Please Help Determine The Best Way To Update To Win 11

Hi,

New 81 yr old user here (2 months), first post, been lurking to try and learn best ways to update from Win10 to on 3 computers (Dell XPS 8930 desktop [2020], HP 17t-by200 Laptop [2020] & HP-G70-463CL Notebook PC [2009]). I've been trying to avoid getting a MS account, turns out, I already had one.
Nothing like waiting until the last minute to update

Long story shortened -
I was not able to update to Win11 on the HP-G70 because the processor does not support SSE 4.2. Signed up for ESU updates.

For the HP 17t I was going to let it download and install Win11 24H2 from the Updates folder but I ended up with an MS error message (0x80246017) [delete previous installation files, reset the Registry key values, or disable the antivirus]. Tried several suggested repairs and they all failed.
I created a USB SanDisk with Rufus 4.11 and Win11_25H2.iso and was able to get 25H2 installed as an update (apparently) because I did not lose any data or programs (Yea!). Unfortunately I am signed in with my MS account, which I will remove later and create a local account.

For my Dell XPS desktop I cannot allow the system to install Win11 24H2 because my PCIe 220GB C: drive only has 21.4GB space left. That is my dilemma.
I recently acquired a Samsung PCIe NVME M2 1TB SSD to upgrade my C: drive and I have a new M.2 SDD Enclosure for duplication/copy etc.
I'm thinking I should:
- Make a separate backup of my C: drive onto each of my WD 1TB Hard Drives using Macrium.
- Open up my desktop and remove the old SSD C: drive and install the new 1TB Samsung.
- Use the M.2 SSD Enclosure to copy my old C: drive to the new 1TB Samsung using Macrium.
- Use the USB San Disk to update my Win10 to Win11 25H2 keeping my files & programs.
or
- Use the newly created C: drive to update to Win 24H2 keeping my files & programs and update to Win11 25H2 later.
or
- Use the USB San Disk to do a clean install of Win11 25H2 on the newly created C: drive. Then install all my programs again.
or . . .

I am sure there are many different ways I could reach my goal of keeping current programs & files, updating to Win11 25H2 on my newly installed Samsung 1TB SSD and not having to use a MS account. I'm just not sure of how to proceed. I'm just looking for the easiest least painful way to do that.

I should point out that I have never done a complete Recovery using Macrium and haven't used the M.2 SSD Enclosure at all.

I hope I have made myself clear.

Thanks in Advance for any help offered.

Jerry

Hello @jmallard and welcome to ElevenForum.

Just upgrade to Win 11 through Windows Update, if offered.
Your computer looks to be compatible with Win 11.

And, here's ten points for filling out your computer specs.





Here's some things that you may find useful...

download the windows 11 iso:

save it to your desktop

download the attached file (its a bypass requirement script)

save it to your desktop and extract it from the .zip

right click the file and run as admin

once done, it will say success with green highlighting - press enter to close the window

double click the iso

once mounted, run setup.exe to begin installing windows 11

*EDIT: i see your HP doesn't have sse 4.2. you will only be able to install up to 23H2 in that case. i dont have the iso uploaded and available to share. @antspants may though.

Hi, Welcome.

If you’re not wanting to do a fresh install and would rather upgrade and keep everyting you have (Files, apps etc)

• First: Download the ISO
  • Use “Option 2” because Media Creation Tool may not work with Windows 10.

• Next: Run an in-place upgrade
  • Download the ISO and use “Option Two” below
    • EDIT: If your PC is not Windows 11 compatible, use dacrone’s script first (above my post) then “Option Two” below after downloading the ISO from the first tutorial I posted above.
    • Alternatively: use the RUFUS Media you created for the In-Place Upgrade below (Option Two). Using the Rufus Media USB you created, no script should be needed. I have personally done this myself, many times.

jmallard said:

Unfortunately I am signed in with my MS account, which I will remove later and create a local account.

Click to expand...

No need to create a new User account:

you can get another year of Security updates if you want to avoid updating. your call

welcome to Windows Eleven Forum
if you have a larger drive to install your old drive will contain all your data.

so i would consider replacing the drive and doing a clean install of Windows
using the Rufus USB drive. then you can update and transfer your data back to the new drive
this may need a drive caddy to house the old drive.

this will mean that you will have to re-install any programs that you have and/or require
but you will have a clean and updated system to start from.

just my thoughts
best of luck Steve ..

Wow!!

Several replies in less that 30 minutes. I wasn't expecting that.

Thanks very much guys. I have some reading to do before I proceed.

