The full screen nags of Windows 10 are back! Microsoft bombards Windows 10 users with “Now unlocked: You’re eligible for a free upgrade to Windows 11” warnings.
After installing the recent updates, users have started receiving Windows 11 “free upgrade” full screen notifications on Windows 10.
Our PCs running Windows 10 21H2 and 22H2 received the alert over the weekend. There seems to be a spate of unwanted prompts since installing the January 2023 update, but one of our devices has the August 2022 patch and is also starting to show the popup suggesting that the alerts are tied to server -side updates and not patch Tuesday.
This new popup resembles the first Windows 11 boot experience, which appears to use XAML (a web component). The notification attempts to remind users that their device has unlocked the “free upgrade” offer and is eligible for a smooth upgrade experience where they can continue using Windows 10 while Windows 11 downloads in the background.
You can click the “Get it” button to start the download or select the second button to schedule the download later. There is another option that allows you to “Keep Windows 10”.
However, the popup does not disappear when you click the “Keep Windows 10” option.
Clicking the option will not take you back to the desktop. Instead, another page titled “Introducing Windows 11” opens, which highlights several features you can use after upgrading to the new operating system, a new Start menu, tabs in File Explorer, new Settings experience, Micorosft 365, and Lake.
You can click the “Back” button, but again it won’t close the Windows 11 upgrade laert screen.
The back button opens another window titled “Microsoft recommends Windows 11 for your PC” because it feels familiar, your files come to the new operating system, and you can always go back to Windows 10 without worry.
Finally, you can select the “decline upgrade” option to open the final confirmation window: “You will remain on Windows 10”. This page praises flagship Windows 11 features like tabs in File Explorer in its latest attempt to lure users and reminds them that they can always get Windows 11 by visiting the Windows Update page.
The Windows 10 nag screen is nothing new and was first added to Windows 10 with Microsoft’s May 2018 Update as a post-setup “experience”, but this new pop-up experience is surprisingly long, taking about five clicks to finish Close.
Unfortunately, there is no way around these warnings and they may reappear in the future.
