Cant update to Win 11

[ondma]

Please also run winver and check your version of Win10. It should be 22H2.

No, unfortunately, it is Version 21H1. My version is Windows Pro. Should that also be Version 22H2? Strange thing is it just installed a big update, but still is not the latest version. Like I said, (see post 21) when I click on the "check for updates" button, all that shows up are those optional updates (post 22), but nothing to update Windows.

 

[tcsenter]

Just do clean install bro. Backup yo stuff, start anew. To use the words of the great philosopher and sometimes actor appearing in Alka-Seltzer adverts, Jack Aaron...."Try it, you'll like it!"

 

[ondma]

Just do clean install bro. Backup yo stuff, start anew. To use the words of the great philosopher and sometimes actor appearing in Alka-Seltzer adverts, Jack Aaron...."Try it, you'll like it!"

Yea, I am beginning to think that is the answer. Only thing is, if I have to start over from scratch, not sure if I shouldn't just get a new computer. They are pretty expensive right now, but they could get even worse with tariffs now being extended to computer chips.

 

[JackMDS]

Getting MBR to GPT while everything else stay the same take few minutes with this.

Free Download MiniTool Partition Wizard for Windows PC and Server

Free download the partition magic alternative - MiniTool Partition Wizard to move/resize/convert/copy/recover disk partitions in Windows PC and Windows Server.

www.partitionwizard.com

Then Download the 24H2 ISO from Microsoft.

Get a 16GB USB Flash Drive and using Rufus Install the Win 11 ISO to the Flash Drive.

Rufus - Create bootable USB drives the easy way

Rufus: Create bootable USB drives the easy way

rufus.ie

To perform an in-place upgrade, you'll need to use:

Rufus to create the bootable USB, then run the setup.exe from the USB drive within your existing Windows 10 installation

 

[tcsenter]

Yea, I am beginning to think that is the answer. Only thing is, if I have to start over from scratch, not sure if I shouldn't just get a new computer. They are pretty expensive right now, but they could get even worse with tariffs now being extended to computer chips.

C'mon a whole new PC? That almost as laborious having to uninstall all the OEM bundled bloat.

 

[mikeymikec]

No, unfortunately, it is Version 21H1. My version is Windows Pro. Should that also be Version 22H2? Strange thing is it just installed a big update, but still is not the latest version. Like I said, (see post 21) when I click on the "check for updates" button, all that shows up are those optional updates (post 22), but nothing to update Windows.

I personally haven't tried in-place upgrading from 21H1 to Win11, only 22H2 to Win11 (which I have done many times).

 

[ondma]

Well, here is the latest. They system totally crashed. I couldnt boot from C:, even into safe mode. I could not even boot from a clone of C I made a few months ago. System recovery or system restore also crashed. Repair disk also didnt work.
Finally, I was able to get the machine to boot from the original Win 10 DVD. Unfortunately that is a very old version of Windows. I cant even install my gpu drivers because it is so old. I am running update after update, hoping to finally get to 22H2. (I had to reformat C: to get Windows to reinstall from the DVD). So we will see. Still hoping to get Win 22H2 to install and decide what to do from there.

 

[mikeymikec]

download and run the Windows 10 Update Assistant from Microsoft to hop straight up to the latest version.

 

[ondma]

download and run the Windows 10 Update Assistant from Microsoft to hop straight up to the latest version.

I finally got to 22H2. Going to give up for the day, see what I can do tomorrow.

 

[bba_tcg]

Well, here is the latest. They system totally crashed. I couldnt boot from C:, even into safe mode. I could not even boot from a clone of C I made a few months ago. System recovery or system restore also crashed. Repair disk also didnt work.
Finally, I was able to get the machine to boot from the original Win 10 DVD. Unfortunately that is a very old version of Windows. I cant even install my gpu drivers because it is so old. I am running update after update, hoping to finally get to 22H2. (I had to reformat C: to get Windows to reinstall from the DVD). So we will see. Still hoping to get Win 22H2 to install and decide what to do from there.

Why not just install Windows 11 instead since that's what you're trying for?

 

[Indus]

Well, here is the latest. They system totally crashed. I couldnt boot from C:, even into safe mode. I could not even boot from a clone of C I made a few months ago. System recovery or system restore also crashed. Repair disk also didnt work.
Finally, I was able to get the machine to boot from the original Win 10 DVD. Unfortunately that is a very old version of Windows. I cant even install my gpu drivers because it is so old. I am running update after update, hoping to finally get to 22H2. (I had to reformat C: to get Windows to reinstall from the DVD). So we will see. Still hoping to get Win 22H2 to install and decide what to do from there.

What a f'ing nightmare!

I know you don't want to hear this but it could save you $$$$.

Since you don't have the latest and greatest hardware you can extend the life of them under linux distros and still manage to use all your data/ files and even games. I did it.. it's in my other thread but basically while windows sees NTFS and linux prefers ext4/ btrfs.. they BOTH see ex-fat just fine.

So if you want.. you can just take a stable linux distro.. install steam and play your games and still have access to all your data. I've only found 2 instances of where I could not do something in linux..

#1 Battlefront 2 - that game's EA launcher seems to bug out
#2 Avery design label print software..

So I have to dual boot into windows 10 to do that but other than that I'm completely able to do everything I need. I don't know how much a new pc would cost but it would not be cheap so just think about it and I wish you all the best with whatever you decide!

