Windows 10 support

[Unmuzzled Music]

Just wondering if there's any information/time frames about Sonar compatibility and support on Windows 10 post Microsoft Dropping support.  Some of us don't want to buy new hardware coz our system works fine and we don't want to contribute to more eWaste.

[Bristol_Jonesey]

I'm stuck with Win 10 because my pc fails the Microsoft test for upgrading to Win 11

If there ever comes a time when Sonar will only run on Win 11, then I am royally stuffed.

Updating my hardware is not an option as I'm now retired with only a small pension.

[msmcleod]

7 minutes ago, Bristol_Jonesey said:

I'm stuck with Win 10 because my pc fails the Microsoft test for upgrading to Win 11

If there ever comes a time when Sonar will only run on Win 11, then I am royally stuffed.

Updating my hardware is not an option as I'm now retired with only a small pension.

I was in the same boat for four of my PC's, however I've successfully upgraded them to Windows 11.  The jump from Windows 10 to Windows 11 is a far smaller jump than say Windows 7 to Windows 10, so it was pretty seamless.

Please note - I'm not suggesting or recommending that you do this, only that it worked for me.  What I would say though, is before doing the upgrade, make sure your Windows 10 machine is completely up to date with Windows updates, and that it gets a clean bill of health with sfc /scannow.
 

 

[Canopus]

2 hours ago, Bristol_Jonesey said:

Updating my hardware is not an option as I'm now retired with only a small pension.

My old backup desktop had a Core i7-3770 and was thus not officially supported for an upgrade to Windows 11. Being a better safe than sorry guy, I didn't want to gamble. A few weeks ago I replaced it with a refurbished office desktop with a Core i7-8700 CPU, which just meets the official requirements for Win11. After moving the disks and the graphics card over from my old PC, I now hopefully have a backup PC for many years to come for not that much money. As an added bonus, the i7-3770 CPU didn’t have AVX2 extensions, which some applications nowadays require. A regedit hack would never have fixed that.

I would never buy a used PC from eBay or such, but from firms with the business idea of refurbishing hardware bought from offices, I don’t really see any risks. Bargains can definitely be found.

Edited Thursday at 09:56 AM by Canopus

[bvideo]

Two of my PC motherboards have a provision for adding a 'tpm' which is a small dongle that adds a supposedly required security function. That was enough to elevate those machines to be W11-ready. Around $10 each.

[Jeremy Oakes]

7 hours ago, Bristol_Jonesey said:

I'm stuck with Win 10 because my pc fails the Microsoft test for upgrading to Win 11

If there ever comes a time when Sonar will only run on Win 11, then I am royally stuffed.

Updating my hardware is not an option as I'm now retired with only a small pension.

Same here (retired/pension bit) but my laptop, a modest i5, updated a year or so ago with no issues. There are several ways to do it and are all well documented. Just choose the one you feel at ease with.

J

[Colin Nicholls]

My DAW is frozen at a relatively older version of Windows 10 and I've never had any issues whatsoever. Microsoft ended support of it years ago. The sky is still blue and the sun comes up in the morning.

[57Gregy]

19 hours ago, Bristol_Jonesey said:

Updating my hardware is not an option as I'm now retired with only a small pension.

Same boat here, but I'm a lightweight. I can probably afford a reconditioned W11 PC when the time comes. 
This one I got from a large retail chain whose name begins with wal for less than $100 last year. It's a W10 box and runs my simple projects effortlessly.

[jayeyehaich64]

On 8/14/2025 at 5:48 PM, msmcleod said:

I was in the same boat for four of my PC's, however I've successfully upgraded them to Windows 11.  The jump from Windows 10 to Windows 11 is a far smaller jump than say Windows 7 to Windows 10, so it was pretty seamless.

Please note - I'm not suggesting or recommending that you do this, only that it worked for me.  What I would say though, is before doing the upgrade, make sure your Windows 10 machine is completely up to date with Windows updates, and that it gets a clean bill of health with sfc /scannow.
 

 

I upgraded from Windows 10 Pro to Windows 11 Pro via the 'Rufus' method on both a Desktop and Laptop that failed the Microsoft test and had no issues and still have no issues although both machines have been relegated to 'test' machines now as I replaced both with new machines. 

