User:Zenphia/Windows 11 editions

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Windows 11 has several editions, all with varying feature sets, use cases, or intended devices. Certain editions are distributed only on devices directly from an original equipment manufacturer (OEM), while editions such as Enterprise and Education are only available through volume licensing channels. Microsoft also makes editions of Windows 11 available to device manufacturers for use on specific classes of devices, including IoT devices.

Baseline editions[edit]

Baseline editions are the only editions available as standalone purchases in retail outlets.

Home: Windows 11 Home is designed for use in PCs, tablets and 2-in-1 PCs. It includes all features directed at consumers.

Pro: Windows 11 Pro includes all features of Windows 11 Home, with additional capabilities that are oriented towards professionals and business environments, such as Active Directory, Remote Desktop, BitLocker, Hyper-V, and Windows Defender Device Guard.

Pro for Workstations: Windows 11 Pro for Workstations is designed for high-end hardware for intensive computing tasks and supports Intel Xeon, AMD Opteron and the latest AMD Epyc processors; up to four CPUs; up to 6 TB RAM; the ReFS file system; Non-Volatile Dual In-line Memory Module (NVDIMM); and remote direct memory access (RDMA).

Organizational editions[edit]

These editions add features to facilitate centralized control of many installations of the OS within an organization. The main avenue of acquiring them is a volume licensing contract with Microsoft.

Education: Windows 11 Education is distributed through Academic Volume Licensing. It was built off of Windows 11 Enterprise and initially reported to have the same feature set. As of version 1709, however, this edition has fewer features. See § Comparison chart for details.
Pro Education: This edition was introduced in July 2016 for hardware partners on new devices purchased with the discounted K–12 academic license. It was built off of the Pro edition of Windows 11 and contains mostly the same features as Windows 11 Pro with different options disabled by default, and adds options for setup and deployment in an education environment. It also features a "Set Up School PCs" app that allows provisioning of settings using a USB flash drive, and does not include Cortana, Microsoft Store suggestions, Windows Sandbox, or Windows Spotlight.
Enterprise: Windows 11 Enterprise provides all the features of Windows 11 Pro, with additional features to assist with IT-based organizations. Windows 11 Enterprise is configurable on two servicing channels, Semi-Annual Channel and Windows Insider Program.
SE: SE is an enterprise oriented edition that removes customer oriented features such as Your Phone and Widgets and disables the Microsoft Store. It is also required to log in using a Microsoft account during the OOBE. There is no limitation regarding running Win32 apps not downloaded from the Store.

Regional variations[edit]

N

As with previous versions of Windows since Windows XP, all Windows 11 editions for PC hardware have an "N" variation in Europe that excludes certain bundled multimedia functionality, including media players and related components, in order to comply with antitrust rulings. The "Media Feature Pack" can be installed to restore these features. The variation cannot be changed without a clean install, and keys for one variation will not work on other variations.

Home Single Language

In some emerging markets, OEMs preinstall a variation of Windows 11 Home called Single Language without the ability to switch the display language. It is otherwise identical to Windows 11 Home. To change display language, the user will need to upgrade to Windows 11 Pro.

The following sections are nowhere close to being finished and most of the information inside them is taken from Windows 10 editions.

Comparison chart[edit]

Guide
Item	Meaning
Yes	Feature is present in the given edition
Yes, since [update]	Feature is present in the given edition after installing a certain update
No	Feature is absent from the given edition
No, since [update]	Feature is absent from the given edition after installing a certain update (It might have been fully or partly present prior to that update)
[Explanation]	Feature is partly present in the given edition
[Explanation], since [update]	Feature is partly present in the given edition, after installing a certain update (It might have been fully present prior to that update, or not present at all)

