I've upgraded to Win 11 25h2 and had a nice surprise

Last year, when Win 11 24h2 was released, I did a drive image of my Win 11 23h2 and did an in place upgrade using a tweaked Win 11 24h2 iso file (my computers aren't officially Win 11 compatible. (See My computer for specs).
I found out that one of my applications (Kirby alarm) wasn't working properly. Kirby alarm is a small application built for Win XP but was working fine under Win 11 23h2. After some other issues that I don't remember I rolled back to Win 11 23h2 that had everything I need and was working well.
Yesterday, for my surprise, I saw that Win 11 25h2 was officially released.
I did a drive image of my Win 11 23h2 and did an in place upgrade using a tweaked Win 11 25h2 iso file.
I had a problem that resulted on an un boot able. I restore Win 11 23h2 and tried again.
For my surprise, even Kirby alarm is working without any issues. Only ExplorerPacher wasn't. Installed a new version (26100.4946.69.4) and problem solved.
Some tweaks applied to Win 11 23h2 had to be reapplied on Win 11 25h2 (Disable_Show_more_options_context_menu, Remove_Drives_from_Navigation_Pane etc). Also Edge had to be reconfigured (again).

I was so pleased that I also upgraded the laptop. This time I uninstalled ExplorerPacher before the upgrade and installed the new version after the upgrade. The main issue was on an Asus SmartGesture (Touchpad) that had an incompatible driver. Installed a new version and it's all working well.

So far so good on both desktop and laptop.

I wonder if we should tell him about the Enablement Package?

If you have the time? Please fill me in in the "Enablement Package" I just moved up yesterday to 25H2 ? cheers 25H2 (OS Build 26200.6728)

Ghot said:

I wonder if we should tell him about the Enablement Package?

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Should we? That would be a bit cheeky, and we are never that way on this site.

Ghot said:

I wonder if we should tell him about the Enablement Package?

Click to expand...

For what I know, the Enablement Package is only to upgrade from Win 11 24h2 to Win 11 25h2.
I upgraded from Win 11 23h2 to Win 11 25h2

Please don't confuse novice readers. To clarify, the 25H2 Enablement Package can work ONLY if you already run Windows 11 24H2. For any earlier version or for upgrading from Windows 10 to 11 25H2 you need to do a full upgrade using the ISO. This of course implies you have at least 1st generation Intel Core-i3 CPU that supports SSE4.2 instructions. For anything older, such as good old Intel Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Quad, you either stick with Windows 10 22H2 or with Windows 11 23H2.

remover said:

If you have the time? Please fill me in in the "Enablement Package" I just moved up yesterday to 25H2 ? cheers 25H2 (OS Build 26200.6728)

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As I have posted in another thread, I had a virtual machine running Windows 11 24H2 which hadn't updated and was still at an older build, 26100.4770 I wanted to use the 25H2 Enablement Package there to test for any issues before upgrading my main PC. Originally I had in mind to run Windows Update first and install any updates to maximize compatibility, but I was distracted and just run 25H2 Enabled Package which switched to Windows 11 25H2 build 26200.4770, despite Google saying you need at least 50xx build. After that Windows Update could not install some obsolete 24H2 cumulative updates, so I had to clear Windows Update cache and restart. Then Windows Update managed to catch up and download the respective 25H2 updates which installed all without issues. Since it was a fresh installation and I didn't have installed many apps, the start menu was not populated, so there was no visible difference between the 24H2 start menu and the new 25H2 start menu. Probably in a PC with many apps it will make a difference, but not in that specific virtual machine. Also I saw that there is an option (enabled by default) to automatically reduce the size of the taskbar icons if the taskbar is full, much like Mac OS's dock. There are some other minor changes I don't remember, but nothing too obvious as it was between Windows 10 and 11. For those interested the last version of Explorer Patcher released recently fixed the bug that changed the taskbar color when you clicked the search icon ignoring the custom color set in Open Shell (assuming you have both installed). To use the custom color set in Open Shell you must select "Windows 10 (Explorer Patcher)" style for the taskbar, otherwise it is ignored and the default Windows color is used instead.

@spapakons Thank you for the post above. We seem to be ok here now. Cheers

spapakons said:

As I have posted in another thread, I had a virtual machine running Windows 10 24H2 .......

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You mean Win 11 24h2, correct?

sorry I got mixed up --- if your question was for spapakons - excuse me ! I'm running 25H2 as of yesterday Cheers

Yes, it was Windows 11 24H2 upgraded to 25H2. Sorry. As you may know last Windows 10 version is 22H2. Typo corrected.

Glad to hear 25H2 is progressing smoothly this time. I will upgrade to Windows 11 25H2 to experience the new features!

For anyone upgrading from Win 10 or unsupported PCs, this guide helps:
How can I upgrade from Windows 10 to 11 for free? | Microsoft Community Hub

Windows 11 on devices that don't meet minimum system requirements - Microsoft Support

That sounds good! So your program that wasn't working is now working in 25H2? I must try that. I had a program that worked in 23H2 but wasn't working in 24H2. I shall try it on 25H2!