How to install Windows 11's beta -- and why you probably shouldn't

Speaker 1: First official version of the windows 11 death. Beta is here. I'm gonna show you how you can install it and why you probably shouldn't Speaker 1: Windows 11 is coming later this year officially, but before it gets released to everyone and starts shipping on new PCs, there's a long process of testing out a beta version of it. And almost anyone can sign up to basically be a beta tester. That means that you get access [00:00:30] to an early version of the new operating system in return. You share some diagnostic data with Microsoft. So if you wanna take your windows, laptop or desktop and start using windows 11, now you can do that. That said that may not be the smartest idea. There will be several different versions of the windows, 11 beta available. The most sort of rough is the dev beta. Uh, that's really just for kicking the tires for really going under the hood. It's not meant to be super stable or [00:01:00] something that you would, you know, that are good enough to use in a laptop. Speaker 1: You would buy off the shelf and have it installed after that. There's a public beta, which is a little more polished, will be a little more polished when it's available. Uh, really anyone can just go and update their system to it and really give windows 11 a test drive. And finally, there's gonna be eventually a release candidate, and that is essentially the final version of it that you can install and test early before the official official rollout. So for right [00:01:30] now, it's that that's available the most primitive version and Microsoft goes through great pains to warn you. This might be kind of a funky experience, so really proceed at your own risk. Speaker 1: Now, if you've heard all that and you wanna move forward, here's the first things that you have to do go to your windows. Laptop, go to settings, go to update and security, and then go to the windows insider program. That's the key thing. Settings, update security windows insider program. [00:02:00] If you were not already signed up as an insider, you can do that using your Microsoft account. Uh, it's instantaneous is free. Uh, I don't know of any reason why you would not be instantly accepted into the program. And that just means you get access to early versions of operating system software that may not be quite ready for prime time. Once you do that, you may have to install some windows updates. Uh, you may have to restart your machine a few times. This always takes forever. Uh, you will be offered a chance to join one of [00:02:30] three channels that dev channel that made a channel and something kinda like the release, uh, candidate channel, uh, right now windows 11 is only available in that dev channel. That's the one you're gonna wanna pick. However, keep in mind that this means it's the least stable version of the software. Speaker 1: Now I'm going to go back to what I always say about new versions of OS software, whether it's an iOS version or makos version [00:03:00] or a windows version, it's very tempting to install it. A lot of people do you want to get access to new features and new functionality and new design elements right away. That is great. I always say out of an abundance of caution, do not install these betas on what I would call mission critical systems. You need your laptop or your desktop to work correctly for your job. Otherwise you are in big trouble that said if you're willing to move forward. And again, I would use another [00:03:30] computer that you don't use every day for this or a backup machine or an older machine, just to try it out. You pick that dev channel. There's gonna be a lot of restarts and updates for your windows, 10 laptop. Speaker 1: It is going to take forever. I'm sitting here watching the swirling little blue screen icon where windows is updating my machine. And I bet I'm gonna be sitting here for a while. So let's say you have windows 11 installed this dev version. You don't like it. It's not working for you. You want to go back to what you had before you wanna go back to ring of the windows, [00:04:00] 10 windows 11. It's pretty simple. Again, you go to settings, there's an option for recovery. And once you're in there, there are a few different options. One of which is basically roll your machine back to windows 10. If that's what you want to do, that's where you do it. Well, I finally got windows 11 installed on one of my windows, 10 PCs. It took a lot longer than I. It would lots of restarts, lots of updates. Speaker 1: I will say, however, that at least in the first few minutes, windows 11 seems to be working fine. Now again, if I want to go back, [00:04:30] I can reset back to an earlier version by going into settings and recovery. But at least for now, I'm gonna keep windows 11 on this machine and keep test driving it. The, that said, if you're thinking of doing the same thing again, my usual warning applies. If it's your main machine, your only machine, the one you really rely on to get your work done or get your school stuff done. Wait until the official version is out. If you have an extra machine you can use, or you don't mind, if everything just goes, uh, belly up, well, then [00:05:00] go right ahead. Download that Def beta right now. Like it subscribe for more videos on how to do it all. Thanks for watching.