In the past two years, Windows 11 has managed to attract only 400 million active users, based on internal data from Microsoft. The company projects that this number will reach 500 million by early 2024. However, the adoption rate of Windows 11 still lags significantly behind its predecessor, Windows 10, which was able to reach 400 million active users within a year of its release.

It took Windows 11 two years to achieve the same adoption rate, while Windows 10 had already reached 600 million active devices within a month after two years of its release. One of the main reasons for this slow adoption rate is the higher hardware requirements imposed by Windows 11, despite initially having strict requirements.

Even though Microsoft offers a free upgrade to Windows 11 from Windows 7 and 8, as well as to Windows 10 users who meet the minimum hardware requirements, the low adoption rate remains an issue. Steam survey data shows that only 37% of devices are running Windows 11, possibly due to the higher hardware requirements.

Furthermore, Windows 11 also experienced a reduction in minimum hardware requirements after its launch; however, significant adoption has yet to be realized. Other data, such as that found in the Steam survey, also reflects a low adoption rate, with only 37% of devices running Windows 11 on that platform, while Windows 10 still dominates with 60% usage.

A comparison of market share between Windows 10 and Windows 11 also shows a significant imbalance, with Windows 10 holding a 70% market share, while Windows 11 only reaches 25%. Nevertheless, Microsoft has not released official data on active Windows 11 users, and the "Microsoft by the numbers" site was discontinued at the end of the previous year.

The latest data available in April 2022 indicates that more than 1.4 million monthly active users still use either Windows 10 or Windows 11, highlighting the challenges faced by Windows 11 in achieving significant adoption.