Windows 11 compatibility

[Roger Jeynes]

On 10/25/2021 at 10:46 PM, Noel Borthwick said:

You must be the first person I've heard of who got the notification, congratulations
Its not even being offered for Surface books which is bizarre. I'd have thought those would be validated first and pushed through. I'm not in a rush just curious if anyone else had it officially pushed or there was something broken with Windows update! 

Hi Noel

Got notification for a Surface Pro 7 a week ago.

On a 2nd (fairly new) desktop system it failed the suitability check because of TPM. Discovered that Gigabyte motherboards seem to have TPM disabled by default. It's easy to turn it one in the BIOS - lots of instructions out there. 

[John Ritter]

On 10/25/2021 at 11:23 AM, Noel Borthwick said:

Was anyone offered the Win 11 update through Windows update? None of my PC's are being offered it even though they are marked as compatible.

Just came up last night on my laptop.  Haven't pulled the trigger.

HP Envy laptop with Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-10510U CPU @ 1.80GHz   2.30 GHz, 32GB RAM

[John Nelson]

On 10/28/2021 at 3:33 AM, Roger_L said:

I may be being stupid, but why this rush to install Windows 11? 

I have multiple PCs. Will upgrade on the one which I don't use for audio engineering and run through its paces on that one. Just use that machine for emails and such so not much risk.

[John Nelson]

Update... installed Win 11 Pro on my non-DAW machine (i5-9400 2.90 GHz) and everything runs pretty snappy.  I ran latencymon and it gets excellent grades, although I don't intend to use it for audio.

[Calibrated]

Late to party here.  Long time Cakewalk user (since DOS).  I just a few months ago got my Mackie mixer to record into cakewalk with zero monitoring delay. I have a backup and plan to reestablish that backup every time I have a problem. No chance of an upgrade for me. 35 years as sysadmin have taught me to never be on the bleeding edge. If my goal is recording - a command line to start cakewalk is just fine by me. 

[Sue Rarick]

My worry is that my favorite I still use - Cakewalk Sonar Platinum producer won't be compatible. 

I have 11 on my 2 upstairs computers but in a funny twist - my video computer isn't compatible. it's 2 -i7 6c 12t,  2 nividea quadro , 64 gb ram running 3 4k monitors. Got to love microsoft.

[Jack Stoner]

57 minutes ago, Sue Rarick said:

My worry is that my favorite I still use - Cakewalk Sonar Platinum producer won't be compatible. 

I have 11 on my 2 upstairs computers but in a funny twist - my video computer isn't compatible. it's 2 -i7 6c 12t,  2 nividea quadro , 64 gb ram running 3 4k monitors. Got to love microsoft.

I still have Platinum installed on my Win 11 system.  Platinum is still working.  I keep it installed even though I've transitioned to the new Cakewalk so the  plug-ins that are in Platinum  are  available  in Cakewalk. 

 

[sjoens]

I just got notice in Windows Update that "This PC doesn't currently meet all the system requirements for Windows 11."

So I researched the requirements and turns out I have everything they say I should except the initial Intel Gen8 processor req, which isn't, or is no longer, on the list.

So why it says I'm not compatible ¯\_(ツ)_/¯?

Do I need v21H1 1st?

[abacab]

For Intel, you need at least 7th  8th Gen.

Edited November 2, 2021 by abacab

[Jack Stoner]

4 hours ago, abacab said:

For Intel, you need at least 7th Gen.

Microsoft's requirement is minimum 8th gen Intel.  

I have a laptop with a 7th gen i5 CPU and it fails the compatibility tests because of the 7th gen CPU.

[abacab]

1 hour ago, Jack Stoner said:

Microsoft's requirement is minimum 8th gen Intel.  

I have a laptop with a 7th gen i5 CPU and it fails the compatibility tests because of the 7th gen CPU.

OK, you are correct. The latest list shows 8th gen and higher only. I saw an article a while back that seemed to indicate Microsoft was doing a flip-flop on some 7th gen.

