We know that Windows 11 is coming this year, with Microsoft announcing it’ll be available “at the beginning of this holiday season.” But that covers a pretty wide range of dates: some of us don’t begin to feel festive until December, after all.
Windows Central’s Zac Bowden, a respected source of Microsoft leaks and gossip, believes that the company will be announcing the final date soon. “Heard MS might announce the GA [General Availability] date for Windows 11 in the next week or two,” he tweeted.
“Sign-off on a ‘final build’ expected in mid-Sept. If I were a betting man, I’d wager October 19 is the GA date… guess we’ll see soon enough.”
An October release date has previously been rumoured thanks to a couple of pretty big clues. A Walmart listing of an HP laptop included the slightly garbled phrase “free upgrade to Windows October 21 when available” before being altered, and Intel driver notes also referred to Windows 11 as the “October 2021 Update”.
Of course, even if all this proves to be correct and a roll out begins in October, that doesn’t necessarily mean your PC will be upgraded to Windows 11 in that time period. Just like with the release of Windows 10, Microsoft will be taking a staggered approach to upgrades, so it may be some time before the update reaches your PC.
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That may sound like a bad thing, but it does at least mean that any show stopping bugs will likely have been crushed by the time your computer is showing the Windows 11 boot screen.
If, on the other hand, you don’t mind a few bugs, then you can skip the queue and join the unprecedented numbers enjoying the early-access beta version that’s available right now. If you want to do that, read our explainer of how to download Windows 11.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
