing around with Windows since the early 1990s, so I’ve got a good sense of how things should (or used to) work on these PCs. Here’s a list of adjectives I’d use to describe my experiences so far:

speedy: the OS feels perceptibly faster than Windows 10. Menus pop up more quickly, programs launch faster, and so forth. Even the venerable Disk Cleanup utility got through its post-upgrade scan and report noticeably faster than Windows 10. Windows.old cleanout seems about the same, however.
fluid: the transitions and animations are faster and more fluid than in Windows 10. Overall look and feel is much more consistent, though some hold-out from the old days still persist (e.g. Programs and Features in Control Panel).
familiar: though things have changed, and a few minor navigation details along with them, the OS still feels familiar enough that I’m not getting lost easily or often. I remember the sense of utter dislocation that Windows 8 brought to my desktop. Windows 11 does not have this problem.
snazzed-up UI: the round corners, fluid icons, taskbar, notifications and even widgets (successor to “News and Interests”) all harmonize better in look and feel. I do like the direction that Windows 11 is taking the UI, and have enjoyed fooling around so far.

Differences, Errors, Issues and MIAs

I’m sure my list will grow as I spend more time behind the wheel driving Windows 11 around. Here’s what I’ve noticed and seen so far, in no particular order:

- The Advanced Startup option is MIA in Windows 11 Recovery.
- An older version of CPU-Z threw a driver error (image below). Upgrading to the current version (1.96) does away with this problem.

This error message pops up on my Windows 11 desktop. The CPU-Z driver has issues for version 143.

- I had to figure out that the right-click options for cut, copy, rename and delete now appear as icons at the bottom of the pop-up menu. Minor confusion, easily overcome.
- Known issues include: taskbar does not appear across multiple monitors, preview window may show incomplete view, settings may fail to launch on a device with multiple accounts, Start menu text entry issues may present (WinKey+R is advised as a workaround), and more. See “Known Issues with Build 22000.51” in the Windows 11 Announcement blog post for more deets and particulars.

Overall, though, I’m impressed, pleased, and intensely motivated to keep exploring. Definitely worth checking out on a test machine or a throwaway VM. Cheers!

Recent Activity, WED Blog, Windows 10, Windows 11, Windows OS Musings

Three-Quarters of PCs Sold Can’t Run Windows 11

June 28, 2021 Ed Tittel 1 Comment

Figure the number of PC sales based on Gartner’s Q1 projections against 2020, and total PC sales for 2021 could top 363 million. Take that into account along with data shown in the lead-graphic from Statista. You’ll get an astonishing ratio: at least three-quarters of PCs sold can’t run Windows 11. To be absolutely clear, that means PCs sold between 2006 and 2021. Thus, I am assuming that PCs built in 2005 or earlier are unlikely to skew this estimate. And if they do, they will skew it away from Windows 11 anyway…

The breakdown is this: 3.62B billion PCs were sold between 2006 and 2017 (the last year CPUs too old to run Windows 11 were made). OTOH, 1.16B PCs were sold between 2018 through the end of 2021. To get that number, I’m generously allowing Gartner’s Q1’21 growth rate to persist all year. Do the resulting math, and just over 24 percent of PCs qualify for Windows 11, while nearly 76 percent of PCs don’t.

Hence: Three-Quarters of PCs Sold Can’t Run Windows 11

Microsoft currently claims 1.3 B active monthly users for Windows 10. I think that puts the size of the active global PC population lower than 4.8B units sold 2006-2021. I’m inclined to believe this means that the ratio could be more in Windows 11’s favor than my sales-based analysis indicates. Even so, it’s indisputable that three-quarters of PC’s sold since 2006 can’t run Windows 11. What’s in question is how many of the PCs sold from 2006 to 2014 or so remain in use.

I just gave my old Lenovo X220 Tablet (built in 2011 and purchased in 2012) away. That’s because it really didn’t run Windows 10 all that well any more (Insider Preview Dev Channel, that is). I cheerfully concede that for PCs in regular use, the ratio may be more like 50-50 when it comes to those that can, and can’t, run Windows 11. At my house, the actual ratio was 60-40 (can/can’t).

Still, that’s an evocative ratio. It indicates that many users must consider a hardware refresh plus an OS upgrade to get to Windows 11. I believe it applies across the board, too. And by that I mean among households and consumers, plus businesses and organizations at all scales.

This phenomenon should make watching PCs sales over the next year or two very interesting indeed. Microsoft will be watching, the OEMs will be watching, and I’ll be watching too. Stay tuned!

Insider stuff, Recent Activity, WED Blog, Windows 11, Windows OS Musings

Windows 11 Health Check Details

June 25, 2021 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

Now that MS has done the big reveal, I can affirm the rumors — and the existence — of Windows 11. So without further ado, I downloaded the new PC Health Check tool (find a link in the final paragraph of this story). It comes in .MSI (Microsoft Installer) format and installs quickly and easily on most PCs. Digging into the Windows 11 Health Check details, though, I fell victim to at least two rude surprises. Maybe more: read my story, then you tell me…

First surprise: my 6-year-old production PC won’t run Windows 11.

Good/Bad News from Windows 11 Health Check Details

In his story about this tool, WinAero.com principal Sergey Tkachenko lists the Windows 11 hardware requirements as follows (quoted verbatim):

A 64-bit dual-core 1Ghz CPU or better.
4GB of RAM or better.
64GB of storage or better.
A 9-inch display with a minimum 1366×768 resolution.
A motherboard with UEFI, Secure Boot, and Trusted Platform Module 2.0.
A discrete or integrated GPU with DirectX 12 support and WWDM 2.X.

Actually there’s a bit more to it than that. Interested parties are advised to check these official MS items: Find Windows 11 specs, features and computer requirements and Windows Processor Requirements. They led me to some interesting but depressing realizations, including:

1. Windows 11 PCs must include TPM 2.0 support, along with UEFI and Secure Boot
2. Windows 11 PCs won’t run on 7th generation Intel processors or older: 8th generation is “as low as they go.” On the AMD side, processors number 29xx or higher are compatible with 11. I still have 4 systems with older CPUs here at Chez Tittel.

My production PC, which I’d been planning to refresh, is ineligible because it runs an i7-6700 CPU and has no TPM chip. My son’s desktop is in the exact same boat. Then there’s the Surface Pro 3, which runs a 4th Gen Intel CPU (i74650U). And of course, I’m waiting to give away the Ivy Bridge (2nd Gen Intel i7-2650M) to Reglue.org as soon as they can send somebody by to pick it up.

Change Is Coming, Sooner Not Later

Looks like I need to refresh two desktops before the holidays (when Window 11 is scheduled to go public). I’m guessing October, to give shoppers time to buy Windows 11 equipped PCs before Xmas. Looks like I will also give the Surface Pro 3 (with dock, alternate keyboard, and other accessories) to ReGlue, too. Time to revisit my bill of materials for those builds, and get the orders flying! I’d hoped to wait until GPU prices came down, but will just re-use the GeForce 1070 Ti cards in those two desktops in the meantime.

Note added June 26 (1 day later)

In response to feedback from users that PC Health Check’s info was insufficiently detailed, the company has already released a new version. It’s much more informative. Thus for example, it now spells out what I had to visit several tables to figure out on my own — namely, that the 6th gen i7 in my production PC is not supported:

Now, the tool spells out specific causes for incompatibility.

Thus, interested readers should be sure to grab the latest version of the tool, available at https://aka.ms/GetPCHealthCheckApp. I’ve turned off the out-of-date link at the head of the story to help readers avoid confusion. Kudos to MS for responding to useful user input so quickly and effectively!