Get ready for Windows 11 version 25H2 - Enablement Package and ISO downloads available

Bree · Aug 22, 2025

waltc said:
Is there a procedure for moving from 24H2 RP channel (26100.5067) to 25H2 RP channel? From what I'm reading it seems only possible if I move to the Dev channel from the RP channel, which I really don't want to do. I might consider a move to the beta channel, but I don't want to go back to dev (I've been an Insider since Oct 1, 2014... And have had enough of the dev channel..)

At the moment the Beta channel is on 24H2 (26120), while the Dev channel is on 25H2 (26200). While they may have different major build numbers, they have identical minor build numbers, currently .5761, and the same KB numbers.

KB5064093 Windows 11 Insider Beta build 26120.5761 (24H2) - Aug. 22
KB5064093 Windows 11 Insider Beta build 26120.5761 (24H2) - Aug. 22

Basically they are the exactly the same code, the only difference is that Dev has the dormant 25H2 features turned on by an enablement package.

Josey Wales said:
I was on 25H2 for I few days. I DL'd it from the Dump. I then used Macrium reflect to get back to 26100.5067. It is too much trouble to update The DEV channel without being in The IP.

I multi-boot RTM, Dev, Beta, and Canary on one machine. I'm not an insider, so I used the OfflineInsiderEnroll script for my Insider builds. Once enrolled they get all their updates through Windows Update.

Scannerman · Aug 22, 2025

I have to salute you guys. You have to have nerves of steel to do all this beta testing. Getting too old for that sort of thing myself. Left Windows Insider years ago. Too busy with domestics, building PCs, writing books, and being a Dad. Back in the day I worked the MSN gaming community and got my level 4 MS+ but I had to let it go because it was just too time intensive. Still, without your volunteer work and dedication we'd all be in the dark. It's appreciated.

Thank you

gunrunnerjohn · Aug 22, 2025

I'm an involuntary Insider, it got turned on somehow and they want me to make a Microsoft account to turn it off so I'm just leaving it alone. I got updated to 25H2 and I see very little difference. It also hasn't done anything egregious so I'm just leaving it. Truthfully, if it hadn't hung when it did the last reboot after the install, I wouldn't have known it installed. After the hang, I did a check of the image with DISM and then ran SFC /CHECKNOW and no issues surfaced, so I'll let sleeping dogs lie.

waltc · Aug 23, 2025

Bree said:
At the moment the Beta channel is on 24H2 (26120), while the Dev channel is on 25H2 (26200). While they may have different major build numbers, they have identical minor build numbers, currently .5761, and the same KB numbers.

KB5064093 Windows 11 Insider Beta build 26120.5761 (24H2) - Aug. 22
KB5064093 Windows 11 Insider Beta build 26120.5761 (24H2) - Aug. 22

Basically they are the exactly the same code, the only difference is that Dev has the dormant 25H2 features turned on by an enablement package.

I multi-boot RTM, Dev, Beta, and Canary on one machine. I'm not an insider, so I used the OfflineInsiderEnroll script for my Insider builds. Once enrolled they get all their updates through Windows Update.

Thanks for the comments, Bree...

Appreciated. I'd be interested in knowing if you think 25H2 is worth the price of admission currently.

CountMike · Aug 23, 2025

It's just another build, not even most advanced.

Josey Wales · Aug 23, 2025

Bree said:
At the moment the Beta channel is on 24H2 (26120), while the Dev channel is on 25H2 (26200). While they may have different major build numbers, they have identical minor build numbers, currently .5761, and the same KB numbers.

KB5064093 Windows 11 Insider Beta build 26120.5761 (24H2) - Aug. 22
KB5064093 Windows 11 Insider Beta build 26120.5761 (24H2) - Aug. 22

Basically they are the exactly the same code, the only difference is that Dev has the dormant 25H2 features turned on by an enablement package.

I multi-boot RTM, Dev, Beta, and Canary on one machine. I'm not an insider, so I used the OfflineInsiderEnroll script for my Insider builds. Once enrolled they get all their updates through Windows Update.

