Yesterday I upgraded my Windows to version 11. A smooth and quick upgrade. As some of you may be, I was concerned about compatibility with the all software I use for my photographs.
Everything running without any problem. I feel that they’re launching a little faster, that’s it. PhotoLab 4 and 5 , Nik Collection 4 and Viewpoint 3, no problem. I’m not sure, but looks like the icons on PL file browser changed.
For me that don’t use any of the “new features” of Windows 11, it feels like a cosmetic upgrade. Of course is not only that, boost PCs sales is the main reason, forced by the hardware requirements. (only my view)
I use another PC that is working perfectly for other things. It won’t accept Win 11, it’s a i5.
1 Like
Stenis
(Sten-Åke Sändh (Sony, Win 11, PL 6, CO 16, PM Plus 6, XnView))
2
There must be thousands and thousands of PC-processors in Intels i-series that doesn´t meet the standards.
I have an i5-6400 2,7 GHz with 4 kernels that are 5 years but despite that not that bad when it comes to performance. I also have enough with disk and 8 GB memory. The system requirements for Windows 11 is set to more modest 1GHz and 2 kernels and 4GB memory but of some reasons most Intel i3, i5 and i7 are considered incompatible of some pretty fuzzy “instability” reasons.
So it seems like it´s just not Apple and according to Alec DxO, who in practise closes the door for an upgrade on older systems through some system requirements. It´s a little strange that both Apple and Microsoft seems to leave a lot of their users behind. This will have the effect that a lot of users will get locked in on older systems unable to upgrade both operating systems and also applications.
I will not upgrade my Windows of this reason and I´m sure I´m not alone. I do think it´s pretty odd. Even when Windows went från 32 bits to 64 bits architecture they offerad a compatibility mode and that seems to have been a bigger step than this. I guess we get a couple of years before Microsoft tears of the band aid and leave us unsupported for good.
There is a way around the compatibility fences by editing the Windows registry and installing trough an image-file but then you are on your own.
Unfortunately, I ran into a major problem with Windows 11: color management is broken. What I’ve been reading is that the “insider” or pre-release version is OK, but the official release has problems with color profiles not being used by Windows and certain applications. My own experience was with the official release of Windows 11 with current updates and drivers applied.
I use CalMAN 2018R3 with Client3 for monitor calibration and profiling. It works really well in Windows 10. When I updated to Windows 11, Client3 completely fell apart. After applying all updates, I installed the latest build of Client3 and activated a new license for it. CalMAN connected with it and performed the monitor calibration as usual. But the results were way off: dark grays were too bright and colors were further off the mark than usual both before and after calibration and profiling. In short, Client3’s profile of my monitor wasn’t being used by Windows or anything else I tried, while Windows seemed to be overriding it with bad colors. After trying in vain to change what Windows was doing (or not doing), I reverted back to Windows 10 and all is well again.
I’m weighing my options, but am happy to stay with Windows 10 until this is confirmed fixed.
Stenis
(Sten-Åke Sändh (Sony, Win 11, PL 6, CO 16, PM Plus 6, XnView))
4
I had a similar experience with my Spyder-kalibration when Windows 10 was new and my Hanvon drawing pad too. After the calibration everything got lilac :-(.
Yes, it’s quite easy to roll back to Windows 10 after an upgrade. You have to do it within 10 days, though. And I suggest running “sfc /scannow” after doing so, in a PowerShell with administrator privileges, just to make sure it all goes smoothly.
Interestingly, I just used CalMAN along with Windows 11’s own color calibration tool to calibrate my laptop for sRGB. (It has a wide gamut display.) The calibration went really well - and I’m using the resulting profile. It’s clear to me that what I’m using for color management on the laptop (the Client3 app that goes with CalMAN) is overriding Windows color management here. And this means I can put PhotoLab on my laptop! But I also notice that when I bypass Client3’s profile and start switching among the color profiles in Windows Display Settings, they don’t activate consistently. It’s all a mess, but I have it working.
I found that this is an easy fix. Apparently the Win11 upgrade just blanked out the default Device Profile in the Advanced section of Color Management area of the Control Panel. Just go there are pick the default Device Profile and you’re good to go.
Here’s the spot with my default profile already selected:
Thanks for pointing that out. I did notice that, and unfortunately in my case populating that field didn’t fix the problem. I don’t know why it works for some people but not others