Comparison of Windows 10 editions
Features	Home Single Language	Home	Pro	Pro Education	Education	Pro for Workstations	Enterprise
Architecture	IA-32, x86-64
Availability	OEM licensing	OEM, Retail	OEM, Retail, Volume licensing	Academic Volume Licensing	Volume licensing	OEM (workstation PCs), Retail (upgrade from Home or Pro), Volume licensing	Volume licensing
Has N or KN variants?	No	Yes
Maximum physical memory (RAM)	4 GB on IA-32 128 GB on x86-64		4 GB on IA-32 2 TB (2048 GB) on x86-64			4 GB on IA-32 6 TB (6144 GB) on x86-64
Maximum CPU sockets	1		2			4
Maximum CPU cores	64		128			256
Minimum telemetry level^[a]	Required				Diagnostic data off	Required	Diagnostic data off
Continuum	Yes
Family Safety and Parental Controls	Yes
Cortana^[b]	Yes			Yes, disabled by default	Yes, since 1703	Yes
Hardware device encryption	Yes
Microsoft Edge	Yes
Multiple language pack support	No	Yes
Mobile device management	Yes
Side-loading of line of business apps	Yes
Virtual desktops	Yes
Windows Hello^[c]	Yes
Can pause updates?	Yes, since 1903		Yes
Windows Spotlight	Yes
Microsoft Store suggestions	Yes			Yes, disabled by default		Yes
Remote Desktop	Client only		Client and host
Remote App	Client only				Client and host	Client only	Client and host
ReFS support	Cannot create, since 1709					Yes
Windows Subsystem for Linux	64-bit SKUs only		64-bit SKUs only since 1607
Windows Sandbox	No		64-bit only
Hyper-V	No		64-bit SKUs only
Assigned Access 8.1	No		Yes
BitLocker	No		Yes
Business Store	No		Yes
Conditional Access	No		Yes
Device Guard	No		Yes
Encrypting File System	No		Yes
Enterprise data protection	No		Yes
Enterprise Mode Internet Explorer (EMIE)	No		Yes
Joining a domain and Group Policy management	No		Yes
Joining a Microsoft Azure Active Directory	No		Yes
Private catalog	No		Yes
Windows Analytics	No		Yes
Windows Information Protection	No		Yes
Windows Update for Business	No		Yes
NVDIMM support	No					Yes
Remote Direct Memory Access	No					Yes
AppLocker	No				Yes	No	Yes
BranchCache	No				Yes	No	Yes
Credential Guard (Pass the hash mitigations)	No				Yes	No	Yes
Microsoft App-V	No				Yes	No	Yes
Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP)	No				Yes	No	Yes
Microsoft UE-V	No				Yes	No	Yes
Start screen control with Group Policy	No				Yes	No	Yes
User experience control and lockdown	No				Yes	No	Yes
Unified Write Filter (UWF)	No				Yes	No	Yes
DirectAccess	No				Yes	No	Yes
Long-term servicing option available (LTSC)	No						Yes	No	No, since version 2004
Features	Home Single Language	Home	Pro	Pro Education	Education	Pro for Workstations	Enterprise

Microsoft OEM licensing formula takes display size, RAM capacity and storage capacity into account. In mid-2015, devices with 4 GB RAM were expected to be $20 more expensive than devices with 2 GB RAM.

Upgrade path[edit]

Free upgrade[edit]

At the time of launch, Microsoft deemed Windows 7 (with Service Pack 1) and Windows 8.1 users eligible to upgrade to Windows 10 free of charge, so long as the upgrade took place within one year of Windows 10's initial release date. Windows RT and the respective Enterprise editions of Windows 7, 8, and 8.1 were excluded from this offer.

Windows 10 free upgrade matrix
Windows version and edition	Windows 10 edition
Windows 7 Starter	Home
Windows 7 Home Basic
Windows 7 Home Premium
Windows 8.1 with Bing
Windows 8.1
Windows 7 Professional	Pro
Windows 7 Ultimate
Windows 8.1 Pro
Windows Phone 8.1	Mobile

Commercial upgrade[edit]

The following table summarizes possible upgrade paths that can be taken, provided that proper licenses are purchased.
There is no upgrade path that can allow Windows RT 8.1 devices to install Windows 10.

Guide
Item	Meaning
Upgrade	Upgrade is possible, preserving apps, settings and data
Clean	Upgrade is possible, but all apps, settings and data are lost.
Downgrade	Upgrade is possible, but some features are lost.
—	Upgrade is impossible under any circumstances.
Same Edition	The Windows edition and the Upgrade target are the same.

Supported upgrade targets
Windows version	Windows edition	Upgrade target
Windows version	Windows edition	Windows 10 Home	Windows 10 Pro	Windows 10 Pro for Workstations	Windows 10 Pro Education	Windows 10 Education	Windows 10 Enterprise	Windows 10 Mobile
Windows 7	Starter	Upgrade	Upgrade	Upgrade	Upgrade	Upgrade	Clean	—
	Home Basic	Upgrade	Upgrade	Upgrade	Upgrade	Upgrade	Clean	—
	Home Premium	Upgrade	Upgrade	Upgrade	Upgrade	Upgrade	Clean	—
	Professional	Downgrade	Upgrade	Upgrade	Upgrade	Upgrade	Upgrade	—
	Ultimate	Downgrade	Upgrade	Upgrade	Upgrade	Upgrade	Upgrade	—
	Enterprise	Clean	Clean	Upgrade	Clean	Upgrade	Upgrade	—
Windows 8.1	(Core)	Upgrade	Upgrade	Upgrade	Upgrade	Upgrade	Clean	—
	with Bing	Upgrade	Upgrade	Upgrade	Upgrade	Upgrade	Clean	—
	Pro	Downgrade	Upgrade	Upgrade	Upgrade	Upgrade	Upgrade	—
	Pro for Students	Downgrade	Upgrade	Upgrade	Upgrade	Upgrade	Upgrade	—
	Pro with Media Center	Downgrade	Upgrade	Upgrade	Upgrade	Upgrade	Upgrade	—
	Enterprise	Clean	Clean	Clean	Clean	Upgrade	Upgrade	—
	Embedded Industry	Clean	Clean	Clean	Clean	Clean	Upgrade	—
	Phone 8.1	—	—	—	—	—	—	Upgrade
Windows 10	Home	Same Edition	Upgrade	Upgrade	Upgrade	Upgrade	Upgrade	—
	Pro	Downgrade	Same Edition	Upgrade	Upgrade	Upgrade	Upgrade	—
	Pro for Workstations	Downgrade	Downgrade	Same Edition	Upgrade	Upgrade	Upgrade	—
	Pro Education	Downgrade	Upgrade	Upgrade	Same Edition	Clean	Clean	—
	Education	Clean	Clean	Clean	Clean	Same Edition	Upgrade	—
	Enterprise	Clean	Clean	Clean	Clean	Downgrade	Same Edition	—
	Mobile	—	—	—	—	—	—	Same Edition

