Following the announcement that Microsoft is ending its support for the current version of Windows 10, on 14th October 2025, new data released by IT asset management platform provider Lansweeper has revealed that 8 out of 10 businesses are still operating on Windows 10.
The adoption of Windows 11 in enterprise organisations is growing, but not by huge amounts. In October 2022, Lansweeper data showed that just 2.61 per cent of Windows 11 compatible devices were running Windows 11. Recently updated Windows 11 adoption rate figures show that this has now increased to 5.47 per cent.
At that growth rate, this could mean that less than 15 per cent of large enterprise workstations would have adopted Windows 11 before the Windows 10 support deadline runs out.
Running outdated operating systems can leave businesses exposed to cyber security dangers. Users, both personal and enterprise, are left significantly more susceptible to malware attacks due to the absence of bug fixes, security patches, and new functionality being provided.
IT leaders in enterprises are now under pressure to provide a strategy for how to effectively roll out upgrades of hardware and implement the Windows 11 operating system.
Esben Dochy, Senior Technical Product Evangelist at Lansweeper said, “while Microsoft has changed its stance by allowing anyone to manually install Windows 11 regardless of the CPU, an automatic upgrade is only possible if three critical components of the computer meet the requirements necessary to execute the upgrade - the CPU, the RAM, and the TPM. Moreover, future Windows 11 updates are not guaranteed if you do not meet the system requirements.”
Worryingly, the data has also shown that 43 per cent of enterprise workstations are not capable of being upgraded to Windows 11.
Specifically, only 57.26 per cent of CPUs for workstations tested met the system requirements for upgrading to Windows 11, while 42.74 per cent did not. The majority passed the RAM test (92.85%). However, only about 65 per cent of the workstation TPMs tested met the requirements, while over 15 per cent failed and 20 per cent were not TPM compatible or did not have it enabled.
Esben added, “given these findings, it's clear that a lot of work will need to be done to achieve Windows 11 readiness. For enterprises with thousands of Windows machines, preparing for the Windows 11 upgrade is going to be a massive task if they don’t have automation in place - and even worse without an up-to-date IT asset inventory. The reality is, you can't update machines you don't know you have.”
The Lansweeper data is based on an estimated 30 million Windows devices from 60,000 organisations.
