Windows 11 Professional

About this release

This is the current desktop system image in the Professional edition, which is the level that carries group policy, remote desktop hosting, drive encryption, virtualisation and domain join. The Home edition drops all of those, so for a work machine this is the version worth installing.

The interface generation is the centred taskbar, the rounded window treatment, snap layouts for arranging windows on large displays, and virtual desktops that persist properly across restarts. Window management is the practical improvement most people notice within a day, particularly on a wide or multi monitor setup.

Under the surface, scheduling for hybrid processors is better, storage handling on solid state drives is faster, and the graphics stack handles modern hardware more directly. On recent machines the difference in responsiveness against the previous generation is real, particularly on laptops.

The image is multilingual, so display language and regional format are chosen during setup rather than fixed in the build. Setup is the ordinary experience: write the image to a stick, boot, partition and install, either as a clean install or as an upgrade that keeps files and applications in place.

What it does

Professional feature set

Group policy, remote desktop hosting, drive encryption, virtualisation and domain join.

Snap layouts

Window arrangement presets that make large and multi monitor setups usable.

Multilingual image

Display language and regional format chosen at setup time.

Modern hardware support

Better scheduling on hybrid processors and faster solid state handling.

Virtual desktops

Separate workspaces that survive restarts.

Clean or in place install

Wipe the partition or upgrade keeping files and applications.

Changed in this version

• Image refreshed to the current feature release with cumulative updates folded in.
• Updated drivers for recent chipsets, wireless adapters and storage controllers.
• Setup handles mixed drive configurations more reliably.
• Language and region screens simplified.

System requirements

Install order

1. Write the image to a USB stick with a tool that produces bootable media.
2. Back up the target machine before starting.
3. Boot from the stick and pick display language and edition.
4. Choose clean install or in place upgrade, then let setup run to the desktop.

Worth knowing before you start

File details