What will happen if I run this script??

garlin · Aug 23, 2025

Josey Wales said:
What will happen if I run this script??

abbodi1406's Repository page has a more detailed explanation:

GitHub - abbodi1406/offlineinsiderenroll: OfflineInsiderEnroll - A script to enable access to the Windows Insider Program on machines not signed in with Microsoft Account

waltc · Aug 23, 2025

Scannerman said:
I have to salute you guys. You have to have nerves of steel to do all this beta testing. Getting too old for that sort of thing myself. Left Windows Insider years ago. Too busy with domestics, building PCs, writing books, and being a Dad. Back in the day I worked the MSN gaming community and got my level 4 MS+ but I had to let it go because it was just too time intensive. Still, without your volunteer work and dedication we'd all be in the dark. It's appreciated.

Thank you

Years ago I can certainly sympathize! It used to be that after I'd download and attempt to install an ISO as an upgrade on top of a previous Insider build, that sometimes the build would refuse to run my preferred software--even hardware on occasion--and I'd have to revert to the previous build, and then cancel for a week (or longer) waiting on a version that took care of the problem. I made frequent updates to the Hub in those days. Yes, a big pain, I agree, and I'm older now and more chintzy with my time these days...

I started on Dev, then went to beta, and have happily landed on RP.

But for the last couple of years I've been spoiled by how easy and relatively painless Microsoft has made installing and testing the Insider versions, especially the RP channel, which is the closest thing to release quality and often better (sometimes much better) than what Microsoft has released commercially to date. I've yet to have a Windows Update cumulative package fail on me, and at an average of once a week, it takes about 3 minutes to fully install through Windows Update. Just for fun, I built a couple of ISOs and then did in-place reinstalls of them to see if I could detect a difference between the cumulative package and the full ISO (I have ~7 TBs of programs and data installed and do not want to have to reinstall all of that just to do a clean install of a build, so all of my installations are upgrades.) There was no difference I could detect! (Takes about two hours to do all of that.) So since then I always stick with the 3 minutes a week--and all of my stuff runs like clockwork, games and applications and Firefox x64 DE are all consistently fine, from one build to the next.

I like to say that "This is not 'your father's' Insider program!"...

I set group policy to skip device driver installs, and the setting has held consistently from one build upgrade to the next. So overwriting a newer driver with an older one is a problem that Microsoft fixed years back with the gp setting--which saves a lot of time. I go to the manufacturer of the device for drivers and install them myself. I use Macrium Reflect 8.1 to back up my C: boot partition (I like lots of partitions.), just as a back-up with every build--which is leaps and bounds better than having Microsoft try and restore a previous build, etc. Had some extra time--this is the longest post I've made in a while...

Bree · Aug 23, 2025

Josey Wales said:
What will happen if I run this script??

It makes the same changes that enrolling as an insider would. And can undo them too.

BonzaiDuck · Aug 25, 2025

I read through maybe 4 pages of posts on this thread. I'm migrating from Ten Forums, but keeping my iron in that fire, too.

I have been trying to stay on top of this technology since . . . . 1983. There was a time when I would bear any expense to remain current. With Windows 7, all my tech-veteran colleagues were disgruntled for needing to step up to Windows 10. Now -- here we are.

I have everything on my three desktops as required for Win 11 except the CPU, which is a generation behind or the model that preceded the first eligible on Microsoft's list -- which would be Coffee Lake. After boot-disk backups of Win 10 Pro and Win 10 IoT Enterprise 2021 LTSC boot volumes, I am testing this installation of Win 11 Pro on my Kaby Lake processors. If I get to the Feature Update of 25H2 successfully, I will be grateful. If not, I can obtain surplus motherboard and processor to use with my current RAM modules. Some rumors suggest that Microsoft will tighten hardware requirements on Windows 11 and some suggest they will loosen. I see others here in this thread explain how the 25H2 uses a lot of the 24H2 programming, or is just a minor face-lift for 24H2. We're going to find out.

Hazel123 · Aug 25, 2025

BonzaiDuck said:
I read through maybe 4 pages of posts on this thread. I'm migrating from Ten Forums, but keeping my iron in that fire, too.

I have been trying to stay on top of this technology since . . . . 1983. There was a time when I would bear any expense to remain current. With Windows 7, all my tech-veteran colleagues were disgruntled for needing to step up to Windows 10. Now -- here we are.