Release branches[edit]

New releases of Windows 10, called feature updates, are released twice a year as a free update for existing Windows 10 users. Each feature update contains new features and other changes to the operating system. The pace at which a system receives feature updates is dependent on the release branch from which the system downloads its updates. Windows 10 Pro, Enterprise and Education can optionally use a branch that receives updates at a slower pace. These modes can be managed through system settings, Windows Server Update Services (WSUS), Windows Update for Business, Group Policy or through mobile device management systems such as Microsoft Intune.

Windows Insider: Windows Insider is a beta testing program that allows access to pre-release builds of Windows 10; it is designed to allow power users, developers, and vendors to test and provide feedback on future feature updates to Windows 10 as they are developed. Windows Insider itself consists of four "rings", "Fast" (which receives new builds as they are released), "Slow" (which receives new builds on a delay after it is deployed to Fast ring users), "Release Preview" (which receives early access to updates for the Current Branch), and formerly "Skip Ahead" (which receives super-early builds for the next feature update while a current release is being finished).
Semi-Annual Channel (Targeted): The Semi-Annual Channel (Targeted), previously known as the Current Branch (CB), distributes all feature updates as they graduate from the Windows Insider branch. Microsoft only supports the latest build. A feature update can be deferred for up to 365 days, a quality update can be deferred for up to 30 days before it will be listed as available in Windows Update. As of version 1703, additional settings are provided to pause checking of updates for up to 35 days, but they were not available on Windows 10 Home until version 1903.
Semi-Annual Channel: The Semi-Annual Channel, previously known as Current Branch for Business (CBB), distributes feature updates on a four-month delay from their original release to the Semi-Annual Channel. This allows customers and vendors to evaluate and perform additional testing on new builds before broader deployments. Devices can be switched back to the Semi-Annual Channel (Targeted) at any time. The Semi-Annual Channel is not available on Windows 10 Home.
Long-Term Servicing Channel (LTSC): This servicing option is exclusively available for Windows 10 Enterprise, IoT Core, and IoT Enterprise LTSC editions. Distribution snapshots of these editions are updated every 2-3 years. LTSC builds adhere to Microsoft's traditional support policy which was in effect before Windows 10: They are not updated with new features, and are supported with critical updates for 10 years after their release. Microsoft officially discourages the use of LTSC outside of "special-purpose devices" that perform a fixed function and thus do not require new user experience features. As a result, it excludes Windows Store, most Cortana functionality, and most bundled apps (including Microsoft Edge).

Notes[edit]

^ There are three (previously four) telemetry levels, in the order of magnitude: Diagnostic data off (Security), Required (Basic), and Optional (Full). The higher the level, the more information that is sent to Microsoft. Previous Windows 10 versions had a level between Required and Optional, and the older names for the levels are shown in the parenthesis.
^ Cortana is available only in certain markets. Experience may vary by region and device.
^ Windows Hello requires specialized hardware, such as a fingerprint reader, illuminated IR sensor or other biometric sensor.

References[edit]

Category:Windows 11

[1] There are three (previously four) telemetry levels, in the order of magnitude: Diagnostic data off (Security), Required (Basic), and Optional (Full). The higher the level, the more information that is sent to Microsoft. Previous Windows 10 versions had a level between Required and Optional, and the older names for the levels are shown in the parenthesis.

[2] Cortana is available only in certain markets. Experience may vary by region and device.

[3] Windows Hello requires specialized hardware, such as a fingerprint reader, illuminated IR sensor or other biometric sensor.

[a]

[b]

[c]