Microsoft Windows 11

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Microsoft Windows 11

Basic Information
Release Year	2021-10-05
Product Type	Operating System, Software
In Production	Yes
Official Website	https://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-11

Microsoft Windows 11 is an operating system for personal computers developed and owned by Microsoft. It was released on October 5 2021. As of 2026, Windows 11 is the current version of Windows sold by Microsoft. It is used in personal, business, server, and embedded systems applications. Windows by far has the highest market share of any operating system on consumer desktop computers.

Consumer impact summary

User Freedom

Windows 11 has several and more restrictions than their previous version, Windows 10. These restrictions usually prevent the user to configure the system to their liking. Some notable restrictions are:

• In order to use the operating system, it is required to link a Microsoft account. Since October 2025 local accounts cannot be created and Microsoft has blocked ways to bypass the Microsoft account requirement.

• Updates are forced and cannot be disabled, only postponed by default. They can only be disabled with third-party tools. Some settings and preferences set by the user are modified after applying updates. A very known case of this happening is the modification of the default browser preferences to Microsoft Edge if the user has set another default web browser instead.

• BitLocker drive encryption is forced and there are known incidents of users permanently losing their data.

• Like with Windows 10, OneDrive synchronization is active by default. The File Explorer redirects the local file shortcuts to the OneDrive file addresses.

User Privacy

• Telemetry is active by default and cannot be completely disabled without using third-party tools.
• Due to a Microsoft account being officially required to run Windows 11, the privacy policy of Microsoft's account related services also partially apply to Windows 11.

Business Model

• Windows comes pre-installed on most of the computers and laptops sold to consumers and businesses.
• The operating system license can also be acquired by an one-time purchase.
• Windows 11 contains bloatware, such as Microsoft Copilot and Microsoft Edge that cannot be uninstalled without specialized tools.
• System tools such as Settings or File Explorer contain integrated ads for Microsoft software and services.
  • Ads can also appear on the lock screen, notifications, start menu and on the desktop.

Market Control

Windows 11 is installed on more than 30% of all computers world wide. Windows 11 collects user data including but not limited to hardware specs, apps and drivers installed on the device, app activity, device settings and configuration, web browser history, etc.

Incidents

This is a list of all consumer-protection incidents this company is involved in. Any incidents not mentioned here can be found in the Microsoft Windows 11 category.

Unstable & forced updates

Following the update form of Windows 10, Windows 11 updates are also forced and the system settings only allow them to be postponed, without having any official form to disable them that do not require registry editing or third-party software. They're frequent, usually happening once per month, with major releases happening once or twice a year. The way that updates are deployed, without allowing to use the OS while it is updating, have caused several users to be unable to use their computers when they need to work, do a project, or even when they're in a critical situation. ^{[citation needed]}

Windows users have also reported several times issues and bugs with the recent updates, that vary from minor issues to major issues that can lead to the system to become unusable or to major data losses.

Some documented problematic updates include:

• Minor update 24H2 KB5063878, released on August 12 2025. This update affected some SSD drives by severely corrupting them. This corruption in some cases caused data losses that ended in unrecoverable files.

• An update on December 2025 caused issues with core feature on many computers, with several users complaining about said issues breaking core features. Microsoft admitted later that this update was problematic.

• Update KB5077181, released on February 11 2026. This update affected some Samsung computers, making them unable to access to the C:\ drive. If someone attempted to access this drive, the system launched an error message saying "C:\ is not accessible – Access denied". This glitch also affected the ability to launch programs and perform administrative tasks.

These combined factors have caused users to respond in several ways, from complaining about the OS and how Microsoft handles it, by blocking updates with third-party tools such as WinAeroTweaker to prevent the forced and problematic updates despite the risks of doing so , or even by migrating to modified or unsupported versions of Windows or to other operating systems such as Linux.

Unnecessary Hardware Requirements

When users tried switching from Windows 10 to 11, they sometimes couldn't due to the strict hardware requirements. One peculiar instance of this is the TPM 2.0 requirement. Older hardware that could run Windows 11 fine without this requirement was suddenly locked out, even the more recent hardware released before 2018 was suddenly incapable of running Windows 11, either entirely or just without a BIOS update. Due to most users not knowing about this specific requirement and due to most users not knowing how to meet this requirement, a lot of perfectly fine hardware got tossed out.

TPM 2.0 only protects users from advanced physical attacks that an every day user would never encounter in real life, due to the hardware needing to be stolen for such hacks to be feasible. For an every day user, this requirement made good hardware unusable on modern Windows without having a good reason for doing so. As TPM 1.2 was supported by most older hardware and had encryption that met most peoples security needs.

This requirement was especially weird due to it only being needed for optional security features like BitLocker.

Microsoft Copilot integration

Microsoft Copilot is a generative Artificial Intelligence model developed by Microsoft. In recent releases of Windows 11, Microsoft has decided to integrate its AI assistant, Copilot, directly into the operating system through a dedicated Copilot key, a Copilot shortcut combination and through direct integrations into system apps and Microsoft's Office suit.

