[Full Guide] Upgrade From Windows 10 to Windows 11 without Losing Data

Don’t know how to convert MBR to GPT for Windows 11 update? Fortunately, this tutorial will show you how to upgrade from Windows 10 to Windows 11 without damaging data.

Dervish

By Dervish / Updated on May 12, 2023

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About Windows 11

Windows 11

Windows 11 brings users a brand-new UI interface, and also provides many innovative features designed to support the current mixed working environment, focusing on improving users’ work efficiency in a new and flexible experience. However, the system requirements for Windows 11 are different from previous Windows versions.

According to Microsoft’s official announcement, Windows 11 supports UEFI boot mode and GPT system disk. It means you should convert MBR system disk to GPT for upgrading from Windows 10 to Windows 11.

Please read the following next paragraph to learn some related information.

What you should know before upgrading to Windows 11?

Before installing Windows 11, we need to figure out What are UEFI and GPT?

Both MBR and GPT are disk partition styles. MBR is an old partition style that requires a traditional BIOS to boot and supports hard drives up to 2 TB and 4 primary partitions or 3 primary partitions + 1 extended partition.  While GPT is a new partition style, which is booted by UEFI boot mode. It supports partitions up to 9.4ZB and has no limit on the number of partitions.

MBR and GPT

How do I upgrade from Windows 10 to Windows 11 step by step?

Now, it is time to talk about the method of upgrading from Windows 10 to Windows 11. You may need to use the Windows 11 requirement check tool to check if your PC can install Windows 11.

▶ Part 1. Convert MBR to GPT

According to the content mentioned before, Windows 11 only supports GPT+UEFI, so you need to convert the system disk from MBR to GPT before changing Legacy to UEFI. 

To convert MBR to GPT without losing data, using AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional is a good choice. It only takes three steps to convert system disk from MBR to GPT, and it is guaranteed. Please download the demo version to see how it works.

Download Demo Win 11/10/8.1/8/7/XP
Secure Download

Tip: You'd be better backup computer before upgrading to Windows 11 if you need to restore Windows 11 to Windows 10.

Step 1. Install and run AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional. Right-click the disk (take the system disk as an example) and choose “Convert to GPT”.

Step 2. Click “OK” to confirm your operation.

Step 3. Click “Apply” to commit the pending operation.

▶ Part 2. Change Legacy BIOS to UEFI

After successfully converting system disk from MBR to GPT, you also need to change Legacy BIOS to UEFI

Step 1. After restarting the computer, When a picture appears on the computer screen, enter the BIOS according to the key prompted at the bottom of the screen (keys vary from machine to machine).

Step 2. Use the arrow keys to select UEFI/BIOS Boot Mode in the Boot column, and then change Legacy to UEFI. Then saving and exit.

After everything is done, you can go to “Update & Security” in “Settings” and click “Check for updates” to upgrade to Windows 11.

Check for Update

Conclusion

The above is the whole process of upgrading from Windows 10 to Windows 11. With AOMEI Partition Assistant, converting the system disk from MBR to GPT will no longer be a problem. If you are a Windows Server user, don’t worry, AOMEI Partition Assistant Server is specially designed to solve various disk problems of Server users.

 
Dervish
Dervish · Staff Editor
Dervish is an English editor of AOMEI Technology; He is delicated to offering users easy and effecitve solutions for issuses related to disks and partitoins. In his spare time, he enjoy wathcning films, playing footable, traveling and so on.