Windows 11 in Schools

[discoveranother]

Hi all,

 

I would just like to ask if anyone out there is now using Windows 11 in schools on laptops for staff and students or for everything and what issues, if any, you have come across either imaging or using them in general ?

 

Thanks all

[LeMarchand]

Only used it on a very few select staff, mainly as the different look would have most of them complaining that they can't find anything. Hoping that it will be more familiar when it starts rolling out in earnest.

 

No imaging issues, but that's possibly because I've basically stopped "imaging" as such. Just push out the basic OS via WDS and then add everything else via GPO.

[DalekSec]

I've been using since release, no real issues (few crashes but thats due to me running the preview)

 

We have all our management VMs as Windows 11 also. No issues that any of the Team has raised. We won't be moving suites this year to 11 (no time) but we have new devices coming in for Admin staff so might move IT across to it so the techs get used to it for when we do move.

[Chuckster]

Won't be looking to deploy Windows 11 at least until next year summer. I don't want to introduce a new OS that could be problematic until it's been in the public for a year at the very minimum. I did the same when 10 came out.

[TwistedHelixis]

Got a few test staff using it. SIMS, smart notebook / educational apps all seem fine.

[mavhc]

Only real problem is the hardware specs, otherwise it's just Windows 10.1, no real changes.

[Deanuk]

You guys have hardware that can run Windows 11!?

[Cat_Jam148]

I've been running it on my tech laptop since previews and haven't had many issues regrading compatibility with our current application setup. As a few have stated, it's practically Windows 10 with an 'improved' look and feel.

 

Looking to begin deployment towards the end of this year. We've got a classroom PC refresh coming up so hardware shouldn't be an issue.

 

I think the biggest hurdle will be staff having to get to grips with the 'minor' differences, such as the abomination which is now the right click menu in file explorer...

Edited May 4, 2022 by Cat_Jam148

[Rockpile99]

Just in the testing stages so only got it on my PC and a couple of loan laptops but no issues so far. When deployed via MDT it works on any of our hardware that has a TPM chip and UEFI (this includes some 2014 Dell E5430's). I've used Group Policy registry settings to put Start button back to it's proper location and set colours so haven't needed to install Win 11 admx templates etc. Given that our version of Windows 10 will be supported until the end of the decade I'm in no rush to deploy it en mass.

[LeMarchand]

You guys have hardware that can run Windows 11!?

 

As @Rockpile99 said, it tends to easily install on anything with TPM and UEFI (IME). If you're prepared to deal with the "Please support our chums in hardware and buy new kit or we may sulk at an unspecified later date" nag, it can be crowbarred onto most kit.

[Julian]

Not yet. When the end of life of Windows 10 was announced (Oct 14 2025), I looked the the hardware requirement, and then infomed our buisness manamager that the school would require 100 new computers / year for 3 years, to get the school off windows 10, before it was no longer supported. Whilst our buisness manager was less that happy with the cost, she could put into her budget planning as a necessary expected expence.

[thimon]

and then infomed our buisness manamager that the school would require 100 new computers

Only 100? Lucky you!

[rogerdnixon]

We use it on devices that support it and all new devices - works fine with Google Advanced Desktop Security for MDM. Only issue I got is that an older Papercut Print Deploy Client did not work nicely - but that's fixed now.

[Deanuk]

As @Rockpile99 said, it tends to easily install on anything with TPM and UEFI (IME). If you're prepared to deal with the "Please support our chums in hardware and buy new kit or we may sulk at an unspecified later date" nag, it can be crowbarred onto most kit.

 

Not when all of your computers are pre-2013. Plus, you shouldn't have to "crowbar" onto the kit. Yes, you can add windows 11 on to unsupported hardware but as Microsoft said themselves, you may not get security updates, this is not something I'm willing to chance.

 

- - - Updated - - -

 

Not yet. When the end of life of Windows 10 was announced (Oct 14 2025), I looked the the hardware requirement, and then infomed our buisness manamager that the school would require 100 new computers / year for 3 years, to get the school off windows 10, before it was no longer supported. Whilst our buisness manager was less that happy with the cost, she could put into her budget planning as a necessary expected expence.

 

I think we are on around 165 new machines that are needed.

[Oaktech]

Rolling it out to staff as we buy hardware compatible with it.

 

No real issues, no grumbling from staff*.

 

*Other than one person whose label printer isn't fully compatible and requires to be power cycled before each use. The printer is supplied as part of a software contract so it's not an us problem, it's a them problem

[mavhc]

Rolling it out to staff as we buy hardware compatible with it.

 

No real issues, no grumbling from staff*.

 

*Other than one person whose label printer isn't fully compatible and requires to be power cycled before each use. The printer is supplied as part of a software contract so it's not an us problem, it's a them problem

 

I am both shocked and surprised that paying for something over and over again instead of once didn't result in having up to date stuff.

[Oaktech]

I am both shocked and surprised that paying for something over and over again instead of once didn't result in having up to date stuff.

 

One of my sites, we hadn't bought a PC for about 4 years until they announced windows 11. I've been working the local businesses hard for donated systems, we're mainly 4th and 5th gen i series processors with SSDs. I'm now starting on a rolling replacement program

[KK20]

Dont worry. LTSC 2019 has an end date of 2029. Office can install on LTSC and it has edge, that will do for the machines I cant get to run in W11....

