Trying to leave Beta and go to Release Preview

netuno60 · Sep 1, 2024

Hi guys, I've been in Windows Insider Preview for quite a while now.
I'm at 23H2 23635.4145 compilation. Now I'm trying to leave, and it's effortless.
I changed my option to Release Preview and waited a few minutes until the 24h2 option became available.
Then I asked to download and install it.
The process lasted more than 3 hours, and in the end, it didn't conclude (right at the first boot, that never concluded).
Then the process was reverted and came back to Windows Beta.
So, I opened Windows Update and tried everything again, but the results were the same.
So, I'm stacked and don't know what happened or what to do.

Any help, please?!

Thank you.

IanMosley · Sep 1, 2024

netuno60 said:
Then the process was reverted and came back to Windows Beta.

The only way to move from Windows 11 23H2 Beta to Release Preview is that you have to do a clean install. The latest 23H2 MCTs are here, you can then change to the Release preview channel here -

Settings => Windows Update => Windows Insider Programme

netuno60 · Sep 1, 2024

Thank you IanMosley for your answer.
So the changing process isn't so effortless after all.

cereberus · Tuesday at 11:10 AM

netuno60 said:
Thank you IanMosley for your answer.
So the changing process isn't so effortless after all.

Clarifications

1. You cannot leave Beta to go to RP

2. You can go "upwards" - RP, Beta, Dev, Canary (so as you have Beta you can move to Dev or Canary)

3. You can never go downwards except as in case 4.

4. When the official build is released, you can go go from Beta or RP to official release (for a short period)

5. You can never leave Canary (we call it Hotel California version).

BrianInEngland · Tuesday at 11:17 AM

cereberus said:
Clarifications

1. You cannot leave Beta to go to RP

2. You can go "upwards" - RP, Beta, Dev, Canary (so as you have Beta you can move to Dev or Canary)

3. You can never go downwards except as in case 4.

4. When the official build is released, you can go go from Beta or RP to official release (for a short period)

5. You can never leave Canary (we call it Hotel California version).

Number 1 makes no sense as Beta is a lower build number (22635 vs 26100)

cereberus · Tuesday at 11:50 AM

BrianInEngland said:
Number 1 makes no sense as Beta is a lower build number (22635 vs 26100)

Problem is RP is now a pre-release of 24H2 so has higher build number but in Insider hierarchy Beta (still 23H2) is above RP.

In general, you can only leave Beta when the official release number and Beta are the same. Soon Beta will upgrade to 24H2.

The system is just not geared to handle RP being a higher build than Beta.

Why MS have not updated Beta to 24H2 when Dev and RP are is just another example of MS's highly consistent tendency to be inconsistent.

BrianInEngland · Tuesday at 12:27 PM

cereberus said:
Problem is RP is now a pre-release of 24H2 so has higher build number but in Insider hierarchy Beta (still 23H2) is above RP.

In general, you can only leave Beta when the official release number and Beta are the same. Soon Beta will upgrade to 24H2.

The system is just not geared to handle RP being a higher build than Beta.

Why MS have not updated Beta to 24H2 when Dev and RP are is just another example of MS's highly consistent tendency to be inconsistent.

Exactly, Beta should have had 24H2 before RP!
Still don't get why MS are adding features to 23H2 anyway when it's being superceded next month!

cereberus · Tuesday at 3:46 PM

BrianInEngland said:
Exactly, Beta should have had 24H2 before RP!
Still don't get why MS are adding features to 23H2 anyway when it's being superceded next month!

Well we do not know exact date yet but yeah, makes no sense.

Marcus Vinicus · Tuesday at 4:07 PM

BrianInEngland said:
Still don't get why MS are adding features to 23H2 anyway when it's being superceded next month!

Because the Home and Pro versions of 23H2 are still supported until 11th November 2025.

Windows 11 Home and Pro - Microsoft Lifecycle

Windows 11 Home and Pro follows the Modern Lifecycle Policy.

learn.microsoft.com

netuno60 · Saturday at 11:13 AM

So, I think I’ll wait to Beta update to 24H2.
Thank you all.

mecanicogolf · Saturday at 8:43 PM

netuno60 said:
So, I think I’ll wait to Beta update to 24H2.
Thank you all.

You should check that your question has been answered. Little green check box on the top of this page.

BrianInEngland · 2024-09-08T11:16:57-0400

Marcus Vinicus said:
Because the Home and Pro versions of 23H2 are still supported until 11th November 2025.

Windows 11 Home and Pro - Microsoft Lifecycle

Windows 11 Home and Pro follows the Modern Lifecycle Policy.

learn.microsoft.com

Supported yes but adding new features? Some of which haven't made it to 24H2 yet!

If everyone is getting 24H2 in the next 6-8 weeks why add new features to Beta that may not be in 24H2 final release for a while?

Marcus Vinicus · 2024-09-08T15:05:53-0400

BrianInEngland said:
Supported yes but adding new features? Some of which haven't made it to 24H2 yet!

I take your point. My beef is why are there so many versions/branches/channels (or whatever MS call them) of Windows 11?
They have the following editions/versions of Windows 11 (not sure if this complete):

Home
Professional
Workstation Pro
Enterprise
Enterprise E3 & E5 (available via some Microsoft 365 Business and Enterprise subscriptions)
LTSC Enterprise
IOT Enterprise
SE for Education
Pro Education

Then there's the insider channel builds of home and pro et al.