W520 on Windows 11, stock software etc

[Chanchu]

Hello All. I got a W520 and I have a few queries regarding the same:

1) I am trying to get this Windows 11 on W520. Being a decade old machine, the hardware specs doesnt allow Windows 11 to be installed. I was advised I can install Windows 11 on another machine (thats capable of taking Windows 11), clone that to the hard disk of W520 (involves removing W520 hard disk and attaching to other machine via usb to clone), then installing the hard disk back to W520. Has anyone tried running Windows 11 on W520 and what has been the experience. Are there any hiccups/blue screens or has it been smoothly running ?

2) I got the W520 without the hard disk, thus I dont have any of the stock softwares such as finger print software etc. I went on Lenovo site but those versions were very old (and I doubt it they will run on Windows 10 or 11. Where can I get these stock softwares that came with the machine.

Thanks and happy to engage with this forum and learn and contribute.

Chan

[wyjang]

Hello!

I installed Windows 11 on my W520 a few days ago. Before I attempted to put Win11 on my machine, I read that Microsoft allows installation of Windows 11 through ISO image, and also you need to perform a clean installation.

The installation procedure was quite straightforward just as same as installing Windows 10 via USB stick. You can download Windows 11 ISO image file from Microsoft(https://www.microsoft.com/software-download/windows11), make an installation media USB stick with this file using programs like rufus, or you can just use the official software 'media creation tool' from Microsoft.

In terms of the drivers, to get straight to the point, I didn't experience any problems from using the Lenovo-provided drivers, and NVIDIA also provides Quadro driver for Windows 10 and it didn't bother me so far.

Here is the list of drivers I had to install to clear all the complaints from the Device Manager.

1) Lenovo Power Management driver
I was able to install the Windows XP driver without any issues. But I'm not saying this does not make any issues. At least the Device Manager recognized the driver and didn't complain anymore about the driver couldn't be located.
2) Ricoh Multi Card Reader Driver
You can use the Win10 driver. I tested it for an SD card but don't know whether it is operating with its full functionality.
3) Synaptics UltraNav driver
The TrackPoint worked out-of-box after the installation but if you install the Windows 8.1 UltraNav driver, it will make be easier to use the scroll button.

I downloaded all these drivers from the Lenovo W520 support page, and finally I downloaded NVIDIA Quadro driver from NVIDIA.

Although not critically severe, I found there are a few areas of dissatisfaction:
1) The graphics performance is somewhat lacking during the nominal Windows usage situation like File Browsing, causing a little bit of sluggishness when moving windows or opening right-click menus, and
2) The Lenovo Vantage app no longer displays detailed battery health information. I just decided to use command "powercfg /batteryreport" in command-line prompt to check the battery health.

So far, except for the issues above, I'm enjoying Windows 11 on my W520.

[dr_st]

Welcome to the forum! Thank you for the detailed report of your process.

The Lenovo Vantage app no longer displays detailed battery health information. I just decided to use command "powercfg /batteryreport" in command-line prompt to check the battery health.

Yes, it seems to be a combined Vantage/Win11 limitation. I found it pretty annoying on the Thinkpad T16 G3. I can still go into the Vantage app to see the battery details, but the toolbar doesn't show the green battery bar, just a simple non-informative icon.

[wyjang]

I must retract what I wrote about the Lenovo Vantage app above. Today, I found that it now shows detailed battery health status, such as charge cycles, full charge capacity, and the designed capacity. What I used to see before this is when I click the battery health icon (this icon appears when the current full charge battery capacity is <70% of the designed capacity) on the home screen of the Lenovo Vantage app, it didn't go to Device Settings>Power. Somehow, it works fine now. I don't know what happened. Maybe it is not an issue with Windows 11, but it is just my battery.

[TPFanatic]

Vantage operates like other modern Windows (and pretty much everything else) apps in that it has a background service that chronically checks for updates and applies them in the background with no user intervention. So you may find things that just do not work, will suddenly work.

I remember when Win 10 was first being offered and I observed similar incremental gains in functionality of the back-then called Lenovo Settings App as they actively added more features that people wanted from Power Manager. I wonder if there is some vulnerability with Power Manager that Windows and Lenovo blacklisted it from installing the normal way on Windows 10+? Or was it a conspiracy to "encourage" people to use the newer software even while it's effectively in Beta and prone to doing a Crowdstrike. I still prefer Power Manager since it "just works".

[Chanchu]

Thank you @wyjang. I will try your recommendations and get back. Meanwhile do you get Copilot, the AI program on your windows 11 on W520 ? I got it on Windows 10 on another laptop but dont see it on W520 which runs a cloned windows 11 (but legal licensed).

[wyjang]

Windows 11 comes with a preview version of Copilot. After seeing your post, I tried asking several questions, and it works like a charm!

[MikalE]

I downloaded Win 11 to my T520 when it was first offered. I used the registry work-arounds that were the norm back then to get Win 11 on a non-approved computer. It has been updating with security updates since installation. It has never crashed or blue screened, and I have never had an O/S problem with this machine. It is in use every day. It functions as well as my T16 with Win 11.

[JBUK]

Me too. I have installed W11 on my T520. My method was to create an install USB using Rufus and the options to remove the hardware checks when installing. I then did an upgrade instal of W11. It ran through quickly and has worked subsequently without problems. My installed programs and desktop and start menu all came across, it self activated too. I still have W10 as well as W11 on the 520 and am actually using W10 in preference as it does seem quicker and of course, I am more familiar with it and see no reason to abandon W10 yet - if ever. I just wanted to see the future.......

[Chanchu]

Another work around I heard is cloning from an existing windows 11 machine.