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What's the best way for me to upgrade to Windows 11?
I've had my current computer running Windows 8.1 for about 10 years. When Windows 10 came out a bunch of people complained about it and I was happy with what I had so I never upgraded. And no longer being forced to update my computer suddenly and without my permission was really convenient. I've upgraded the actual physical computer itself multiple times, basically ship of Theseusing out parts as they wore out or just got outdated such that at this point I don't think a single component is the same as it was 10 years ago, but when the hard drive got upgraded I cloned it over so I had continuity of experience, and it stayed on Windows 8.1. So most of the actual computer parts right now are two years old and mid to high end, but some are older and cheaper.
Gradually though, the amount of videogames that I can't play because they don't work on Windows 8.1 has increased and become rather inconvenient, so it's probably time to switch. Unfortunately, the time period where I can do that for free has long passed, presumably because they don't want people digging up old decrepit computers in order to recycle the windows keys. And some... nautical attempts at downloading and manually upgrading didn't work, I'm not entirely sure why, but I eventually gave up.
My computer skills are kind of mishmash hacked together by necessity. I did build my own computer myself, but only with a lot of googling, advice from my brother, and suffering. I would very much prefer not to have to learn more command line registry nonsense, but can probably follow step by step instructions if I have to. So I think my best bet is to just buy a new hard drive with Windows 11 installed on it, but I'm not sure. I don't actually want a new computer, I want my computer, but able to play modern games. I would like to keep continuity of experience as much as possible, including if possible all my files and folders, their positions on the desktop, my hundreds of Firefox tabs that I use in lieu of bookmarks. What's the best route for me to take to get my computer upgraded with as little difficulty as possible?
If you're not averse to piracy look at massgravel. It will point you to legit images, simple ways to confirm they're legit, and the activation process is as easy as pasting one short command into the command line and then choosing "activate windows" from the menu that it loads. After that your Windows is authenticated by hardware ID meaning you could if you choose wipe it entirely and reinstall from scratch to eliminate the possibility of third party shenanigans.
Firefox should be fairly easy to backup. Either look for manual instructions or make a Firefox account. If you want to keep tabs you'll have to look for some way of backing up the session.
Copying your files and folders might be a bit more involved unless you've been prepared enough to store them anywhere other than the C: drive. You could simply buy a new HDD to use as the C: and then reassign your current C: as D: to keep all the files unaltered.
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