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====== Windows 11 ======

October 6, 2021… Windows 11 has been released. Windows 11 is still a mystery. If you visit youtube.com and search for "Windows 11" or search the internet for "Windows 11", you will find a lot of links/references. If you have time to determine which links or references might be helpful to the Sun City community please add your comments and/or observations to this wiki page.

My observations… so far…. The tool that Microsoft supplies, to determine if your computer is Windows 11 compatible, is "suspicious". Why? In the past, the tool indicated some of my computers did not qualify but the list of "processors" did indicate my computers would work. Hmmm? Inconsistent. Today, one of my machines indicated it would not work but it met all of the "Microsoft stated requirements". Hmmm??? There is inconsistency in the tool or the statement of requirements.

===== Installing on unsupported hardware. =====

May 4, 2023: This is todays better option: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UL_maCWM5bk|Explaining Computers, Unsupported Hardware]].  The short version...   Use [[https://rufus.ie/en/|Rufus]] to construct a thumb drive that contains the Windows 11 installation media.  Rufus can "modify" the installation media to avoid some Windows 11 installation limitations.

This process is NOT for the novice. Reference: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7oRJwTzOn8|CyberCPU youtube channel]]

Which refers to: Github.com and this project: [[https://github.com/JosephM101/Force-Windows-11-Install|Force-Windows-11-Install]]


===== Installing or First run of Windows 11 Home =====

==== How to "work around" the requirement for a Windows Account. ====

March 17, 2022: Here is a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ReoMuCUdKE&t=819s|youtube video by Craft Computing]] that was worth my time. Clues starting at about 9:15 in the video.

When you are prompted to create a Microsoft account, do the following… "Shift F10" will present a "command prompt" window. Type "taskmgr".. In the Taskmgr window, find the task "Network Connection Flow" and (end the task): Now you can create a local account that does not require network connection. Suggestion… Do not create a password for the local account until after the installation is complete.

This tool, identified in the Craft Computing video, looks useful: [[https://github.com/builtbybel/ThisIsWin11|Github ThisIsWin11]]

Has anyone tried? Do as Microsoft desires and create the first account as a Microsoft account. After the system is "Up", disconnect from the internet. Then create a local Administrator account. Logout of the first account. Login with the local/Administrator account. Then delete the first(Microsoft) account.

====   ====

=== Another Windows 11 ugly experience ===

March 29, 2022: I attached a 2.5 inch hard drive from a Windows 10 computer to a new Dell w[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7lykL7ZELQ|ith Windows 11. Why? I wanted to copy all the user files from the Windows 10 hard drive to the Windows 11 drive. I wanted to copy all the us]]er folders and the ProgramData folder. Strange stuff happened. I would start the paste process, it would appear to finish, but the new files I expected to find on the Windows 11 drive would not be on the Windows 11 drive. It appeared that copy/paste did not work. Then I googled "Windows 11 copy paste failure". Nice… This is a known bug. WOW!!! I will try robocopy. April 1… April fool, kinda. Further investigation revealed the real problem. File Explorer on Windows 11 has a default configuration that does NOT show hidden files. The ProgramData folder is a hidden folder. Whoops. The solution… Enable hidden files as "viewable" in Windows 11 File Explorer.

=== Make Windows 11 Better, by Thiojoe ===

This item on [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7lykL7ZELQ|youtube.com by Thiojoe]] has some good stuff. The links that follow might be helpful. BUT, as with any link on the web, BE CAREFUL! [[https://www.stardock.com/products/start11/|Start11 not free]]. [[https://www.voidtools.com/|Everything, a better search]], free. [[https://www.gpsoft.com.au/index.html|Directory Opus]], not free. [[https://winaerotweaker.com/|Winaero Tweaker]], free. [[https://www.oo-software.com/en/shutup10|O&O Shutup10++, ]]freeware, [[https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/powertoys/|Microsoft PowerToys]], free

=== Windows 11 versions that are smaller, lighter ===

Why would you care about a smaller and lighter Windows 11.

1) Windows 11 is not "officially" supported on a lot of older and useful hardware.

2) Windows 10 will reach its "end of life" in a couple of years.

3) Windows 11 delivers a lot of "baggage" that can be removed.

4) Big questions??? Will "stripped down" versions of Windows 11 be able to get "updates"? Will Windows Update install stuff that was removed by the Tiny 11 process?

March 11, 2023: This week I discovered youtube "stuff" about Tiny 11. Below are links to tools and process's for creating "interesting versions" of Windows 11.

[[https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=tiny+11&ia=web|The results of a duckduckgo search for Tiny 11.]]

[[https://www.tomshardware.com/how-to/make-lightweight-windows-11-image-tiny11-builder|A TomsHardware.com item about Tiny 11 builder]]

[[https://www.minitool.com/news/tiny11builder-create-own-tiny11.html|An item on the minitool.com site about Tiny 11 Builder]].

[[https://github.com/ntdevlabs/tiny11builder|Tiny 11 project on Github.]]

[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0i2BSwpQxY|This video needs some written documents]] . There are a lot of steps so getting it right will need some testing.

More youtube surfing revealed this: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFDxB_tmxKw&t=328s|Tiny11 comparison with GhostSpectre]] . This led to my discovery that [[https://www.youtube.com/@GHOSTSPECTRE|GhostSpectre]] is a [[https://www.youtube.com/@GHOSTSPECTRE|youtube channel]]. Finding a place to "download" GhostSpectre led me here: [[https://tech-latest.com/ghost-spectre-windows-11/|tech-latest.com]] . Following the links on tech-latest.com is "dangerous" because of "click bait". This is the [[https://tech-latest.com/ghost-spectre-windows-11/#22H2_SV2_-_64-bit_Official_Release-3|web page that provided a "real download" and the "password"]] to unzip the download. The resulting download did unzip with the provided password and Windows Defender did //**NOT**//  find a virus in the unzipped iso.

March 26, 2023… I tried Tiny11 and GhostSpectre on/in a VM(Virtual Machine) . I used Vmware Player version 17 on a Windows 10 host running on an AMD 5600G. Both of them worked. Additional testing needs to be done on unsupported Windows 11 hardware.

=== Printers and Windows 11 ===

[[https://christitus.com/microsoft-is-driving-users-away/|This item by Chris Titus might be helpful]]. The secret sauce is:

do this in the "Run" prompt.

shell:::{A8A91A66-3A7D-4424-8D24-04E180695C7A}"

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