Microsoft announces launch date for Windows 11

Vendor will begin 'phased' rollout in October

Windows 11 will start to become available as a free upgrade on October 5, Microsoft has announced.

The latest edition of Windows, which was first revealed in June, will begin rolling out to eligible Windows 10 PCs on that date, while PCs that come pre-loaded with Windows 11 will also start to become available for purchase.

Microsoft says the launch "will be phased and measured with a focus on quality", with "new eligible devices" set to be offered the upgrade first.

It will then roll out to "in-market devices based on intelligence models that consider hardware eligibility, reliability metrics, age of device and other factors that impact the upgrade experience".

"We expect all eligible devices to be offered the free upgrade to Windows 11 by mid-2022," Microsoft added.

"For customers who are using a PC that won't upgrade, and who aren't ready to transition to a new device, Windows 10 is the right choice. We will support Windows 10 through 14 October 2025 and we recently announced that the next feature update to Windows 10 is coming later this year."

Upgrading to Windows 11 will require a device which has a trusted platform module (TPM) of 2.0, along with a host of other requirements which are listed here.