I have everything on my three desktops as required for Win 11 except the CPU, which is a generation behind or the model that preceded the first eligible on Microsoft's list -- which would be Coffee Lake. After boot-disk backups of Win 10 Pro and Win 10 IoT Enterprise 2021 LTSC boot volumes, I am testing this installation of Win 11 Pro on my Kaby Lake processors. If I get to the Feature Update of 25H2 successfully, I will be grateful. If not, I can obtain surplus motherboard and processor to use with my current RAM modules. Some rumors suggest that Microsoft will tighten hardware requirements on Windows 11 and some suggest they will loosen. I see others here in this thread explain how the 25H2 uses a lot of the 24H2 programming, or is just a minor face-lift for 24H2. We're going to find out.

From what I've read, 25H2 is just a minor update

So if you're ok with 24H2 then you should be ok with 25H2 is well. As long as the machine has SSE4.2 it should run it fine.

Personally I suspect that Microsoft are very keen for people to migrate to Windows 11 this year and will make sure 25H2 is easy peasy!

And welcome to 11 Forum! You might like this thread as well.

Let's install Windows 11 on incompatible hardware

Inspired on this thread: Let's run Win10 on really really old hardware - Windows 10 Help Forums Most of our machines are unsupported on Windows 11, why not force it? --------- Run Windows 11 on unsupported machines --------- 1. How to Bypass Windows 11's TPM, CPU and RAM Requirements 2...

www.elevenforum.com

BonzaiDuck · Aug 25, 2025

Hazel123 said:
From what I've read, 25H2 is just a minor update So if you're ok with 24H2 then you should be ok with 25H2 is well. As long as the machine has SSE4.2 it should run it fine.

Personally I suspect that Microsoft are very keen for people to migrate to Windows 11 this year and will make sure 25H2 is easy peasy!

You have to wonder, now that Bill Gates is long gone, how much of a benign influence they intend. I'm retired -- the loose joint in my fixed income is the return on a nest-egg investment portfolio. I can afford computers parts. I was planning to buy a newer car, but not eager for it. The house needs $4,000 in improved attic insulation. Otherwise -- LG -- Life is Good. It was encouraging to make some searches for hardware new in shrink-wrap on EBay among prior-generation retail and corporate surplus. I insist on having three desktops in service to my house here -- one a Media system feeding the Sony Bravia and HT 5.1 Receiver. the cores of Skylake and Kaby Lake are not very different from the cores in Coffee Lake. Why should Microsoft kick me to the curb? But I'm not strapped for cash; I'm not poor.

Some people who need a PC with connection to the internet are strapped for cash and relatively poor. So the South Park boys can sing a chorus: "What will Micro-So-oft Do-o-o-o!? What will Micro-So-oft Do-o-ooo?!"

Your comments are very encouraging, alleviating my anxiety for the moment. But I believe you are correct.

Winuser · Aug 25, 2025

Hazel123 said:
From what I've read, 25H2 is just a minor update So if you're ok with 24H2 then you should be ok with 25H2 is well. As long as the machine has SSE4.2 it should run it fine.

From my understanding about 25H2 I don't think they will be able to upgrade past 24H2.

Hazel123 · Aug 25, 2025

Winuser said:
From my understanding about 25H2 I don't think they will be able to upgrade past 24H2.

Ah really? Is that right? I thought as long as it could upgrade to 24H2 (ie has SSE4.2) there would be no restriction. What have you read please? I mean it's not going to upgrade automatically if the hardware is unsupported - it would need reinstalling (or another work around for upgrading).

Winuser · Aug 25, 2025

Hazel123 said:
Ah really? Is that right? I thought as long as it could upgrade to 24H2 (ie has SSE4.2) there would be no restriction. What have you read please? I mean it's not going to upgrade automatically if the hardware is unsupported - it would need reinstalling (or another work around for upgrading).

My understanding is that 25H2 has to have a computer that is SSE4.2 compliant. 24H2 doesn't need SSE4.2 to run. If I'm understanding it correctly, MS is doing their best to make users upgrade to a newer computer all in the name of security. If I'm wrong I'm sure someone will correct me.

