Path for build 25393

Hi, I am new here but once in a while I come here and read some topics when needed.

Back events:
I am Windows Insider member since it's release. I been using/testing builds since the launch, even got my installation bricked at least once. I did "stop" installing new builds once I moved my desktop/laptop pcs to use cheap SSDs. I don't want to wear out SSDs.
Moving on... With Windows 11, many users got "kicked out" from the program due to lack of PC requirement and I am one of those who still use perfectly capable PCs. I recognize that still using LGA775 is obsolete and I plan moving to newer platform maybe next year. Since I am unable to install Windows 11 normally since its launch. I download zips from uup dump, build the ISO files and upgrade. I was in build 22621 and then few weeks ago, I installed builds 25352/25357 and finally build 25393.

Now I am stuck apparently on build 25393 because build 25398 has been named as Windows Server 2022 and this build got 25398.287 which means it can be used in production.

My question is... What is the path for 25393?
I can't downgrade from 25393 to 234xx.
I can't upgrade from 25393 to 25398 because it's branded as Windows Server and there seems to be no Windows 11 Pro build 25398, AND I can't use Windows Insider Program from Windows Update because my PCs do not meet the requirements... unless there is some trick that enables WIP's Windows Update to force install build 25398 without headbutting before installation at 10%.
There are new builds for Windows ... build 25903.

hugosimoes said:

Since I am unable to install Windows 11 normally since its launch. I download zips from uup dump....

My question is... What is the path for 25393?
I can't downgrade from 25393 to 234xx.
I can't upgrade from 25393 to 25398 because it's branded as Windows Server and there seems to be no Windows 11 Pro build 25398, AND I can't use Windows Insider Program from Windows Update because my PCs do not meet the requirements...

Click to expand...

Welcome to Eleven Forum.

The 25xxx builds are the Canary Channel, the latest build for which is 25905.1000. I expect a new build should be released any day now, but for now 25905 is the current one. Links to the UUPDump download are at the bottom of this article:

Bree said:

Welcome to Eleven Forum.

The 25xxx builds are the Canary Channel, the latest build for which is 25905.1000. I expect a new build should be released any day now, but for now 25905 is the current one. Links to the UUPDump download are at the bottom of this article:

Windows 11 Insider Canary Build 25905.1000 (23H2) - July 12

UPDATE 7/27: https://www.elevenforum.com/t/windows-11-insider-canary-build-25915-1000-23h2-july-27.16692/ Windows Blogs: Hello Windows Insiders, today we are releasing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 25905 to the Canary Channel. We are releasing ISOs for this build – they can be downloaded...

www.elevenforum.com

Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply. I thought so.
The thing is that.. there is pro/home editions for build 25393 and not (yet) for build 25398. Microsoft is just playing with build numbers and making things confusing. I have built ISO for build 25398.287 but there are only 2 editions.
I still have time because the timebomb is still months away. And fresh install is a big NO. That would happen if something catastrophic happens.
just want to upgrade to the next Windows consumer build ahead of time like I used to when builds got frozen and received patches.

I will have an eye for builds 259xx.
If someone else has something more to say, I will be happy to read.

Not able to upgrade yet.
I built build 25905 from uup which generated an ISO file. I generated an usb flash with Rufus and used a laptop running 25393... which failed after first reboot.. it simply froze with the Windows 11 logo and no spinning thing.
I also did the same on another laptop which has 22621 and it also did the same.
After rolling back, the desktop shows a dialog with error c1900101.
With the other laptop, I booted from the usb... and it seems to load the boot.wim to RAM and does not move on... no spinning circle.
I guess MS is forcing us running Win11 to newer hardware.
I didn't try other tricks yet like... applying the wim image against C:.
There is a website that provides reg files that changes the WIP settings and Windows Update was able to detect the 25905 but I canceled because it will fail upon 10% install... based on previous experiments... due checking for secure boot and tpm.

hugosimoes said:

I guess MS is forcing us running Win11 to newer hardware

Click to expand...

Not for me, they're not. At least, not for DEV or Beta on this unsupported device.

hugosimoes said:

Windows Update was able to detect the 25905 but I canceled because it will fail upon 10% install... based on previous experiments... due checking for secure boot and tpm.

Click to expand...

Just to be sure, I've switched my DEV build on that unsupported device to the Canary channel, whereupon Windows Update found and downloaded 25905.1000. At about 6% downloaded Windows Update will run the compatibility checks, which of course will fail.



After it has failed, replace C:\$windows.~BT\sources\appraiserres.dll with a zero byte sized file with the same name. Make one by making a New Text Document on your desktop and renaming it. Then click Retry in Windows Update, it will skip the checks and the download and install will run to completion.

Bree said:

Not for me, they're not. At least, not for DEV or Beta on this unsupported device.

View attachment 65036

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Well your hardware is newer than mine.
But something preventing the Windows PE from initialiazing.

Bree said:

Just to be sure, I've switched my DEV build on that unsupported device to the Canary channel....

