Win 11 x64 24H2 Upgrade on Old computer

[JackMDS]

Intel i7 -3770 ivy, on GA-B75M-HD3 Mobo (2012, 16MB mem, 256GB SSD), GTX 660 Graphics.

Running Win 11Pro x64 23H2 on MBR.

Used Rufus 4.6 beta to install Win 11 24H2 ISO on 16GB USB3 Flash Drive.

Then, Ran the Flash Drive using in-Place upgrade on a Win 11 active computer.

First installing on the current 23H2 version took 20 Min.

Then it switched to the black Update screen and took the finish the Update and came

after additional 25 Min with functional 24H2 version.

YMMV, that is first quick attempt.

The above was tested on both 23H2 Pro and 23H2 Home versions.

However, as it is right now it works only with Old Computer that Use the Intel i5 i7 line, It does not work with the Old Core2 CPU.

I did Not tested it yet with old AMD Proccessor line.

 

[Shmee]

Would it be possible to install the 24H2 image on the drive directly? Or is that blocked now?

 

[MadScientist]

Intel i7 -3770 ivy, on GA-B75M-HD3 Mobo (2012, 16MB mem, 256GB SSD), GTX 660 Graphics.

Running Win 11Pro x64 23H2 on MBR.

Used Rufus 4.6 beta to install Win 11 24H2 ISO on 16GB USB3 Flash Drive.

Then, Ran the Flash Drive using in-Place upgrade on a Win 11 active computer.

First installing on the current 23H2 version took 20 Min.

Then it switched to the black Update screen and took the finish the Update and came

after additional 25 Min with functional 24H2 version.

YMMV, that is first quick attempt.

The above was tested on both 23H2 Pro and 23H2 Home versions.

However, as it is right now it works only with Old Computer that Use the Intel i5 i7 line, It does not work with the Old Core2 CPU.

I did Not tested it yet with old AMD Proccessor line.

My laptop is not as old as yours. Lenovo Ideapad 720S-14IKB, Intel Core i7-8550U Processor, Win 11 Home x64 23H2, Nvidia GeForce MX150, 16GB DDR4, 2400 MHz, 256GB SSD. I used the Windows Installation Assistant to upgrade it to 24H2. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows11 No problems, every thing stayed intact. The only thing I had to do was re-install the nvidia MX150 driver.
After installing 24H2 I ran Windows Update and there were 2 updates that installed.
2024-10 Cumulative Update for Windows 11 Version 24H2 for x64-based Systems (KB5044284)
2024-10 Cumulative Update for .NET Framework 3.5 and 4.8.1 for Windows 11, version 24H2 for x64 (KB5044030)

There is an excellent article on arsTechnica on How to install Windows 11 on supported and unsupported PCs, 24H2 edition

 

[mikeymikec]

I've done a few 23H2 upgrades on unsupported hardware, but a recent one I attempted an in-place upgrade on a Skylake setup didn't go for the first time when I downloaded the latest ISO from MS and Rufus'd it (I presume it was 24H2). I then used my tried-and-tested Rufus'd ISO and it worked.

 

[Iron Woode]

Just to be clear:

24H2 will not install on a Core2 (socket 775) system. It will install on an AMD FX series system but not an earlier AMD AM3 or 2 system.

This is due to certain CPU instructions sets that aren't present in older CPUs.

 

[tcsenter]

Would it be possible to install the 24H2 image on the drive directly? Or is that blocked now?

The hardware requirement check bypass and 'do not require Microsoft account' mod provided by Rufus (latest as of this post) still work fine. I just installed 24H2 on clean drive using them on Haswell system (network/internet NOT connected during Setup):




Setup does have some new Setup UI but there is a text link on the screen to 'use previous setup style' that give you the familiar setup screens used since W10 (actually even since 8). I don't know what the differences are, I didn't try the new Setup UI. To really test legacy system support, I even installed on MBR partition in Legacy BIOS mode and Secure Boot disabled. Working great.

 

[mikeymikec]

Just to be clear:

24H2 will not install on a Core2 (socket 775) system. It will install on an AMD FX series system but not an earlier AMD AM3 or 2 system.

This is due to certain CPU instructions sets that aren't present in older CPUs.

Can you elaborate on your source of information please, and if it's your own work can you give an idea of your process?

 

[Iron Woode]

Can you elaborate on your source of information please, and if it's your own work can you give an idea of your process?

MS states it. As do other sites out there.

Here is one from EaseUS:

Windows 11 24h2 Update: System/Hardware/CPU/LSTC Requirements

Learn how to determine if your PC meets the Windows 11 24H2 system requirements. Review the Microsoft requirements to ensure compatibility and explore the expected new features.

www.easeus.com

check out the cpu requirements - Must Support SSE4.2 or SSE4A

 

[mikeymikec]

MS states it. As do other sites out there.

Here is one from EaseUS:

Windows 11 24h2 Update: System/Hardware/CPU/LSTC Requirements

Learn how to determine if your PC meets the Windows 11 24H2 system requirements. Review the Microsoft requirements to ensure compatibility and explore the expected new features.

www.easeus.com

check out the cpu requirements - Must Support SSE4.2 or SSE4A

I've just checked the CPUs of a couple of AM3 Win11 upgrades I've done recently (e.g. Athlon II X4 645) and it supports SSE4A. Phew!

 

[Iron Woode]

I've just checked the CPUs of a couple of AM3 Win11 upgrades I've done recently (e.g. Athlon II X4 645) and it supports SSE4A. Phew!

my experience with 24h2 has not been good.

I am sticking with 23h2 for now.

 

[mikeymikec]

@Iron Woode

Despite AM3 CPUs like the AMD Athlon II X2 250 and Phenom II X4 955 both having SSE4A, I think EaseUS's information is incorrect. I suspect that SSE 4.2 is what's required (which AMD FX and Intel Sandy Bridge has).

I've installed Win11 23H2 on two AM3 boards without issue, but neither board (one has the AMD 700 series chipset, the other 800) seems to want to take 24H2 via the in-place upgrade, it fails on the first boot within a second, reboots, and reverts to 23H2 saying that the installation failed in the SAFE_OS phase.

I've tried doing test clean 23H2 installs on both without any extra drivers, and on the first I tried disabling every onboard extra I could find (e.g. audio/NIC/1394) and manually uninstalling their drivers from Device Manager. My first 24H2 upgrade attempt was an in-place upgrade from Win10 22H2.

PS - since my first post on this thread, I initially had some trouble with getting 24H2 to install, but either in-place upgrading Win10 22H2 or Win11 23H2 has worked consistently for me, until this AM3 problem.

- edit - I'm feeling kinda stupid because there was news on the Internet back in April 2024 that hardware blocks were in place to stop pre SSE 4.2 CPUs from using Win11 24H2, but in my defence at the time I probably would have thought that pre-release is not the same as release as well as Microsoft's other attempts to stop "unsupported hardware" haven't worked so why should this one