 

[ondma]

What a f'ing nightmare!

I know you don't want to hear this but it could save you $$$$.

Since you don't have the latest and greatest hardware you can extend the life of them under linux distros and still manage to use all your data/ files and even games. I did it.. it's in my other thread but basically while windows sees NTFS and linux prefers ext4/ btrfs.. they BOTH see ex-fat just fine.

So if you want.. you can just take a stable linux distro.. install steam and play your games and still have access to all your data. I've only found 2 instances of where I could not do something in linux..

#1 Battlefront 2 - that game's EA launcher seems to bug out
#2 Avery design label print software..

So I have to dual boot into windows 10 to do that but other than that I'm completely able to do everything I need. I don't know how much a new pc would cost but it would not be cheap so just think about it and I wish you all the best with whatever you decide!

Thanks for all the time and advice. Win 10 is working now, and it updated to 22H2. I had to format the C: drive and do a clean install from the original Windows DVD though, so I lost save games, passwords, nearly everything in the computer. I did a backup before all this happened, but haven't tried to restore anything yet. I reinstalled Steam and my games were on a different SSD so I didn't have to download them again. Only major loss is I cant seem to reinstall Game Pass, as the account information is fouled up from some earlier installations. (Its a long story, related to some mix up in the user accounts a long time ago.) I have family visiting out of town and a lot of other things going on the next couple of weeks, so I probably will just go with Win 10 until I have more time to devote to possible changes.

 

[mikeymikec]

I'm curious about why the install went titsup and whether the cause has any bearing on the situation in general.

 

[ondma]

I'm curious about why the install went titsup and whether the cause has any bearing on the situation in general.

IDK. However, since my machine was not updating properly before all this started, it makes me think my OS was corrupted somehow. I have used it since 2018 without any re-installs, so there could have been registry keys corrupted or something. I had to format the C: drive before I could reinstall from the Windows disk. My wife has a laptop even older than my desktop, so we will have to hope that update goes smoothly. I may just have to replace it. She does not game on it, so it would be a relatively cheap replacement compared to replacing this desktop.

BTW, thanks to everyone who made suggestions. I am not sure what I am going to do about this comp. I am hoping that maybe since the Updates seem to be working now, it will update to Win 11 at some point. But like I said above, my time is tied up for the next couple of weeks, so I am not doing anything else right now, as long at it is working.

 

[Indus]

IDK. However, since my machine was not updating properly before all this started, it makes me think my OS was corrupted somehow. I have used it since 2018 without any re-installs, so there could have been registry keys corrupted or something. I had to format the C: drive before I could reinstall from the Windows disk. My wife has a laptop even older than my desktop, so we will have to hope that update goes smoothly. I may just have to replace it. She does not game on it, so it would be a relatively cheap replacement compared to replacing this desktop.

BTW, thanks to everyone who made suggestions. I am not sure what I am going to do about this comp. I am hoping that maybe since the Updates seem to be working now, it will update to Win 11 at some point. But like I said above, my time is tied up for the next couple of weeks, so I am not doing anything else right now, as long at it is working.

Hey on that old laptop.. if she's up for it.. give her LMDE (linux mint - debian based) as a test and see if she can get by with it.

Because my wife loved not having headaches with windows anymore or the code being so bad it overheated her laptop and stuttering. No such issues with LMDE.. it fixed everything. I had to tinker in themes a tad though but thankfully there's windows 7 and 10 themes in linux. Mac ones too.

 

[ondma]

Hey on that old laptop.. if she's up for it.. give her LMDE (linux mint - debian based) as a test and see if she can get by with it.

Because my wife loved not having headaches with windows anymore or the code being so bad it overheated her laptop and stuttering. No such issues with LMDE.. it fixed everything. I had to tinker in themes a tad though but thankfully there's windows 7 and 10 themes in linux. Mac ones too.

Thanks for the suggestion. She doesn't play games, per se, in the way that we think of them. She does play some hidden object, city building type games though. Not sure those would work.

 

[Indus]

Thanks for the suggestion. She doesn't play games, per se, in the way that we think of them. She does play some hidden object, city building type games though. Not sure those would work.

If it's on steam.. it's likely compatible.. or you can use Lutris and Wine as a fallback.

Even if you give her a standard version of linux mint.. gaming on it is still very possible..

 

[ondma]

Well, here is the latest update (pun intended) on my Win 11 odyssey. After a clean install of Win 10, and installing the updates, Windows Update said Win 11 was ready to install. I simply hit the install tab and the installation (in place) went without a hitch. Win 11 is now installed, and I lost no information from the latest Win 10 clean install. Didnt have to burn the ISO to a flash drive or anything. I'm not sure yet if I like the Win 11 interface, but all the games I have tried so far work, and I probably will get used to the slightly different interface eventually. Win 11 does seem pretty snappy performance wise, but so did my clean install of Win 10 compared to the original 6 year old Win 10 install.

So thanks to everyone for the advice, I appreciate it. Next comes my wife's older laptop. I have to check it, it may not even be compatible with Win 11. I think it is Kaby Lake generation.

 

[Quintessa]

Glad you got it sorted, sometimes a clean Win10 install is the easiest path to trigger the Win11 upgrade prompt.

I think it is Kaby Lake generation.

For your wife's Kaby Lake laptop, officially unsupported, but you can bypass checks with the registry tweak or Rufus if you want; just know you won't be "officially" supported on updates.