System Restore Failed

Okay, thanks for that, very helpful.

I guess I may have to do an in-place upgrade.

It is hard to choose which option is best when I don't even know what the problem is.

I cannot really diagnose what is causing this, so not sure if I should just wipe out the entire hard drive and start from scratch, would lose a ton of downloaded programs.

DoctorWho said:

Okay, thanks for that, very helpful.

I guess I may have to do an in-place upgrade.

It is hard to choose which option is best when I don't even know what the problem is.

I cannot really diagnose what is causing this, so not sure if I should just wipe out the entire hard drive and start from scratch, would lose a ton of downloaded programs.

Click to expand...

I have been upgrading several older PC's using setupprep.exe /product server method. Which also bypasses hardware requirements
Not yet have I lost any files or programs
It will warn you if a program is not compatible, then you remove it in inside the installer

I download the MS ISO file which is 6,4gb
Then mount the iso by right click mount
open command prompt with admin rights, type E: then enter (where ever drive it mounted the iso)
type cd sources, type dir to see if your in the right place
then run setupprep.exe /product server

It will upgrade you to win11 23H2 and you have the option to keep all your files and folders.
It knows which version of windows to install

IT works as long as you can boot windows.

Third method in the list.

Porthos said:

Repair install. Repair Install Windows 11 with an In-place Upgrade Tutorial

Click to expand...

I have started to follow this method as Macrium developed a booting issue with the recovery disk, Hasleo too find it difficult to boot using Emergency disk created, so currently, I rely on System restore and keep a Installation disk in case I need to repair the system