Solved Clean-Install of 22631.2506 Pro fails repeatedly

Mark Phelps · Nov 5, 2023

I made an ISO of 22631.2506 from UUPDUMP and have been trying to use it to clean-install Win11 Pro -- but it keeps failing.

When I have done this in the past, I have booted into another OS (Win11 Beta), used Minitool Partition Wizard to remove all the partitions on the Win11Pro drive, inserted the Win11 USB stick and rebooted into it. When the install got to the point of selecting the location, I selected the unformatted drive, The installation then says it can not continue and tells me to restart, which I do. When I get to the same location again, since the drive is now formatted, I select the empty Primary partition on the drive -- and all continues OK.

But NOW, when I do that, the installation fails saying it couldn't create a new partition of locate an existing one.

So, I tried a second approach of rebooting into Win11 Beta and using MTPW to remove all the partitions and recreate a single one. When I got to the same location again in the installation, I selected that partition -- but got the same error message.

Don't know what to do now.

Restored W11Pro using MR and used PSP to shrink images -- so they are posted now.

Ghot · Nov 5, 2023

Mark Phelps said:
When the install got to the point of selecting the location, I selected the unformatted drive, The installation then says it can not continue

Maybe when you get to the select location point... pick the unallocated and tell the installer to format it.
Then, try installing.

Mark Phelps · Nov 5, 2023

Ghot said:
Maybe when you get to the select location point... pick the unallocated and tell the installer to format it.
Then, try installing.

I tried that as well, selected the unformatted space and told the installer to format it. Then restarted the install. When I got back to that point, there were three partitions -- as shown in the first image. When I selected the primary partition, that's when I got that error message. When I had done this on previous installations, the setup continued without problems.

Ghot · Nov 5, 2023

Mark Phelps said:
I tried that as well, selected the unformatted space and told the installer to format it. Then restarted the install. When I got back to that point, there were three partitions -- as shown in the first image. When I selected the primary partition, that's when I got that error message. When I had done this on previous installations, the setup continued without problems.

Maybe the installer is corrupt.
Try re-downloading and re-creating the install media.

Mark Phelps · Nov 5, 2023

UUPDUMP is not working properly now. When I enter 22631.2506, I get three AMD64 options, of which the first two simply do not work. When I select the third, it creates a script but all that does is download the Windows Update files; it does not build an ISO.

I did this a few days ago and it worked fine -- that's where I got the ISO.

Win7ine · Nov 5, 2023

Why use an extra "Minitool Partition Magic" when you can simply delete all partitions within Windows Setup, there is a BIG RED CROSS next to DELETE, that will delete highlighted partition(s). Also you seem to have at least 4 drives in you machine. Perhaps the installer is getting confused. Consider disconnecting/disabling all but the one you want to install Windows on. Also best not to pre create any partition for the installer but present a bare, empty drive for installation.

Firas · Nov 5, 2023

antspants · Nov 5, 2023

If the new media doesnt work. I doubt that it would make a difference but using diskpart is a habit of mine I never stopped for whatever reason, as apposed to minitool.

At this window:

Shift key + F10
Type; diskpart
Type; list disk
Type; select disk x (x being the drive position/number. Be careful that you are cleaning the right drive/disk)
Type; clean
Type; exit

Ghot · Nov 5, 2023

Mark Phelps said:
UUPDUMP is not working properly now. When I enter 22631.2506, I get three AMD64 options, of which the first two simply do not work. When I select the third, it creates a script but all that does is download the Windows Update files; it does not build an ISO.

I did this a few days ago and it worked fine -- that's where I got the ISO.

Maybe get the ISO from Microsoft.
I believe they are now releasing the latest version... well far later than 22621.1702
Maybe @Brink knows about this?

This is what the download dialog says at Microsoft...

