Manual Windows 11 OS Download and Installation

Updated: Oct 23, 2021

I recently manually updated my desktop PC.

If a Windows PC meets the minimum requirements for Windows 11, a user could wait until prompted with a message to download and install the new OS to do so. However, I was impatient and wanted to download and install the OS now. There were several steps I took to get Windows 11 now (October 2021).

Ensure Your PC Meets the Minimum Requirements

The requirements are detailed on Windows' website. There are two ways to access the requirement information. The first way is through Windows Update. You could access this by going to the Start Menu > Settings > Update & Security. This is a good way to see if your PC is already good-to-go for Windows 11.

The second way is to access this information by going directly to Find Windows 11 specs, features, and computer requirements.

You'll either have a link to "Check hardware requirements" or "Check device specifications." If you see the latter, chances are your PC already ran a hardware check in the background and can run the new Windows 11 OS.

The links will redirect you to Microsoft's website where you can "See Specifications" for the update. You can also download and install the "PC Health Check" app to manually run a hardware check.

Either "This PC meets Windows 11 requirements" or "This PC doesn't currently meet Windows 11 system requirements." If the latter is true, it'll list what you need to meet the minimum requirements.

For many Windows users, including myself, TPM (Trusted Platform Module) 2.0 must be supported and enabled. A lot of the newer motherboards (four or five years old) with Intel chipsets have this included, but it may be disabled by default.

To enable TPM 2.0 if it's supported through your machine:

Restart PC.
Run UEFI Setup (press F2 or DEL at startup).
Navigate to the "Security tab."
Click "Intel(R) Platform Trust Technology" and select "Enabled."
Click "Exit" and select "Save Changes and Exit."
Click "Yes" to confirm changes and exit.

Motherboards with AMD chipsets may not have TPM 2.0 included at the time of writing this post (October 2021). In my Dad's case, he had to do a BIOS update so that the BIOS would emulate the Intel chipset.

Run the "PC Health Check" app and make any necessary changes to the PC until the "This PC meets Windows 11 requirements" message displays.

Download Windows 11

While I could've waited until Windows Update states the new OS is available to download and install, I impatiently went directly to Microsoft's website to download the new OS. To do the same:

Visit the Download Windows 11 webpage.
Locate the section for the "Windows 11 Installation Assistant."
Click the "Download Now" button.

Install Windows 11

In the "Windows 11 Installation Assistant" pop-up windows, read (or skim) through the terms, then click the "Accept and Install" button.

The installation consists of the following three steps:

Downloading
Verifying download
Installing

Ideally, steps one and two are quick. Step three takes longer but will eventually notify you that "Your PC needs to restart to install Windows 11." It'll display a "Restarting in" countdown, but you can also click the "Restart now" button.

After a couple restarts, the PC will boot with the newly installed Windows 11 OS that appears to be inspired by the MacOS style.

In my Dad's case with AMD, he had to manually restart the computer several times to complete the installation. Even to this day, he cannot simply restart his PC through the Start menu. He must turn off his PC and turn it back on if a restart is necessary. Hopefully this minor issue will be fixed in a future update.

Error code 0x8007007f (low storage)

The ideal installation experience didn't happen for me. I encountered a "Something went wrong" screen and an "Error code 0x8007007f" more than halfway through the third step of installing the OS.

The error code typically means you must free up storage space.

I was perplexed because I had over 2GB of free space on my desktop PC. I did the following:

Deleted unnecessary files.
Transferred larger files to an external hard drive temporarily.
Ran a "Disk Cleanup" of the C: drive.
Closed several background processes.
Cleared cache and temp files.
Ran a scan of my PC for potential threats.

However, the actual solution was a simple one: I needed to unplug unnecessary peripheral devices.

I had a couple USB drives - one for my wireless headset and another for my XBOX controller - plugged into the PC. Once I thought to unplug these, the installation continued and completed without an issue.

My Thoughts

Download and installation of the new Windows 11 OS on my PC was easy, but there were a few things I had to do before the installation was a success.

To recap, below were the steps I took to install the new OS:

Reviewed the specifications detailed on Microsoft's website.
Ran the "PC Health Check" app to ensure my PC met the minimum requirements.
Adjusted my PC as recommended through the "PC Health Check" app. In my case, this meant enabling TPM 2.0 through the UEFI Setup menu at startup.
Downloaded Windows 11 from Microsoft's website.
Started the installation of Windows 11.

I encountered the "Error code 0x8007007f" during installation. I tried different things to address this error code that typically means free up storage space. The one solution that worked in my case was to:

Unplug unnecessary peripherals.

The process was easy. I encountered no technical issues after installing Windows 11. All my applications functioned properly. Even my desktop slideshow remained as I initially set it up years ago.

I had to update several applications including all my TechSmith products after installing the new OS. It was comforting to know these applications were prepared and equipped for the change.

The biggest visible change was the GUI. I noticed the MacOS-like look of the display. Menus and icons were more centralized onscreen. The Start menu was less cluttered. Pop-up windows had curved corners.

However, there were some changes I'm still working on getting used to. I can no longer right-click on the Taskbar to access the Task Manager. Pressing CTRL+ALT+DEL still works for getting to the Task Manager, though.

There was a limit on how many applications I could pin and see without scrolling through the Start menu. I used to group application shortcuts by categories I named, but now they're displayed together with five shortcuts per row for a total of three rows in one view. It's a minor change that many PC users don’t care about, but it was something I got used to using for years.

What's Next?

I've yet to update my laptop to the new Windows 11 OS. I currently use my desktop for gaming and my laptop for everything else. I'm a little nervous to update now, but I won't hesitate to do so when I'm prompted with an 'it's ready' message on my laptop.

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Thanks, and have a great day!

Simply Jelly Jam

Simply Jelly Jam