Right now I'm doing my backups on my Desktop (using HP laptop now).

I will report back as soon as I can.

Thanks again.

Jerry

Hi Guys,

Sorry I didn’t get back sooner.
Family matters; Been married 58 years (as of 5 Nov 25), got 2 daughters and 2 granddaughters.

I kinda have information overload from all the help described here and from all the other good stuff I have been reading on this Great forum.

Before I did anything with my computers, I used Macrium to back up each of them to separate drives.

For HP-G70 laptop - I signed up for the ESU updates, but thanks to dracone’s information, I will find and download the Win11 23H2 iso so I can install it on that laptop. Now I have time to do that later.

For the HP 17t laptop (my wife’s) - as I said above, I got 25H2 installed with an in place upgrade. I created a new local Admin account but I learned that it did not carry over the local desktop display and links. Only 5 links (shortcuts) carried over out of 31 with the MS Admin account (original set up). All the programs are still physically listed, just not (activated) & setup like with my MS Admin account. I think that is called a “profile”.
I hope to avoid having set up all my programs again on this laptop. If anyone knows how to copy the MS Admin profile to the local Admin account, please let me know.

Dell XPS 8930. I took Ghot’s advice and just upgraded to Win11 24H2 through Windows Update keeping my programs and files. The upgrade went just fine and after a couple of hours exploring the new Win11 functions, I checked Windows Update and saw that 25H2 was waiting to be installed along with several other updates.
I knew it wouldn’t properly install because I only had 21.4GB of space left on my PCIe 220GB SSD (Crive), so I removed 20GB of programs (re-installed later).
I installed the new Win11 25H2 update, again, it kept my files and programs. (YEA)

My intent was to use the new M.2 SSD Enclosure to clone my old C: SSD to my new Samsung 1TB SSD using newly acquired “Samsung Magic” software. Turns out my Dell 8930 computer has Sata RAID enabled in the BIOS and from Samsung FAQ, Magic “does not officially support software RAID environment...Hardware/Firmware RAID, Samsung Magician does not detect SSD under these setups.” The "Magic" software did not detect my 1TB drive. Note: I did not try turning RAID off in the Dell BIOS.

I was able to detect and format the new 1TB SSD with Disk Management - Create and Format Hard Disk Partitions. (It detected the M.2 SSD Enclosure with the 1TB drive)
Then I used my Macrium backup and cloned my old C: Drive to the new SSD. This was my first time using Macrium for a full recovery. It worked like a charm.

Now my new 1TB SSD C: Drive has plenty of space for new programs and it is faster.

Old SSD:
Sequential Read Sequential Write Random Read Random Write
2915MB 167MB 13544 IOPS 44677 IOPS
New SSD:
3550MB 2965MB 610107 OPPS 148929 IOPS

I created a new local Admin account and re-booted. System offered a choice between the original XPS Admin (MS account) and the new local Admin. Tried the new Admin. Unlike the new Admin account on my wife’s HP 17t laptop, this new Admin account retained the profile of the XPS Admin account. All my desktop links were still present and functional. I don’t know how or why that happened but I’m really glad. I deleted the MS Admin account and renamed my new account and now I am not logging in to a MS account on my XPS.

Unexplained Stuff:
On my XPS, while working with this new software my 16 year old wired Kensington Expert Mouse just stopped working. I had to grab an old wired mouse (which worked) and fortunately, I checked the Kensington website and there was a new software driver to the Kensington. Downloaded, installed and now my 'K' mouse is working again.

Problems:
On both XPS and the HP Laptop, the installations did not detect my home network. The Network display on both computers do not even display the local drive. Attached photo shows that Network displays 9 icons. Both computers show the exact same 9 icons.
I haven’t had to set up a network in a LONG time, so if anyone can point me in the right direction I would appreciate it.



Internet connection. I use Frontier fiber optic, 500 up/down speeds. I have had problems in the past but lately my speeds have consistently exceeded the 500 up/down by a small margin. After the update, my XPS is extremely slow on upload speeds. It still consistently lists above 500 download speeds. Photo.
Again, I don’t know how to proceed to try and correct this problem. If anyone has a suggestion, I would appreciate it. As a first action, I am going to call Frontier for support.



The HP 17t laptop does not have speeds even close to 500 up/down. It never has and I don’t think laptops generally have those speeds. Here is the photo for the HP.



Sorry for the long message. Sometime I get wordy, I just hope I made myself clear.

I really appreciate that there are so many folks expert at acquiring great knowledge on all this stuff and are so unselfishly willing to help users like myself.

Thanks so much.

Jerry