Click to expand...

I was beginning to wish I'd never started this test. The upgrade from DEV 23493 to Canary 25905 was one of the slowest feature updates I've ever seen on this machine. I started just after 4:00pm....



This is not my fastest machine in the stable, but typically for all the DEV feature updates it's taken only an hour or so. Finally! After nearly six and a half hours it completed successfully.

An installation taking so long is not really normal. I don't remember it taking that much. It usually took upto 2 hours when I used an slow hard drive ages ago. Seeing 23493 and 25905, it doesn't seem nothing much happens under the wood. If I had 23493, I would use dism ... /scanhealth .../startcomponentcleanup

I remember now that I could try VirtualBox and feed the ISO to it and see if it reaches Windows PE.

hugosimoes said:

An installation taking so long is not really normal. I don't remember it taking that much.....

Click to expand...

No, and as I said, every new DEV build is a feature update and none of them have ever taken that long on the same machine.

It was all normal progress up until the first reboot. Then it took forever on each of the black 'working on updates' screens. I was about to give up and power it down after it had stuck at 0% for 20 minutes or so, but then it crept up to 1% so I left it to run (crawl?) to completion. All steps were the normal ones I'd expect to see, just running at a snail's pace.

Once completed though it was a fully functional install. I could find no fault with it and it performed at the speed I'd expect.

Bree said:

I was beginning to wish I'd never started this test. The upgrade from DEV 23493 to Canary 25905 was one of the slowest feature updates I've ever seen on this machine. I started just after 4:00pm....
...Finally! After nearly six and a half hours it completed successfully.

Click to expand...

Bree said:

every new DEV build is a feature update and none of them have ever taken that long on the same machine.

Click to expand...

After that test I restored the machine back to its DEV 23493 build. There was a new Dev build released today, 23506.1000. Starting from exactly the same install of 23493 the feature update took a more reasonable 3 hours 10 minutes. That's fairly typical for this rather slow machine.

Hah... Sunday...
Yet to move from 25393....
The 259xx simply don't seem to like old machines at all.
I tried Rufus and create a usb flash install... even a vm... The boot.wim seems to load into memory and then we never see the spinning circle.... unlike with 234xx/235xx. By tradition, we can't downgrade from 253xx to 234xx/235xx.
I repeat... I'm not willing to perform a clean install due to the abnouxyous task of reinstall/configure everything.

Is anyone actually able to launch Windows PE of builds 259xx? If yes, which machine was used?
The timebomb is ticking for me... I have until September the 15th... to move away from 25393.

I wish there was some way to add the Pro SKU to 25396...

hugosimoes said:

Hah... Sunday...
Yet to move from 25393....
The 259xx simply don't seem to like old machines at all.
I tried Rufus and create a usb flash install... even a vm... The boot.wim seems to load into memory and then we never see the spinning circle.... unlike with 234xx/235xx. By tradition, we can't downgrade from 253xx to 234xx/235xx.
I repeat... I'm not willing to perform a clean install due to the abnouxyous task of reinstall/configure everything.

Is anyone actually able to launch Windows PE of builds 259xx? If yes, which machine was used?
The timebomb is ticking for me... I have until September the 15th... to move away from 25393.

I wish there was some way to add the Pro SKU to 25396...

Click to expand...

Hi there
I didn't have any trouble installing 259xxx in a VM -- but I'm using a Linux host and KVM/QEMU where I could set the VM's config to boot with sec boot , set the virtual cpu to one that is supported, and set an emulated TPM so it runs OK on an old machine.

If running in a VM (even on a Windows host) you can create an EFI partition and a gpt drive on the virtual disk even if your host machine only has an MBR bios.


I dont know what type of VM software you have - but HYPER-V hosts can do this type of stuff.

ist simply boot your W11 install media - and choose "repair your computer. Then select the command mode which is essentially winpe.

run disk part on the virtual disk (select diskxx, clean, convert gpt).
Then create the efi partition === create partition efi size=100

format fs=fat32
exit

reboot to windows install and carry on.

I'm running canary latest build on this laptop from 2016



cheers
jimbo

Hi jimbo.
I am using Oracle Virtualbox on Windows. I probably forgot to mention.
I can create a new virtual machine, load the ISO, yada... skip unattented, new virtual disk. If I load ISO with build <=22631, 234xx/235xx, or 253xx, the VM reads the ISO (boot.wim into memory, the spinning circle appears, and we are at the Windows PE where we can select the keyboard and install.
With build 259xx, I never see the spinning circle. Same happens with a real machine (specs from machine 1 for example).
Virtualbox seems to automatically select EFI environment for Windows 11 by default.

YET to create an EFI usb flash with Rufus and try it with my mini PC that has Intel Atom Z8350.

Thanks jimbo for the tips regarding diskpart and create gpt layout. I usually use diskpart as well but most of my pcs still use MBR and my commands are usually clean, create partition primary size=xxxxx, format quick, active, exit.