I'd have no hesitation to do the 'Rufus' again as the whole process was flawless for me and once done there was no looking back, wouldn't go back for quid's. 

[Sailor55]

My DAW is one of these: PC #1: HP EliteDesk 800 G3, Core i7, CPU: 7700 - 7th Gen, Ram: 16 GB.  

Worried about the end of Win 10 support, I bought this (used): PC #2: HP EliteDesk 800 G3, Core i5 CPU: 9700 - 9th Gen, Ram: 32 GB

PC #2 came loaded with Win 11 Pro and "officially" supports it. PC #1 had win 10 Pro from the beginning and does not officially support Win 11. . There are exactly the same computer, except PC #1 has a 7th Gen CPU and PC #2 has a 9th Gen CPU.  Rather than move all my DAW software from PC #1 to PC #2, I too did the upgrade from Win 10 Pro to Win 11 Pro on PC #1 using the above described method. It has been working flawlessly for about a year now. I allow every upgrade automatic from Microsoft on both machines.

Therefore, PVC#1 is still my DAW and I use PC#2 for pretty much everything else. PC #2  is also my 'insurance' in case Microsoft tries anything cute in the future. The two PC's are stacked on top of each other and I access them through a KVM switch. I'm very happy with it all.

I also have another smaller HP computer and an old Toshiba laptop. Both of them are 'incompatible' with Win 11  for he same, singular reason: Microsoft consideres their CPU's to be under-powered. That is nonsense. I have upgraded them too. No problems at all.

[treesha]

I read about this and looked into it. Apparently I have already gotten more than 1000 points somehow. There are different ways to get points intentionally but I have mine already somehow. I’m not even a regular edge user. 
 

Here's how to extend Windows 10 support with Microsoft Rewards points: 

1. Check your points:

Open Microsoft Edge and click the profile icon to check your Microsoft Rewards balance. 

2. Enroll in ESU:

You can enroll in the ESU program through your Windows 10 PC via the Settings app, using an enrollment wizard. 

3. Choose the points option:

When given the enrollment options, select the option to redeem 1,000 Microsoft Rewards points. 

4. Confirmation:

The system will confirm your enrollment, extending support until October 13, 2026

[Sailor55]

2 hours ago, treesha said:

Here's how to extend Windows 10 support with Microsoft Rewards points: 

Availing oneself of the rewards points, of course, requires a Microsoft Account. I have managed to avoid that for all these years. In fact, I believe the method described above (using a 'doctored' Microsoft Win 11 ISO file) will also allow one to skip the tedious Microsoft account requirement.

But, if you do have a Microsoft account and are fine with that, then by all means, get your points if you can, and enjoy another year of reprieve. Myself, I just don't care to be getting too cozy with Microsoft. 

[Xoo]

I recently tried switching from a local to an MS account on Windows 10 to take advantage of those points.  Couldn't log in with any account on the machine or my remote one and had to roll back to an image (sadly to one older than I'd have liked - that was me being unlucky).

[Unmuzzled Music]

14 hours ago, jayeyehaich64 said:

I upgraded from Windows 10 Pro to Windows 11 Pro via the 'Rufus' method on both a Desktop and Laptop that failed the Microsoft test and had no issues and still have no issues although both machines have been relegated to 'test' machines now as I replaced both with new machines. 

I'd have no hesitation to do the 'Rufus' again as the whole process was flawless for me and once done there was no looking back, wouldn't go back for quid's. 

With the Rufus method, I assume it a clean install so you need to re-install all your applications and plugins ?   Also,   after the install, are you able to get MS updates for Windows 11 ?  Thanks

[jayeyehaich64]

No, it's not a clean install, all your stuff will be where you left it and working as normal. It's been a long time since I done it, but you may have to select something during the process. There is a thread hear somewhere about it, I think in the Coffee House, it has all the info.

Look here

 https://discuss.cakewalk.com/topic/77837-how-to-upgrade-to-the-latest-version-of-windows-11-on-any-pc/#comments

and yes, updates are fine. If you have any concerns, it may be a good idea to make a backup of your System drive with something like Acronis TI etc.

Edited 6 hours ago by jayeyehaich64

[bvideo]

Rufus method can also do a clean install. The installation disk modified by Rufus can supposedly work either way.