Contending with Windows 10’s retirement: part 3

You can take several steps to ensure success when you upgrade to Windows 11.

In part 1 of this series, we looked at the use of Windows to control test and measurement systems, and we considered the dilemma posed by the retirement of Windows 10 on October 14. In part 2, we looked at steps you can take if you’re planning to remain with Windows 10 for now. Here in part 3, we’ll discuss how to achieve a smooth migration to Windows 11 if you choose to upgrade soon, which will allow you to safely and securely connect your system to external networks to take advantage of features such as AI-driven cloud-based productivity tools.

Whether you should upgrade to Windows 11 now depends on many details of your specific test system, but the factors listed below can give you a start — if you can check most of the boxes, an upgrade may be your best choice.

• Your existing computer meets the minimum hardware and software requirements to run Windows 11, or you are willing to upgrade your hardware or software
• You do not need to use 32-bit legacy DLLs, or you plan to use Microsoft’s WOW64 emulator
• Your system is not dependent on Windows 10 characteristics that are not present in Windows 11
• You want to connect to an external network to take advantage of cloud-based and AI-enabled processing to boost productivity
• Windows 11 drivers are available for all of the instruments in your system, or you have determined that your 64-bit Windows 10 drivers will work with Windows 11
• Any third-party application programs that you use will run under Windows 11, or you can replace them with Windows 11 versions
• You are willing to undergo a revalidation process if necessary

Proceed with caution, however. Steve Summers, director and security lead for aerospace and defense at Emerson Test and Measurement, warned that upgrades require planning. “Don’t assume that it’s a simple install to do the upgrade,” he said, adding that you’ll need to evaluate the hardware on which you plan to run Windows 11, asking yourself if you could benefit from a higher-performance CPU, more memory, or perhaps a Trusted Platform Module (TPM) chip. Summers added that you’ll also need to determine whether your existing software is compatible with Windows 11.

The minimum requirements for the upgrade, according to Microsoft^[1] include a 64-bit processor with at least two cores running at 1 GHz or faster and a minimum of 4 GB of RAM. The 64-bit requirement is key. Noman Hussain, vice president of software and strategic business analysis at Pickering Interfaces, pointed out that Windows 10 is the last Windows version with native support for 32 bits. “With Windows 11, all systems will be 64-bit,” he emphasized, which could present problems with any legacy software that makes use of 32-bit dynamic link libraries (DLLs). Hussain noted that Microsoft has helped to smooth the transition with its WOW64^[2] Windows-on-Windows emulator, which allows 32-bit DLLs to run on a 64-bit system. “However,” Hussain cautioned, “you would still need to update your system files and hardware configuration to migrate from 32-bit to 64-bit.”

Toby Marsden, head of go-to-market strategy and strategic alliances at Keysight Technologies, said that applications and services that use Windows 10 will require testing to determine whether they rely on specific Windows 10 characteristics that are not present in Windows 11. He cited as an example the Y2K crossover problem, which resulted from date changes hard-programmed into application code. “A similar approach could have enabled applications to operate effectively on the Windows 10 platform,” he said, but there is no guarantee they will operate correctly under Windows 11.

You’ll also need to determine whether Windows 11 drivers are available for all the instruments in your system. If not, you might find that your 64-bit Windows 10 drivers will operate under Windows 11. This is a risky choice, however, because your vendor is unlikely to provide support for its Windows 10 drivers used in this way, and the driver may stop functioning after incremental Windows 11 updates.

Commented Hussein, “All of our PXI and PXIe boards are supported from Windows 7 through Windows 11 — in both 32-bit and 64-bit for Windows 7 through 10 and 64-bit for Windows 11. Some of these boards were originally designed more than 25 years ago and are still fully supported.” He added, “From a driver perspective, the Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 Redistributable^[3] works seamlessly across Windows 7 to Windows 11, allowing the same DLLs to support all these versions.”

Other considerations center on the user interface (UI) and the potential need for test operator retraining. And finally, of course, Microsoft will eventually withdraw support for Windows 11, which debuted October 4, 2021, although no end date has been set as of now. (The current version, 25H2, is set to end October 12, 2027, but will presumably be replaced by Windows 11 version 27H2.) In the final part of this series, we’ll look at UI considerations and ongoing steps you can take to prepare for any operating system’s inevitable obsolescence.

References

[1] Find Windows 11 specs, features, and computer requirements, Microsoft
[2] WOW64 Implementation Details, Microsoft
[3] Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable latest supported downloads, Microsoft

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