Well... I just compiled a fresh ISO with build 25921.
I downloaded the latest Rufus 4.2.
I ran Rufus, selected the ISO, left the defaults to remove the 4gb, secure boot, and tpm 2.0.... and created a usb flash installation.

I hooked the usb pendrive to the mini PC... Alfawise X5... bought years ago and still using it at night... I clicked the power button at the back, pressed ESC key, selected Exit from Amibios's top menu, selected Override something..name-of-the-pendrive, then pressed any key and the Windows logo was showing up on the tv screen. Few moments later, I saw the white spinning circle and the Windows PE was there to let me choose the keyboard, etc.

Then I powered off the mini PC, hooked the usb flash to the main pc and recreated the installation media, this time with GPT - BIOS.
I have a laptop laying around and hooked the usb flash. Pressed any key to boot to the usb flash... Windows logo appeared and ... no joy.
Then I shutdown my main pc ... Q9550 / 8gb ram / not uefi ... the same thing, ... Windows logo and no white circle animation.

Then I created a new Oracle Virtualbox 6.1 test vm, loaded the ISO, leaving the defaults, it autoselected efi. The same thing.

I think these 259xx are smarter than the 253xx 234xx/235xx. They must be doing an additional check.
Remember when Windows 8 was out and PAE/SSE2/NX was mandatory but the setup didn't the view, it would throw those figures at top right and hang.

I need to perform extra hacking... it seems.

EDIT: I forgot to add that I didn't read the flight hub's what's new/changes regarding to builds 259xx. MAYBE there some kind of text that says . "you need to have an cpu that supports avx or something else"...

And I kinda confirm it...
Windows ... 11 ... builds 259xx+ are allergic to something old...

I setup a new vm... EFI off... and used some ISO for 22621 because I deleted 235xx from hdd...
I booted with that ISO and used Shift+F10 and created a single partition of mbr style and formatted.
Then used Gimagex and applied the 25926 install.wim (windows pro) to E: and waited.
C: was the USB flash drive, D: the dvd, E: the created partition.
Then I went to e:, no Boot/BCD... bootrec /rebuildbcd ... It ceated the things.
Then I rebooted again with same ISO, used the Repair your computer option, it diagnostic'ed and made changes... I removed the ISO and it rebooted.
The build 25926 was now installed and bootable but NOT spinning circle. It must be sensing that something is lacking and it won't boot.

I even enabled Legacy bootmenupolicy but no joy.

I guess the builds 259xx+ will be the block on the road for many many people that use ancient devices like me.

Hi, any idea if there are any workarounds yet as 25393 expires pretty soon?

I know that the expire date is about to kaboom.
No viable workaround yet.
I started a new topic at MDL under the name "Dangers of builds 25905+" but... nothing yet. Maybe you want to ask there also.
Just stupid that MS added a Pro SKU when the target is a Windows Server platform.
We are now racing against the time.

hugosimoes said:

I can't use Windows Insider Program from Windows Update because my PCs do not meet the requirements... unless there is some trick that enables WIP's Windows Update to force install build 25398 without headbutting before installation at 10%.

Click to expand...

The WIP Windows Update runs a compatibility check at about 8% downloaded. Is that what's failing for you?

If so, then I told you how I get past that in post #6. At 8% downloaded Windows Update creates the C:\$windows.~BT folder. I watch in File Explorer and as soon as it appears I replace the appraiserres.dll file with my zero byte dummy version. I have a batch file to do that for me, and a shortcut to run it as an administrator. If I'm quick enough I can replace appraiserres.dll before the check runs, if not I can just click Retry in Windows Update after it fails. Either way the download then continues to 100% and installs successfully. I've got the last four Canary builds that way, I don't see any reason it shouldn't work for you too.

Bree said:

The WIP Windows Update runs a compatibility check at about 8% downloaded. Is that what's failing for you?

If so, then I told you how I get past that in post #6. At 8% downloaded Windows Update creates the C:\$windows.~BT folder. I watch in File Explorer and as soon as it appears I replace the appraiserres.dll file with my zero byte dummy version. I have a batch file to do that for me, and a shortcut to run it as an administrator. If I'm quick enough I can replace appraiserres.dll before the check runs, if not I can just click Retry in Windows Update after it fails. Either way the download then continues to 100% and installs successfully. I've got the last four Canary builds that way, I don't see any reason it shouldn't work for you too.

View attachment 69328

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Well, I can confirm that trick works. I once did that to install a build. I think it was when build 22000 was out. I observed Resources Monitor to check where the files were being downloaded and extracted and I able to quickly replace the dlls to get past that 8-10%.. basically the error dialog that said my PC didn't met the requirements.
But yeah... one caveat is to replace the dlls files (yes, I use two files) at the right time.
This trick works the same way as creating the ISO with uup, then extract and inject the dll file(s) into sources folder.

It's not good when the system does not boot with 259xx+. Well, it will work to install when Windows is still running, except it will be stuck at Windows logo.