A new Lansweeper survey of over 10 million Windows devices shows that 1.44 percent of them are running Windows 11, fewer than the number running Windows XP or 8. (Note that this data includes all versions of Windows Server as well.)

“Although the rate of adoption is increasing bit by bit, it’s obvious that Windows 11 upgrades aren’t going as fast as Microsoft had hoped, especially within the business environment,” Lansweeper Chief Strategy Officer Roel Decneut said. “Many organizations have been put off from having to buy new machines that meet these conditions, while others are simply happy with the current existence of Windows 10 which continues to be supported until 2025.”

According to the Lansweeper survey, 1.44 percent of PCs are running Windows 11, up from 0.52 percent in January 2022. But Windows 11 usage trails that of Windows XP (1.71 percent), Windows 7 (4.7 percent), and Windows 8 (1.99 percent). Windows 10 is by far the most popular version of Windows, with 80.34 percent usage. And all versions of Windows Server are responsible for 9.15 percent of Windows devices collectively.

Lansweeper believes that Windows 11’s slow adoption is tied to its arbitrary hardware requirements: while 91 percent of the surveyed devices have enough RAM to run Windows 11, only about half (or 52.55 percent) meet the TPM requirements, and only 44.4 percent meet the CPU requirements.

“This situation will likely continue in the future unless businesses are given a compelling reason to upgrade,” Decneut added. “For those looking to adopt Windows 11, the first step is to assess which of their existing devices are capable of upgrading. It’s the reason why IT asset management is so important for organizations, capable of running in-depth device audits that can tell IT teams the hardware specs of machines so they can weigh up how many devices are capable of upgrading and the potential cost of such a move.”

Lansweeper offers tools that can help with this, of course. And you can learn more at the Lansweeper website.