If you have a Windows 10 computer, Microsoft offers you a free upgrade to Windows 11. If the hardware of the Windows 10 computer cooperates, otherwise Windows 11 will refuse to install. Microsoft has now released a larger number of Windows 10 PCs that were previously not allowed to install the upgrade for the Windows 11 upgrade.
Since November 2021, Microsoft has had Windows 10 computers with 11th generation Intel Core processors and Intel SST driver version 10.29.0.5152 or 10.30.0.5152 (the SST stands for “Smart Sound Technology”) upgrading to Windows 11 denied. With this hardware driver combination, recurring blue screens of death could occur after installing Windows 11.
Resourceful Windows users could only solve this problem if they updated the Intel SST drivers themselves. Anyone who did this independently could then switch to Windows 11 for free. However, Microsoft refused to upgrade all other PC owners with the combination of CPU and driver described.
But as of today, this problem has generally been solved; from now on, all affected Windows 10 users with the combination of chip and driver described above can download and install the latest Intel SST drivers using the Windows Update function.
Once Windows 10 has installed the driver update, you can upgrade to Windows 11. Microsoft emphasizes that it could take another two days until Windows 10 offers the upgrade to Windows 11. The official release of the Windows 10 PCs that have so far been blocked for the upgrade can be found on this Microsoft status page.
It is unknown why it took Microsoft until April 12, 2024 to finally make the drivers that Intel had long adapted available via Windows Update and to lift the upgrade lock.
However, if Windows 10 does not offer the driver update, PC owners should contact their PC manufacturer so that they can provide the driver update.
Windows 10 is clearly in the lead
It remains to be seen whether this will noticeably increase Windows 11’s market share. According to Statcounter, Windows 10 is still by far the most popular desktop operating system (March 2024: 69.05 percent market share among all Windows systems). Windows 10 was even able to gain a small amount of market share in March 2024, whereas Windows 11 lost slightly (March 2024: 26.68 percent market share among all Windows systems).
All Windows systems together had a 72.47 percent market share in March 2024, according to Statcounter. MacOS is well behind at 14.68 percent.
