Question - Dell Optiplex 3020 Windows 11 drivers? (2024)

Hello There,

Im having a Problem,because Microsoft will end the Support October 2025 for Windows 10 i think.
And i bought a dell optiplex 3020 mini tower,with windows 10 pro activated.
Now my thoughts are ,i saw on youtube that i can install windows 11 on it.
But where are the drivers for windows 11?.
I mean the mainboard chipset and stuff.

If somebody can help me i would really appreciate it.

Specs:I5 4590 cpu
8gb ddr3 dual channel
gt 730 2gb ddr3 (kepler)

Greetings from Wiesbaden (Germany)

Timo Herfurth

Molo1845 said:

Hello There,

Im having a Problem,because Microsoft will end the Support October 2025 for Windows 10 i think.
And i bought a dell optiplex 3020 mini tower,with windows 10 pro activated.
Now my thoughts are ,i saw on youtube that i can install windows 11 on it.
But where are the drivers for windows 11?.
I mean the mainboard chipset and stuff.

If somebody can help me i would really appreciate it.

Specs:I5 4590 cpu
8gb ddr3 dual channel
gt 730 2gb ddr3 (kepler)

Greetings from Wiesbaden (Germany)

Timo Herfurth

Click to expand...

There are no drivers for Win 11 for that system.

The i5-4590 is 4 generations off the bottom of the officially supported list for Win 11.

You can probably get it installed, but there are no Win 11 specific drivers for it.

Molo1845 said:

That means i have no mainboard chipset or other drivers?.Ok than i need to buy new technology i guess at the end of 2025.Thank u

Click to expand...

Win 11 will mostly "work" on unsupported hardware.
But yes...no chipset or other drivers for your system.

Molo1845 said:

Thats bad,what sould i do with a Pc with Windows 11 when there are no drivers.Thats like a disabled Pc xD.Can i use Windows 10 after they ended the support for couple years more.What does it mean when they say they end the support,it just means we get no security updates? cause i saw a lot of people using still windows 7.

Click to expand...

Yes, you can continue to use WIn 10.
It will not just "stop working".

No support just means that it will no longer get any updates.

Yeah as far as any Windows 11 drivers nope.

But your current windows 10 drivers will work just fine on windows 11. If your Windows 10 in the device manager has no yellow check marks you have all your drivers for a windows 11 install.

The catch is BEFORE you delete windows 10 you need to go to your system 32 folder and copy that whole "system 32" folder to a USB drive and set it to the side for later.

Please make sure you get your ISO of windows 11 from Microsoft than you can follow the many how to's to build your Windows USB installer to work with your older system.

Install Windows 11 with your researched " how to install 11 on non approved systems"

The hardest driver that always gives older systems that yellow check mark in device manager is Intel Management Engine.

https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-us/drivers/driversdetails?driverid=x37vm#SupportedOs

After your Windows 11 is installed look in your device manager. If you have any drivers that need to be installed that's where that system 32 folder you saved earlier comes into play.

You have to manually point device needing driver from device manager to that "system 32" folder you saved earlier to look for drivers there.

It seems there are so many extra steps but most are easy and in the end a fully working Windows 11 on your old Dell.

If this seems like to much than stick with Windows 10 and call it a day.