[Jack Stoner]

I was hoping they would ease the CPU requirements and at least 7th gen, but so far not.

I could install Win 11 but not a must on my 7th gen laptop so it will stay Win 10.

 

[abacab]

I built a new DAW computer last year and I'm glad that I chose to use Intel Core i5-9600K, a 6 core 9th Gen. That future proofs that one for a while, anyway.

But not so much for my i5 Dell laptop, which is going to have to stay on Win 10 forever, as it's a few generations behind the curve.

So what's the take on enabling Windows VBS (Virtualization Based Security) with Core Isolation and Memory Integrity? https://www.thewindowsclub.com/virtualization-based-security-not-enabled-windows-11

VBS appears to also be available in Windows 10. https://www.techrepublic.com/article/how-to-activate-virtualization-based-security-and-core-isolation-in-windows-10/

https://www.zdnet.com/article/windows-11-has-advanced-hardware-security-heres-how-to-get-it-in-windows-10-today/

 

Edited November 1, 2021 by abacab

[Alan Russell]

So many audio drop out issues with Windows 11...I have the top DELL tower machine  16gigs ram..huge hardrives...never had these issue with Windows 10.   problems recording - won't start-drop out occurs immediately.   cracking the 1st second of any track (Audio)  I record live...buffers were upped to 2048...very aggravating..

[Jack Stoner]

What model Dell?  XPS8930 or 8940?  Inspiron model?  (I do some support on the Dell forums).

If you have the Dell Support Assist running, Disable it in startup.  Support Assist can be an issue.

I know of one XPS8940 user, with Win 11,  that is using it for DAW work and no problems.   However, he removed the NVDIA video card (that was causing latency problems) and is using the Intel CPU video.

Run the free (and popular) Resplendence Latency Mon and see what it shows.

[abacab]

12 minutes ago, Jack Stoner said:

What model Dell?  XPS8930 or 8940?  Inspiron model?  (I do some support on the Dell forums)

Corporate Latitude model, E5450/ 5th Gen Intel i5-5300U.  Mainstream business laptop. Got it to use as a mobile office.

8GB RAM + SSD. Runs Win 10 Pro great! Built like a tank, and very user serviceable.

Edited November 1, 2021 by abacab

[Jack Stoner]

Thanks, but my question was directed to Alan Russell who mentioned a Dell with problems.

The Latitude's are nice machines.

I bought a Dell Inspiron 15 Gaming 5577 four years ago for a mobile DAW.  The "gaming" laptops have more cooling, which is good for long recording sessions.

 

[sjoens]

19 hours ago, abacab said:

For Intel, you need at least 7 8th Gen.

OK. mine is only 6th gen, The MS page I visited did not mention gen's, only basic specs.

Edited November 2, 2021 by sjoens

[John Nelson]

Update... based on latencymon readings and overall smooth sailing with Win 11 on my non-DAW PC, I went ahead and updated my DAW machine. So far, performance is excellent.  Latencymon as good or better than before.

No tweaks, repeat... no tweaks. Just straight upgrade via Update Assistant in Settings.

I'll report if any snags crop up. It's easy to roll back to 10 anyway so I don't feel any reason to worry.

Edited November 5, 2021 by John Nelson

[Teegarden]

I wouldn't worry if your system is not Win 11 ready. Several tech websites (Techspot for example) that ran performance tests comparing Win 10 and Win 11 showed a slight increase in latency when upgrading to Windows 11...

Standard installation seems sometimes to lead to longer boot times as well, especially on lower spec systems. There are several websites that give you tips on how to improve booting. Ironically, one of the culprits appears to be the Fast Startup setting. If you suffer from slow booting you can consider turning it off: 

"Control Panel" => "Hardware and Sound" => "Power Option" => "Choose what the power button does". If the "Turn on fast startup" is enabled, uncheck the box to turn it off.

You also need to check if Virtualization-Based Security (VBS) is enabled. By default, Windows 11 install disables the feature, but apparently some desktop and laptop PCs have VBS enabled by default which can tank gaming performance by up to 25%.