While many large companies and organization who use Windows on their PCs manage their own updates, there are also a number of them that allow Microsoft to handle the management of their Windows PCs. For those users, Microsoft has announced it will soon invite people who use Windows 10 Pro to get a free upgrade to Windows 11.
In a blog post, Microsoft said that Windows 10 Pro and Pro Workstation users who use "cloud-domain joined and domain joined non-managed business devices" will see invites to upgrade to Windows 11 starting with the April 2024 security updates. That means those invites should appear during "Patch Tuesday" on April 9.
Microsoft added:
The invitation to upgrade to Windows 11 will appear after signing in and usually following a reboot. It will only show on Windows 10 Pro and Pro Workstation devices that are eligible for Windows 11 and are not managed by IT departments. Once prompted, users will be able to opt to get Windows 11, version 23H2 or stay in Windows 10. Of course, we recommend Windows 11!
Once the invite goes live, those users will have the freedom to set up the schedule for when the Windows 11 upgrade should start, so it does not interfere with normal work operations.
Of course, companies and organizations who manage their own Windows updates, and have yet to upgrade their PCs to Windows 11 22H3, can do so at any time via Windows Autopatch within Intune.
Currently, support for Windows 10 Home and Pro 22H2 is slated to end on October 14, 2025. In theory, non-managed Windows 10 Pro PCs should have plenty of time to make the switch to Windows 11 Pro. Obviously, Microsoft is trying to get as many Windows 10 Pro PCs to upgrade to Windows 11 as they can before end of support date arrives.
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