Upgrading Windows 10 Pro to Windows 11 Pro with M365 E3

Question

We are in the process of purchasing M365 E3. Currently, our employees have Windows 10 Pro perpetual licenses.

I understand that M365 E3 provides upgrade rights to the latest Windows version. Once M365 E3 is purchased for all users, what is the process to upgrade from Windows 10 Pro to Windows 11 Pro?

Is it necessary to upgrade each user individually through their settings, or is there an Intune policy that can be applied once the user devices are enrolled? Additionally, if the upgrade occurs automatically after purchasing M365 E3, is it possible to keep a few laptops on Windows 10?

Answer 1

The upgrade to Windows 11 does not occur automatically when you purchase M365 E3. The licenses allow the upgrade, but you still need to initiate the upgrade process manually or through Intune.

Steps:

Ensure all Windows 10 Pro devices are enrolled in Intune. Use AutoPilot or manual enrollment.

Go to Microsoft Endpoint Manager Admin Center > Devices > Windows > Feature Updates.

Create a Feature update deployment policy:

Specify the Feature update version.

Assign the policy to a group that contains the devices/users you want to upgrade.

Answer 2

@milo last, Thanks for posting in Q&A. Agree with S.Sengupta, we can deploy Feature update policy to the devices' or users' group you want to upgrade the devices to windows 11.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/mem/intune/protect/windows-10-feature-updates

At the same time, please also configure windows update ring policy with Feature update deferral period (days) to 0 to ensure your feature updates aren't delayed.

For Microsoft 365 E3 license, it supports Windows Update for Business deployment service: But the devices need to be enrolled into Intune MDM and be Hybrid AD joined or Microsoft Entra joined. Here are other requirements, we can check it under "Prerequisites" part in the above link.

Hope the above information can help.

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