This late integration of Copilot adds in another hard to remove app that many users consider 'bloatware'. It also changes system apps like Notepad to have Copilot included in them, which makes removing this new Microsoft product from Windows 11 even harder. The way Copilot is handled in Windows 11 bears a resemblance to how Microsoft handled Internet Explorer in the '90s, mostly in the way that Microsoft is using their market dominance on operating systems to push their own additional digital products forward into the faces of consumers.

Windows Recall

Main article: Microsoft Copilot's recall feature

In 2024, Microsoft unveiled Recall for Copilot+ PCs, marketed as a way for users to search through what they have done on their computer by recording their screen. This sparked controversy, especially among security experts who worried about the security of screenshots, since it could easily document private information like social-security numbers, bank-account information, and passwords, as well as user browsing behavior. A Python script was developed, called "TotalRecall", that collects the screenshots and descriptions of these recordings, proving the danger of Recall. This feature was delayed after backlash from users.

In 2025, Microsoft re-released Recall, with claims that the tool has resolved the security flaws and it coming disabled by default. However, despite integrating better security, having this feature enabled continues to pose privacy risks for consumers, as it is only a matter of when a vulnerability is discovered for the problems both consumers and businesses initially had with the tool to resurface, especially since it is difficult for users to inspect the screenshots that are taken by the tool.

Windows 11 requires a Microsoft Account to use

Versions of Windows 11 Pro for personal use and Windows 11 Home require internet connectivity and a Microsoft account (see Forced account) during setup. This prevents users from setting up the software without the internet, and prevents users from setting up a completely offline installation of Windows, even though the operating system can function without an internet connection. When Microsoft stops offering compatible accounts, Windows 11 will no longer be installable. Workarounds existed to set up Windows without a Microsoft account. In October 2025, Microsoft announced they would be removing mechanisms to bypass the Microsoft account setup during the "out of box experience" (OOBE) process. Microsoft claims that these bypass methods were skipping "critical setup screens" despite most users having no issues with these workarounds.

Poorly disclosed data encryption

Computers running Windows 11 with Microsoft Account are set to automatically enable BitLocker which encrypts all data on internal disks, leaving key for decryption in owners Microsoft My Account device list without explicitly informing the owner of doing so. Updating BIOS or hardware manipulation may lead to triggering BitLocker and leaving computer in recovery mode if BitLocker is not suspended beforehand. This process can leave owner with seemingly bricked device, especially if owners Microsoft Account was created and used only to satisfy Windows 11s requirement for Microsoft Accounts during OOBE. If key hidden in Microsoft Account is not provided, erasing encrypted disks and reinstalling operating system is recommended.

Misleading presentation of Microsoft OneDrive

Main article: OneDrive

Windows explorer has a button which is misleadingly labeled to "back up" files. Instead of backing them up, it sends the files to OneDrive, Microsofts own cloud service. If the file is deleted, OneDrive deletes the online copy too, which contradicts the whole point of backing up files. If OneDrive runs out of space, it is likely to lose the backed up files. If you try to disable or remove OneDrive, Windows will push you to re-enable it. It takes several steps to stop Windows from advertising OneDrive to the user.

Secretly Limiting User Control

In 2024 Microsoft, without telling users, added an additional driver known as 'UCPD', which is short for User Choice Protection Driver. This driver blocks registry key edits related to choices made through official Microsoft apps from being changed through things like the Registry Editor or 3rd party apps. This driver is partially designed to stop applications from changing user preferences without asking for permission, it however also limits power users from doing certain things like removing Edge.

This driver is thus mostly noticed by users due to it making the removal of Windows apps like Edge harder. But it also makes the automated disabling of unpopular Windows features harder and it locks the device region. The device region lock was implemented to prevent users from changing their device region so they could remove Edge, as in the EU, thanks to the Digital Markets Act, Edge can be removed through the settings app.

An additional function related to the UCPD driver rubbed salt in the wound for many power users, due to said function after two reboots turning the UCPD driver back on after being manually disabled by the user. Which makes disabling this driver a lot more challenging.

Difficult Browser Switching

When Windows 11 first launched, Microsoft made it much harder for users to move away from Microsoft Edge. On older versions of Windows, users could switch their default browser through one setting. Windows 11 changed this by forcing users to manually switch the default browser for the opening of all file types that default to Edge, like the '.pdf' and '.html' file extensions.

This controversial change was reverted in April of 2022. The reverting of this policy happened due to the Digital Markets Act coming into effect in 2022/2023 inside of the EU.

Microsoft Bing Wallpaper

Bing Wallpaper is a free-to-download app on the Microsoft Store that displays a daily rotation of wallpapers for Windows 11 computers. By default, an option is toggled in its settings to automatically open Bing and search for the wallpaper's contents whenever one clicks somewhere on their desktop that doesn't contain an icon and place a permanent window on top of one's wallpaper to learn more. This option must be manually switched off in a setting at the bottom of the options page. Along with this, it reportedly replaces one's default search engine with Bing.

See Also

• Microsoft Windows
• Microsoft Copilot
• Microsoft Office 365
• OneDrive
• Bing
• Ubuntu