Question Version and Form of Windows 11 to Upgrade Multiple Old Systems

[Zsandman82]

Hello;
It’s been many years since I accessed the wonderful source and community that is Tom’s. Hailing from NE USA, we lived in the Middle East during 1998-2010. The PC world was quite different then, especially the early years. I frequently struggled building PC’S for myself, family and charity with the Internet being my only hope for guidance to resolve the seemingly endless issues I had integrating parts, “plug and pray”, and software from the USA and East Asia. I spent many, many hours here reading the wonderful exchanges and Tom’s helped me pass a lot of lonely hours on the fringe of the desert. I built 8 machines, 5 for charity that were returned when they closed. I’m back in the USA, well into retirement and my new career as full-time caretaker. Sorry, I digress. While it’s the most rewarding job I’ve ever had, unfortunately, it leaves leaves me with little to no time to maintain or upgrade these systems (2 of which are fairly complex.) I want to limit them to MS Windows, and even then, they run XP, VISTA and 7-10. My “baby” runs 10 and is the heart of my recording studio. There will be no programming, Linux etc. on them and I plan to donate the majority of the machines to charity once I’ve cleansed the hard drives and upgraded the OS.

My primary question is embarrassingly simple, but with limited time and funds, and seeing new “beta” builds to Windows 11 available, I really don’t want to mess this up. With so many machines, I’m most comfortable with CD/DVDs in my hands, but I’d consider downloading. What specific version of Windows 11 and source would you recommend? I assume that by going with disks and then getting the latest mainstream upgrades it pulls in will be the fastest and cleanest. If I download it all, it might bring in the very latest version with no further upgrades necessary, or not? If I go with disks, who do you recommend buying the disks from? Is there a MS site to order from, or can I get a better deal using Amazon? Lastly, how many machines can be upgraded with each “disk” or download offer? What’s the most cost effective approach?

I greatly appreciate any and all input.
Best regards,
David

 

[Lutfij]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

Born and brought up in Dubai, U.A.E myself though I moved out in 1998.

Pertaining to the OS you could look into the Home version for the OS...if you're not dealing with a workstation system(with high end hardware). As for the download, yes you can use Windows Media Creation Tools to fabricate your bootable USB installer though you're going to need a license key to activate the OS.

I want to limit them to MS Windows, and even then, they run XP, VISTA and 7-10. My “baby” runs 10 and is the heart of my recording studio. There will be no programming, Linux etc. on them and I plan to donate the majority of the machines to charity once I’ve cleansed the hard drives and upgraded the OS.
Could you list the specs to each of the builds? Chances are that the older system's won't get Windows 11 on them due to hardware requirements.

 

[johnbl]

Windows 11 require 8th gen intel cpu or better or AMD ryzen 2000 or better.
I think AMD ryzen 2000 came out in april of 2018 and intel 8th gen cpu in August 2017

old machines may not have these CPUs and you would be forced to use windows 10.
Even newer machines my still use older generations of CPUs so you have to check the windows 11 cpu list to see if you can install windows 11.

I would use Microsoft media creation images, install windows 10 and then buy the keys to activate.
windows 10 for older cpu, windows 11 for newer cpu.

you have to be careful where you get your windows key, some sites sell keys from a key generator app or resell the same key over and over. They give you software to block the activation and It seems to work for 180 day then fails. Or it fails after a windows update/reinstall or after you run a dism.exe command. PC recycle place might sell you a key for cheap.