Bree · Aug 25, 2025

BonzaiDuck said:
I have everything on my three desktops as required for Win 11 except the CPU, which is a generation behind or the model that preceded the first eligible on Microsoft's list -- which would be Coffee Lake .... I am testing this installation of Win 11 Pro on my Kaby Lake processors. If I get to the Feature Update of 25H2 successfully, I will be grateful....

I am running Insider builds on System Two in 'My Computers' below, up to and including the latest Canary build. 25H2 is currently being tested in the Dev channel. It runs fine on this 1st gen (Nehalem) i5.

24H2 and 25H2 share a common set of system files, the 25H2 features will be dormant until enabled by a small Enablement Package (eKb). This is the same process that was used for the 22H2>23H2 feature update (and in Windows 10 for every feature update since version 2004).

An unsupported cpu will not be offered the 25H2 feature update (or any feature update, come to that). That should be no problem though, the 25H2 enablement package should be available to download once 25H2 is released. It can be manually installed much like a cumulative update (it doesn't even check for a supported device). That's how my System Two went from 22H2 to 23H2.

KB5027397 Enablement Package for Windows 11 version 23H2 Feature Update

BonzaiDuck · Aug 25, 2025

Winuser said:
My understanding is that 25H2 has to have a computer that is SSE4.2 compliant. 24H2 doesn't need SSE4.2 to run. If I'm understanding it correctly, MS is doing their best to make users upgrade to a newer computer all in the name of security. If I'm wrong I'm sure someone will correct me.

I can't correct you; I can only say that all of my desktops are fine with SSE4.2 and all the other features but for being just short of the Coffee Lake CPU.

And like I also said, there's not that much difference in the design of Kaby Lake versus Coffee Lake, except that Coffee Lake may have six or more cores while Kaby is limited to four. So their programming of the OS hardware check is arbitrary, or it seems arbitrary.

And if I were having some dialog with Micro$oft, I would tell them that I, too, want security, but throwing this hardware away doesn't seem reasonable at all.
Did I say this? Even if I built one of these three systems in 2022, it is still 2016/2017 hardware. That makes it eight-year-old technology. So it is probably time to buy a new one or build a new one.

But I suspect I should watch my Windows Updates to see when I get that Enablement Package, or start finding out how to download and use it.

Bree · Aug 25, 2025

Winuser said:
My understanding is that 25H2 has to have a computer that is SSE4.2 compliant. 24H2 doesn't need SSE4.2 to run. If I'm understanding it correctly....

No, the requirement for SSE4.2 was new for 24H2. Without SSE4.2 the last version of Windows 11 that will run is 23H2. It's not an artificially imposed requirement that can be bypassed, 24H2 actually uses SSE4.2 instructions and cannot even boot on a cpu without them.

Bree said:
I'm doing a clean install now on an old laptop without SSE4.2. Previously I'd tested with Insider builds, this is my first chance to confirm the worst with the release version.

First issue was that it couldn't even boot from the standard 24H2 install USB made by the MCT. It gets as far as the Windows logo, then reboots before it even starts the spinning 'loading up' circle.

Second attempt was with my hybrid 23H2/24H2 USB. That at least copied all the files, set them up and got to the first reboot. Same issue, it shows the logo, but then reboots before the circles appear.

Windows 11 24H2 has un-bypassable hardware requirements... - post #282

Bree · Aug 25, 2025

BonzaiDuck said:
But I suspect I should watch my Windows Updates to see when I get that Enablement Package, or start finding out how to download and use it.

You won't see it offered in Windows Update. After the 25H2 release date you should find a download here on Eleven Forum, as was the case for the 23H2 enablement package.

Winuser · Aug 25, 2025

BonzaiDuck said:
I have everything on my three desktops as required for Win 11 except the CPU, which is a generation behind or the model that preceded the first eligible on Microsoft's list -- which would be Coffee Lake.

Sorry if I'm wrong. This is what I based my post on.

Windows 11 Edition	Lifecycle
Windows 11 Enterprise Windows 11 Enterprise multi-session Windows 11 Education Windows 11 IoT Enterprise	36 months from release date
Windows 11 Pro Windows 11 Pro Education Windows 11 Pro for Workstations Windows 11 Home	24 months from release date

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