Disconnecting internal drives before install


You get to choose the drive when installing Windows, but if your M2's are identical there might be a problem.
 

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    W11 pro betaAthlon 3000G16Gb Crucial DDR4 2400onboard cpu
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    W11 pro 64 beta (from W10 pro system builder ...Ryzen 7 5700G4 x 8Gb Corsair Vengeance LPX 3000 DDR4onboard cpu
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    135/20
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    edge/Firefox
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    WD plus Malwarebytes free
I did some further research into this. It appears that what cereberus stated was absolutely correct (not that there ever was doubt!).

It looks like the only time you might potentially encounter an issue is if you have an EFI partition on another drive. In all likelihood this means that you have another drive on which Windows was at one time installed to previously.

Knowing this makes the situation easy to avoid. I just reinstalled on the one and only machine to have ever been an issue for me and all went 100% smoothly.
 

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    Win11 Pro 25H2 (RTM+)Intel i7-14650HX32 GBNo GPU - Built-in Intel Graphics
    OS
    Win11 Pro 25H2 (RTM+)
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Acemagic
    CPU
    Intel i7-14650HX
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    32 GB
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    No GPU - Built-in Intel Graphics
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    Win11 Pro 25H2 (RTM+)Intel i7-1255U16 GBIntel Iris Xe Graphics
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    Win11 Pro 25H2 (RTM+)
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    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Lenovo ThinkBook 13x Gen 2
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    Intel i7-1255U
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    16 GB
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    Intel Iris Xe Graphics
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    Realtek® ALC3306-CG codec
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    13.3-inch IPS Display
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    WQXGA (2560 x 1600)
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    2 TB 4 x 4 NVMe SSD
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    USB-C / Thunderbolt 4 Power / Charging
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    Backlit, spill resistant keyboard
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    Buttonless Glass Precision Touchpad
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    1Gb Up / 1Gb Down
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    Edge
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    Windows Defender
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    WiFi 6e / Bluetooth 5.1 / Facial Recognition / Fingerprint Sensor / ToF (Time of Flight) Human Presence Sensor
OldMainframeGuy said:
Cereberus: On my machine, drive 0 is my data drive and drive 1 is my OS drive so if I'm understanding your very comprehensive post properly, Windows will install properly on drive 1 and not try to modify drive 0. I'm not trying to set up a dual-boot system; I just want to upgrade Windows 10 to Windows 11 on drive 1. And of course, everything will be backed up beforehand with Macrium Reflect.

Rob
Click to expand...
So long as data is backed up, all should be fine.
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Windows 11 Pro + Win11 Canary VM.I9 13th gen i9-13900H 2.60 GHZ16 GB solderedIntegrated Intel Iris XE
OS
Windows 11 Pro + Win11 Canary VM.
Computer type
Laptop
Manufacturer/Model
ASUS Zenbook 14
CPU
I9 13th gen i9-13900H 2.60 GHZ
Motherboard
Yep, Laptop has one.
Memory
16 GB soldered
Graphics Card(s)
Integrated Intel Iris XE
Sound Card
Realtek built in
Monitor(s) Displays
laptop OLED screen
Screen Resolution
2880x1800 touchscreen
Hard Drives
1 TB NVME SSD (only weakness is only one slot)
PSU
Internal + 65W thunderbolt USB4 charger
Case
Yep, got one
Cooling
Stella Artois (UK pint cans - 568 ml) - extra cost.
Keyboard
Built in UK keybd
Mouse
Bluetooth , wireless dongled, wired
Internet Speed
900 mbs (ethernet), wifi 6 typical 350-450 mb/s both up and down
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Edge
Antivirus
Defender
Other Info
TPM 2.0, 2xUSB4 thunderbolt, 1xUsb3 (usb a), 1xUsb-c, hdmi out, 3.5 mm audio out/in combo, ASUS backlit trackpad (inc. switchable number pad)

Macrium Reflect Home V8
Office 365 Family (6 users each 1TB onedrive space)
Hyper-V (a vm runs almost as fast as my older laptop)
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