[mavhc]

Is Office 365 supported on LTSC though?

[Primus]

Microsoft say you shouldn't be using LTSC for general purpose computing, in any case all you are doing is delaying the inevitable - if your PCs don't support Windows 11 then are they really going to be that useful in 2026, 2027, 2028 etc etc?

[mavhc]

Depends if people want to use them for more demanding tasks in the future, the problem isn't the speed, it's the arbitrary cutoff, no one from Microsoft has released technical details about what in Windows 11 needs TPM 2 vs 1.2, or an 8th gen vs a 7th gen Intel CPU

[Primus]

Depends if people want to use them for more demanding tasks in the future, the problem isn't the speed, it's the arbitrary cutoff, no one from Microsoft has released technical details about what in Windows 11 needs TPM 2 vs 1.2, or an 8th gen vs a 7th gen Intel CPU

 

There is some truth to this but if you look at the generations that are around the cut off I think 7th gen Intel are the last that aren't on the supported list but they launched in 2016, by 2026 they'll obviously be 10, that's quite a long time to sweat an asset.

[KK20]

Microsoft say you shouldn't be using LTSC for general purpose computing, in any case all you are doing is delaying the inevitable - if your PCs don't support Windows 11 then are they really going to be that useful in 2026, 2027, 2028 etc etc?

 

Of course im delaying the inevitable. We still have a room of core2duo optiplexes. This isnt through lack of knowledge or care or belligerence on my part, it is because I am not given the money. Even rolling replacements are basically castoffs, generation 4's and 6's i5s. Will I have rolling replaced everything in 3 years? No, not unless I get a doubling of budget. Have I raised this with senior leadership and trustees? For at least the last 4 years I have warned of a rolling replacement issue, in the last 2 years I hit the doom and gloom button - all in my annual report and my appraisal, oh and in head of department. I just went through a new agreement renewal, I would have loved to move away from OVS licensing. However, almost none of our BIOS (and I use the word literally) support it without be going round to each PC and activating manually. Maybe 5% of our PCs have W10 keys embedded. That puts us on the back foot with everything else. If the money isnt there then it isnt there.

 

So yes, I will be installing LTSC as I will have no choice (at least on what I have left). The alternative is a new job, and that is also on the cards.

 

by 2026 they'll obviously be 10, that's quite a long time to sweat an asset.

The optiplex 760's were purchased in 2009, so they are 13 years old now. With an SSD and 8gb RAM they run W10 and office 365 fast enough. Dont get me started on the 100+ 4:3 dell monitors from 2006, the plastics fail on these before the panels do. Not to worry, I stripped the broken ones for spares. Projectors? How about half a dozen benq PB2250? Im a dab hand at replacing the bulbs on these (the bulb, not module with reflector), the lens fail on these as the plastic goes cloudy (due to the non standard bulbs being a little brighter than the originals).

 

Im used to being laughed at when I go to the AMNE meetings but we are where we are. I make do with the resources I am given and I make sure the pupils and staff can access everything they need for their work. My logon times are under a minute, we can print, everything is on the latest updates (for W10) and I run a pfsense stateful firewall with snort and PFblocker.

Edited May 27, 2022 by KK20

[Primus]

Of course im delaying the inevitable. We still have a room of core2duo optiplexes. This isnt through lack of knowledge or care or belligerence on my part, it is because I am not given the money. Even rolling replacements are basically castoffs, generation 4's and 6's i5s. Will I have rolling replaced everything in 3 years? No, not unless I get a doubling of budget. Have I raised this with senior leadership and trustees? For at least the last 4 years I have warned of a rolling replacement issue, in the last 2 years I hit the doom and gloom button - all in my annual report and my appraisal, oh and in head of department. I just went through a new agreement renewal, I would have loved to move away from OVS licensing. However, almost none of our BIOS (and I use the word literally) support it without be going round to each PC and activating manually. Maybe 5% of our PCs have W10 keys embedded. That puts us on the back foot with everything else. If the money isnt there then it isnt there.

 

So yes, I will be installing LTSC as I will have no choice (at least on what I have left). The alternative is a new job, and that is also on the cards.

 

I totally understand where you're coming from, but sometimes you can be your own worst enemy. The longer you keep old kit running, the longer they'll want you to keep it running.

 

I wouldn't be going down the route of LTSC at all, I'd be removing kit but only after flagging that this will happen several years before and counting down with further warnings. Microsoft's guidance on LTSC is very clear and I wouldn't run an unsupported configuration.

 

If you tell them they HAVE to get to Windows 11 by October 2025 then they will, if you give them get outs then we know what will happen.

 

Those Core2Duos need to go the distance at this point they're at least 10 years old and potentially as old as 16 - way beyond their useful life IMHO.

[Guest Guest]

Today I installed Windows 11 on my Admin machine (I know it’s pretty old but if it still works no need to replace it!) and that’s a Core I3 10th Gen or so.

 

16GB ram

 

120GB SSD.

 

Does the job and not had any crashed or hiccups as of yet.