People aren't upgrading to Windows 11 as quickly as Microsoft would like. Despite the Redmond tech giant working on fixing the wrong of the past decade with Windows 11, people are still sticking around with Windows 10. As such, the company has tried a lot of things to encourage people to make the jump.

Microsoft's most recent tactic was to publish a YouTube video on its channel titled "Make Your Move to Windows 11 Easier." The video shows someone making the jump from Windows 10 to Windows 11, showing off how easy it is to do so. However, as much as Microsoft shows how easy it can be to transfer your files between operating systems, the video misses the point of why people aren't upgrading from Windows 10. So, here are some obstacles Windows 11 poses that didn't appear in Microsoft's video.

3 Increased hardware requirements

They can't upgrade even if they want to

Right off the bat, the video shows the intrepid Windows 11 explorer upgrading their PC to the newest version. This already skips over one of the largest roadblocks for upgrading to Windows 11: its system requirements.

Before Windows 11 was released, Microsoft published an upgrade advice tool that informed people how to prepare their PCs for the operating system's launch. The tool would scan your system, check that your hardware was compatible with Windows 11, and give you the green light if everything looked good. However, it immediately confused people who tried it, as the tool labeled relatively recent hardware as incompatible with the operating system.

Everyone chalked it up as a bug with the tool; their computer's hardware was clearly powerful enough to handle a new operating system. However, Microsoft stated its reasoning behind this odd judgement; Windows 11 would use TPM 2.0 as a core part of the system. If your hardware didn't support it, you weren't allowed to upgrade to Windows 11. If you still wanted to use Windows 11, you had to either upgrade your current hardware or purchase a brand-new PC.

Years later, Microsoft hasn't backed down on its system requirements for Windows 11, and people with older PCs are being faced with Windows 10's end-of-support date approaching on October 14, 2025. Once that arrives, people with incompatible PCs will either have to pay for Microsoft's new Windows 10 extended support, change to a different operating system, or run the risk of using an unsupported operating system.

2 The new UI isn't friendly to everyone

Not everyone gels with the new UI

The video focuses a lot on how easy it is to transfer your data over to Windows 11. And, yes, Windows does make it easy to transfer files and apps over to a newer OS. However, the video doesn't show off what a Windows 10 user's first feedback for Windows 11 is, which is "Why is the Start button in the middle of my screen?"

Windows 11 mixes things up quite a lot. And while it's possible for users to learn and adapt to the new design changes, it poses a huge obstacle for people who struggle with technology. For them, learning an operating system is a long-time investment, and having everything they've learned thrown away in Windows 11 makes sticking with their current operating system a lot more appealing.

1 Windows 11 is missing key features

It's still lacking in some departments

Even if you're an expert at adjusting to new operating systems, the move to Windows 11 from Windows 10 may still be jarring. There are a few features Windows 10 has that Windows 11 doesn't, and replacing them can be a chore. And while Microsoft has added features to Windows 11 from previous operating system versions, it doesn't contain everything.

For example, people who enjoy tweaking the taskbar on Windows 10 might find Windows 11 disappointing; at the time of writing, there is no officially supported way to move the whole taskbar to the sides or the top of the screen. You also can't resize the taskbar, a problem shared by Windows 11's Start menu, which is much more static than Windows 10's adjustable offering. As such, moving to Windows 11 is not as easy as Microsoft may like, especially if it doesn't contain the core features people are already used to.

Fortunately, there are plenty of third-party tools that help. For example, Start11 makes the Windows 11 Start menu actually useful and has helped a lot of Windows 10 fans get accustomed to Windows 11. However, relying on external apps to solve core issues is not ideal, especially if they break every update and run the risk of being abandoned at any moment.

Migrating to Windows 11 isn't a nightmare, but it's not easy either

People aren't making the jump from Windows 10 to 11 for a wide range of personal reasons. And as Microsoft gears up to release Windows 12, it needs to figure out a way to encourage Windows 10 users to upgrade, ideally before the end-of-support date kicks in. While Microsoft's video is very clearly just an advertisement for Windows 11, I don't feel it does justice for all the reasons people are sticking with Windows 10.