Mark Phelps · Nov 5, 2023

Win7ine said:
Why use an extra "Minitool Partition Magic" when you can simply delete all partitions within Windows Setup, there is a BIG RED CROSS next to DELETE, that will delete highlighted partition(s). Also you seem to have at least 4 drives in you machine. Perhaps the installer is getting confused. Consider disconnecting/disabling all but the one you want to install Windows on.

Why -- because it is easy to use and I am used to it.

The installer sees the drives and partitions clearly and does not provide any indication of being confused. As to removing the drives, they are all nvme SSDs, fastened to the motherboard, and removing them requires opening the PC, taking out hardware, and putting it back together -- something I have no had to do in the past and don't want to do now. If they were simply SSDs that I could unplug, it would be a different matter.

I did this same thing (clean-install from an ISO) around this time last year, with this same PC with the same hardware -- and had no issues.

Mark Phelps · Nov 5, 2023

Ghot said:
Maybe get the ISO from Microsoft.
I believe they are now releasing the latest version... well far later than 22621.1702
Maybe @Brink knows about this?

If the MCT does NOW create 22631.2506, then I would be happy to use it.

wordsworth · Nov 5, 2023

Perhaps read this post and try the suggestions especially the first of the four answers.

antspants · Nov 5, 2023

Have you considered that the drive might be corrupt? Have you tried to load a backup to see if it is still operating OK?

Mark Phelps said:
If the MCT does NOW create 22631.2506, then I would be happy to use it.

Not yet, apparently

Mark Phelps · Nov 5, 2023

Firas said:
View attachment 76747

I don't understand the point of your post.

I am ALREADY running Win11 Pro 22631.2506 -- I just want to do a clean-install of it from an ISO.

Mark Phelps · Nov 5, 2023

antspants said:
Have you considered that the drive might be corrupt? Have you tried to load a backup to see if it is still operating OK?

Not yet, apparently

Good suggestion -- but since I have an MR Image of Win11Pro, I booted into Win11 Beta, ran MR, restored from the image, and then rebooted BACK into Win11Pro -- from which I am doing the posting right now. So, I don't think the drive is the issue.

Bree · Nov 5, 2023

Mark Phelps said:
UUPDUMP is not working properly now....

Why get 22631.2506 from UUP dump when you can download the 22631.2428 ISO direct from Microsoft? It's only one CU away from .2506. I've just used the MS ISO to do a clean install on my least compatible machine (just to prove it's still possible with 23H3). In fact, I'm using it to post this. :wink:

Firas · Nov 5, 2023

Mark Phelps said:
I made an ISO of 22631.2506 from UUPDUMP and have been trying to use it to clean-install Win11 Pro -- but it keeps failing.

I realized it was not functioning.
I just wanted to let you know that everything was operating without any issues.

Mark Phelps · Nov 5, 2023

wordsworth said:
Perhaps read this post and try the suggestions especially the first of the four answers.

I AM reading this post -- and I AM trying and replying to each of the responses. So, I don't need to be told to do that!

Mark Phelps · Nov 5, 2023

Bree said:
Why get 22631.2506 from UUP dump when you can download the 22631.2428 ISO direct from Microsoft? It's only one CU away from .2506. I've just used the MS ISO to do a clean install on my least compatible machine (just to prove it's still possible with 23H3). In fact, I'm using it to post this.

Why? Because I'm lazy and wanted to do as little as possible<G> But I will check to see if I have a 2428 ISO.

UPDATE -- so I downloaded the Win11_23H2_English_x64.ISO from MS and it is actually 22621.2428 -- which is 22H2, not 23H2, right?

But, I will see about using this instead.

antspants · Nov 5, 2023

I think he means this post

Failed Windows installation - "Windows could prepare the computer to boot into the next phase of installation"

I followed this guide to create a USB stick to install windows. I've got to the point where I'm able to run the installation, several of the steps complete, but on the last step I get this error. ...

superuser.com

I believe the gist is to format the USB to MBR as apposed to GPT, with extra stuff that was somewhat over my head.