Question Updated my last Win 10 Pro to Win 11 Pro 21H2 -- could use some coaching now . .

[BonzaiDuck]

These three systems use the same Z170 chipset. Two of them are Skylake and one is Kaby Lake ("Ineligible" CPU) -- systems all have TPM 2.0 modules installed on motherboard, and are "Secure Boot" with UEFI BIOS.

Of the three, two -- a Kaby Lake and a Skylake with identical motherboards -- have all been successfully updated to Win 11 Pro 25H2.

The remainder is my "daily driver" and a Win 10 Pro system with the ESU. I have updated it to Win 11 Pro 21H2.

I'm trying to update it to 25H2. I run into a snag right away with a dialog indicating ineligible hardware and terminating the installation. Then I remembered I should disable my AV "MalwareBytes" before running that ISO again. The registry hack has already been made.

Any other recommendations so I can get beyond this? The other two systems have given very little trouble with feature updates and all lesser updates are successful and current. No malfunctions, and I've been running the two systems since before October 2025.

I'm building a Rocket Lake 11700K system, but there should be no hurry now, especially if I can get this last system upgraded from Win 11 21H2 to 25H2.

 

[mikeymikec]

I would have just done it straight to 25H2. What registry hack? You just do "setup /product server" from an admin command prompt after changing to the ISO drive letter and off it will go.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I would have just done it straight to 25H2. What registry hack? You just do "setup /product server" from an admin command prompt after changing to the ISO drive letter and off it will go.

Actually, I'd read about that here in the forums a while ago, but I had the instructions from last year involving the registry key for "MoSetup", and just did it that way.

When I downloaded the ISO file initially, I only guessed that it would be the up-to-date build. So, this morning, I decided to take action toward moving it to build 25H2. The other two systems, all same processor generation and Z170 chipset deployment, have updated to 25H2 already. So I did a little reading, poked around in "11 Forums" and elsewhere, then disabled my MalwareBytes AV program and ran the 25H2 ISO the same way I had installed Win 11 initially (giving me 21H2).

I'm done with this now. All is good! I had to "remember" some details I'd encountered last summer with the other two systems. For instance, given certain drivers and hardware, I had to turn off "core isolation".

I see that I could've avoided starting this thread, but it was the "snag" I mentioned, only to realize I hadn't disabled my AV program.

Looking a little further, it appears there's a 26H1 build in the wings, but it's only intended for ARM processors.

I'm looking back over 40 years now. I wish I hadn't become so OCD and obsessed with the microcomputer technology, or that I hadn't done somersaults to keep building my own systems as I did. I'd be a completely different person now. I might even have gotten laid more in the 90s.

BUT! Like Ray Lucca (Tony Denison) tells the FBI Feds (Dennis Farina) in the late 80s crime drama "Crime Story" -- "I'm back. I'm bad. I'm on top! You wing-tip bozos don' have nuthin' on me!"

Just wondering how long my mind is going to stay this sharp . . . or whatever that means -- as sharp as it still is . . .