Microsoft’s Windows 11 now has its first beta

Microsoft has released the first beta of Windows 11, available to people who are enrolled in its Windows Insider program. Until today, accessing Windows 11 meant installing the Dev Preview, which Microsoft says is aimed at “highly technical users” because it has “rough edges.” According to Microsoft, the beta is less volatile, with the versions validated by Microsoft (although this is probably something you will probably want to install on a test machine or second partition).

Of course, to install the beta you will need a compatible computer. Determining whether your hardware will work with the next version of Windows has been notoriously elusive, but Microsoft’s article on Preparing for Insider releases directs users to its system requirements page. The company said it will pay close attention to ensuring that 7th Generation Intel and AMD Zen 1 processors function properly during the testing period. It is therefore possible that these systems will be allowed to run the beta version but not the final version.

The beta is also great news for those of us who have installed the Dev Preview to get our hands on Windows 11 ASAP, but don’t need to be up to date (read : buggy). If, like me, you’re in this situation, you can switch to the beta channel by going to Settings> Windows Update> Windows Insider Program, then clicking on Choose your insider settings.

Usually, moving from Dev to Beta requires a full OS reinstallation, but according to the Windows Insider Twitter account, it will be possible to do this in place for a “short period of time”. It’s probably best to jump on it as soon as you can if you don’t need to stay on the dev channel. I tested it myself and switching to the beta channel only required a quick reboot – a small price to pay for what will hopefully be smoother navigation to the actual release.

For those who still use Windows 10, but are adventurous enough to join the beta, you can sign up for Microsoft’s beta program here. Of course, while Microsoft says the Beta Channel releases are more stable than the Dev Channel releases, they’re still beta releases. There will likely be bugs, crashes, and missing features – Microsoft even has a whole list of current issues in its blog post, which also states that the Teams Chat feature available to some in the Dev channel is not currently available. for beta users. Again.

But if you were eager to try Windows 11, it’s now in a place stable enough that Microsoft is ready to call it ready for early adopters (for those living on the edge, you might say).