Microsoft boasts that the internal Windows 11 rollout was the smoothest ever

Martin Brinkmann
Apr 8, 2022
Windows 11 News
|
16

Microsoft published a case study on its website to highlight the smoothness of the upgrade to Windows 11 at the company. According to the publication, Microsoft rolled out Windows 11 to 190,000 devices across the company in five weeks. The entire process was the "most streamlined to date" delivering the new version of Windows 11 to employees in "record time".

windows 11 recommended rollout

Microsoft divided the upgrade into planning, preparing and deploying parts, and published a recommended Windows 11 rollout and strategy sheet that companies and organizations may follow.

Here is a high level overview of the three phases:

  • The environment -- Microsoft analyzed its entire device population to find devices that meet Windows 11's system requirements. The company used Update Compliance and Microsoft Endpoint Manager's Endpoint analytics feature to evaluate the device population.
  • Ineligible devices and exclusions -- Microsoft Digital Employee Experience was used to skip devices that should not or could not receive the Windows 11 upgrade during deployment.
  • Deployment timeline -- Deployment was divided into different waves to roll out the new version of Windows gradually to the fleet of devices.
  • Rollback plan -- Windows 11 has built-in support for rolling back to a previous version for 10 days after installation.
  • Reach out -- Employees were asked to complete pre-work needed for a successful upgrade. In this particular case, Microsoft focused feedback on Windows 11 and the changes that would come with it.
  • Ready support -- support teams had time to use Windows 11 and learn about the operating system prior to the deployment.
  • Opt-out process -- For users who had a "business reason" to opt-out of the upgrade process.
  • Security model -- Risk assessment and the building of several specific Windows 11 security policies in test environments to benchmark them against Windows 10 policies.
  • Deployment -- Used Windows Update for Business deployment service to automate the deployment.

Closing Words

One thing to note is that App Assure returned the score of 99.7% compatibility for all apps in Windows 11 across all devices eligible for the upgrade. It is likely that the value may be lower in other environments. It is also noteworthy that previous upgrades would not face system requirement restrictions that are as drastic as those for Windows 11. More devices could be upgraded because of that, which would also mean less devices that could not be used anymore because of the inability to upgrade to a new version of Windows.

The guide reads in part like an advertisement for Microsoft Digital Employee Experience and for upgrading to Windows 11. Microsoft did not mention the number of devices that it operates that are not compatible with Windows 11, only that employees would get Windows 11 on the next device refresh.

Now You: did you upgrade your devices to Windows 11?

Summary
Microsoft boasts that the internal Windows 11 rollout was the smoothest ever
Article Name
Microsoft boasts that the internal Windows 11 rollout was the smoothest ever
Description
Microsoft published a case study on its website to highlight the smoothness of the upgrade to Windows 11 at the company.
Author
Publisher
Ghacks Technology News
Logo
Advertisement

Tutorials & Tips


Previous Post: «
Next Post: «

Comments

  1. Peter Sutcliffe said on April 12, 2022 at 8:25 pm
    Reply

    Microsoft’s pro developers are still going through the learning process.

  2. shills be shillin said on April 10, 2022 at 4:14 am
    Reply

    @Sher-E-Mohisur:

    “Linux based OSe’s are never ready for non computer-majors”

    Disinfo at it’s finest! So long as you have someone to INSTALL Linux for you and give you a little hand holding now and then, Linux is PERFECT for all ages and all computer skill levels. It all depends on what the user is trying to do.

    M$ has eyes everywhere. Especially message boards/forums and even comments sections.

    Anyone who tells you Linux is too complex for the average person is a liar. Or, they use Nvidia. :D

  3. pHROZEN gHOST said on April 9, 2022 at 6:17 pm
    Reply

    This is just like the commercial saying … 4 out of 5 dentists recommend Crest.

  4. Burak35 (SuperUser Or Windows7Master) said on April 9, 2022 at 4:40 pm
    Reply

    windows 7 is best operation systems for the all users.
    windows 8 windows 8.1 windows 10 windows 11 has a full bug and telemetries
    8 8.1 10 11 mutual features
    cpu usage: high
    ram usage: high
    disk usage: high
    telemetri: full bugs and telemetries (you cant disable never)
    stabilitiy: no
    comfort: no
    safe: no
    speed: no
    performance: no
    windows 7 features
    cpu usage: minimum
    ram usage: minimum
    disk usage: minimum
    network usage: minimum
    telemetri: you can disable always
    stabilitiy: yes
    comfort: yes
    safe: yes
    speed: yes
    performance: yes
    result: window 7 is BEST
    8 8.1 10 11 totally trash and full of bug and telemetries
    sorry i dont need this garbage systems
    edit: i hate all hindu and satya nadella ! new ceo must be raymond chen or steve ballmer!
    edit: my windows 7 opened 25 second (my laptop from 2010 and motherboard sata 2 hdd sata 2 5400rpm ram ddr3 1066mhz) im changed my disk im using now hp s700 and win 10 pro 1709 my win10 opened 30 35 sometimes 40 second! wtf? i disable 99 service? im disable update and hibernate?) im sick of this from win10 trash and im so tired! thats enough!

