With support for Windows 10 ending on Oct. 14, 2025, users are faced with deciding how and when they wish to upgrade to Windows 11. Since some old devices won’t be able to upgrade to Windows 11, new devices must be purchased.  

Administrators should start evaluating the transition to Windows 11 by upgrading their current fleet or evaluating a device refresh that will come with Windows 11. 

Ivanti Endpoint Management (EPM) customers will be able to start imaging those devices at the push of a button with the new features in Ivanti’s cloud-based Modern Device Management (MDM). 

Your organization might be ready to upgrade to Windows 11 or need to plan for it. Ivanti technicians can help upgrade the devices at your own pace. You can block Windows 11 updates or target a configuration and proceed with the upgrade. 

Let’s analyze some of those challenges and how Ivanti Neurons for MDM helps streamline the process with minimal end-user impact. 

Upgrading to Windows 11 

For starters, this Windows upgrade introduces a broad set of capabilities and controls that can take much longer to install, for many reasons. More importantly, each update introduces a new set of potential compatibility and reliability problems. 

While some updates are small and might not be noticed during installation, others are quite large and can take a while to install. In an enterprise environment, this can disrupt end users. Windows 11 added not only new features end users can enjoy, but also security and performance improvements that make the transition even more challenging. 

Remotely targeting only Windows 11-compatible devices can minimize upgrade failure. In Ivanti Neurons for MDM, you can specify where you’d like your Windows 11 upgrades to come from — WSUS or Windows Updates. In our recent release, we’ve added the ability to choose sources for each Windows OS update type: feature updates, quality updates, driver updates and other Microsoft updates. Every device will connect to the corresponding source and report the applicable version of the upgrade.  

For a device to report on the applicable Windows 11 versions, in this latest release we’ve added the Product Version field. Here, customers must specify the 11 version for the device to know that it needs to upgrade, instead of just keep updating Windows 10 patches. 

Once devices start reporting the Windows 11 version, Ivanti Neurons for MDM platform will scan them and present them in the Windows Update page so our admins can approve the upgrade. Devices not eligible for an upgrade due to system or software incompatibility will automatically be left untouched and not report incompatible versions.  

Follow these steps 

Manage Windows 11 Upgrades at your own pace: Microsoft recently announced that Windows 11 upgrades will be offered to all unmanaged Windows devices. Having end users upgrading to Windows 11 could create plenty of issues – and many helpdesk tickets. 

When Windows devices are managed with Ivanti Neurons for MDM, Windows 10 devices will only get Windows 10 updates, unless you specifically target the Windows 11 upgrade for your fleet. Using our Software Update configurations will give you granular controls over the upgrade process, schedules, reboots and notifications. 

If your organization doesn’t have a good way to manage Windows 11 upgrades and is concerned about devices being upgraded by end users directly, Ivanti Neurons for UEM for Windows might be a good fit for your organization. 

Customize upgrades with low end user impact: Ivanti Neurons for MDM provides a complete set of functionalities to customize the upgrade's behavior. Customers can schedule, differ and pause the updates and configure the level of notifications the end user will get before the upgrade. These controls are very granular, letting administrators choose different behaviors for each update type: feature, quality, driver and others. 

For instance, with Ivanti Neurons for MDM, you can provide off-hour windows to make sure upgrades are downloaded without impacting your end users. Administrators can also configure the ability for end users to upgrade on their own schedule.  

Roll out Windows 11 Copilot AI at your own pace: Copilot in Windows provides centralized generative AI assistance to users, appearing as a sidebar docked on the Windows desktop. Since users could copy and paste sensitive information into it, organizations must properly configure the chat provider platform for Copilot in Windows. With Ivanti Neurons for MDM, you can create configurations for different device groups and enable Copilot after testing. Administrators can choose upgrade to Windows 11 while having Copilot disabled for all devices and enabling it in phases later by device group. 

Image your start menu and task bar for Windows 11: Another challenge users face when planning their Windows 11 upgrade is the change in the user interface. Windows 11 has a new start menu at the bottom of the screen instead of on the left; the task bar differs, too. With the changes recently rolled out in Ivanti Neurons for MDM, administrators can create images targeted for Windows 11 devices. As soon as devices get upgraded, the new Windows 11 start menu and task bar image will be pushed to the devices. 

Track upgrades and troubleshoot remotely: After the device has been configured with the Windows Software Update configuration, every device will report the applicable versions and start updating according to the specifications or will wait for administrator approval. Administrators can approve any Windows 11 updates reported by the device and have visibility into which devices are eligible, pending upgrade, upgraded or failed. They can also create charts on the dashboard to track adoption of the Windows version deployed to the endpoints. 

Automate enrollment of newly refreshed Windows 11 devices via Ivanti Neurons for UEM: Many firms are deciding to start a device refresh process of their fleet, instead of trying to jump through all the hoops required to upgrade existing devices. As companies work with their distributors to purchase and ship devices to their end users, they need to plan for the most efficient way to image and provision Windows 11 compatible configurations and applications.  

One way is via Autopilot enrollment. Ivanti Neurons for MDM provides the easiest way to image and provision devices with the OOBE via Autopilot, automating the setup of the devices and the installation of application. With the previously described features, administrators can tailor the policies to Windows 11 images and applications compatible with this new operating system. Ivanti Neurons for MDM supports Autopilot without incurring additional MDM user license costs. 

On the other hand, if you are using any other agent-based Windows Management solution, you can automate the enrollment via Ivanti Neurons UEM Deployment Package. Via the agent, push a deployment package to devices and enroll them seamlessly, with no end user impact, into Ivanti Neurons for UEM and start managing your Windows 11 upgrades. 

Know before you upgrade 

Follow these suggestions to make your transition smooth: 

  • Windows 11 has specific system requirements. Make sure your fleet meets these requirements for your devices to be eligible for upgrade.  
  • Windows 11 requires Secure Boot be enabled. Secure Boot is designed to prevent malicious software from loading when a PC starts. Most modern PCs are capable of Secure Boot, but in some instances, there may be settings that cause the PC to appear to not be. Check with your device manufacturer for support on Secure Boot. Ivanti has partnered with Lenovo to configure Secure Boot via Configurations. 
  • Windows 11 has over 1,000 new management controls to make it easier to move away from older management systems like Group Policy.  
  • Windows 11 is built on the Windows 10 code base, so it is natively compatible with the software and solutions used today. However, some solutions might work differently in Windows 11 or have different requirements. Create a pilot device group to test the Windows 11 upgrade, security solutions and new configuration before rolling it out to the larger population of devices. 
  • To leverage the Windows Autopilot features, Ivanti Neurons for MDM needs to be integrated with a Microsoft Entra environment.