  5. JohnIL said on April 9, 2022 at 2:07 pm
    Reply

    Windows 11 just a refresh of Windows 10 so it should have been a smooth release. Could have easily been a feature upgrade but let’s call it a new release version which was never supposed to happen and see if we can sell more hardware. None of the benchmarks indicate anything has really changed that much. Probably why adaption rate has slowed for Windows 11. No really reason to upgrade, and frankly many can’t which was dumb of Microsoft.

  6. Sher-E-Mohisur said on April 9, 2022 at 2:27 am
    Reply

    Windows 7 was the best release from Microsoft.

    Though feature-wise Windows 8/8.1 was controversial, the quality of the code was OK. And with necessary tweaks sometimes was a joy to use.

    Windows 10 always felt like a beta (stopped using it 2 years ago so don’t know current condition). The quality of the code have gone to sh*t since Nadela made the CEO, the timing coincides with Nadela’s firing of the whole quality checker team for Windows. Every new feature was usually horribly half-baked and bug ridden. Every bug fix tends to creates two more bugs. Necessary changes used to take an unbelievably long amount of time to come (a trait of the Windows Phone OS dev team). Devs hardly listen to even very popular users complaints/suggestions (another trait of the same team).

    Don’t know anything about Windows 11 but pretty sure it’ll be sh*tty too. So will try to switch to mac as it is said that Apple (though a bloodsucker) still cares about macOS. Linux based OSe’s are never ready for non computer-majors (even though it’s fanboys will disagree) and even famous Ubuntu seems to struggle with “my way is the highway” type of devs from the UI it uses.

    1. Iron Heart said on April 9, 2022 at 10:04 am
      Reply

      @Sher-E-Mohisur

      I’d argue that Windows 8 was actually the best release quality-wise. Resource usage went down compared to Windows 7, which in turn had lower resource usage than Windows Vista. Startup time was greatly reduced, actual SSD support too. Resource usage in particular went up again with Windows 10. Windows 8.1 was well-made to the point that it ran reasonably well on Windows tablets with literal 2 GB RAM.

      Metro UI was shit, though that was an easy fix for me via Classic Shell.

      > So will try to switch to mac as it is said that Apple (though a bloodsucker) still cares about macOS.

      macOS is great to use. Usually I don’t immediately jump on the bandwagon when a new release hits every autumn, but after 1 – 2 updates to a new major release it is usually amazing.

      1. Sher-E-Mohisur said on April 9, 2022 at 12:35 pm
        Reply

        Agreed

  7. ilev said on April 8, 2022 at 6:23 pm
    Reply

    Microsoft neglected to point how many PCs were not compatible with Windows 11.
    I would say 70%.

  8. John G. said on April 8, 2022 at 5:50 pm
    Reply

    MS upgrade 190K computers to W11 to push up the statistics of use of W11, probably they have now near 0.0001% more of use. I’m sorry for the joke, but someone needed to tell. :]

  9. chesscanoe said on April 8, 2022 at 12:39 pm
    Reply

    By choice I declined a very early Microsoft offer to upgrade to Windows 11, and I still feel it is an alpha code offering. Perhaps another 3-6 months will get it through beta.

    1. John G. said on April 8, 2022 at 4:48 pm
      Reply

      The only way to use W11 is to apply the Valinet’s Explorer Patcher and 7+tt Taskbar Tweaker, because W11 is useless out of the box. Even the worst Linux distro has more efficient taskbars and file explore managament. Thanks for the article! :]

    2. WhitneyHerd said on April 8, 2022 at 2:56 pm
      Reply

      Microsoft’s desperate attempt to make Windows 11 look good is getting pathetic. No one gives a damn about 11 until they add back all the functions they removed.

      All Microsoft did was slap their failed 10X interface on top of Windows 10, removed ton of functionality, and added restricted hardware level requirements. They are surprised it went so smoothly?

      11 months into the insider program and they haven’t even scratched the surface with anything of worth. The taskbar, start menu, right click menu are still useless compared to the ones in Windows 10. Who would want to downgraded to this piece of garbage operating system?

    3. ThrowAwayUrTV said on April 8, 2022 at 1:39 pm
      Reply

      Windows 10 is still in beta after 7 years.

      1. Peter Parker said on April 11, 2022 at 5:00 pm
        Reply

        Meh. It’s still a hell of a lot better than it was in 2015 or 2016.

      2. 45551 said on April 8, 2022 at 3:36 pm
        Reply

        If Windows 10 is in beta , W11 is in alpha

Leave a Reply

Check the box to consent to your data being stored in line with the guidelines set out in our privacy policy

We love comments and welcome thoughtful and civilized discussion. Rudeness and personal attacks will not be tolerated. Please stay on-topic.
Please note that your comment may not appear immediately after you post it.