using rufus to upgrade and keeping existing applications

gearo · Sep 8, 2024

Hi all,
I have a w10 machine that is not likely to upgrade to w11 via the microsoft direction.
I have used RUFUS to do clean installs and works great, however, on this occassion, i need to keep all my files and applications (3rd party including registered apps) when upgrading.
Will RUFUS do this and how please?... or other ideas appreciated.
thanks.

antspants · Sep 8, 2024

Hi, welcome to the forum

Using the Rufus USB
Option Two I believe

Repair Install Windows 11 with an In-place Upgrade

This tutorial will show you how to do a repair install of Windows 11 by performing an in-place upgrade without losing anything. If you need to repair or create a new recovery partition or having problems with the Windows 11 operating system on your PC, and the usual solutions will not fix it...

www.elevenforum.com

Follow the directions carefully and all your stuff will be there when finished.

But it’s a really good to make a system image of your OS first.

antspants · Sep 8, 2024

Actually you might need to wait for a second opinion on if you are able to do an in-place upgrade repair from Windows 10 to Windows 11 using this tutorial.

I recall that although I have used this tutorial, it was only to upgrade/repair Windows 11 to Windows 11.
I am almost confident that you can.

gearo · Sep 8, 2024

Thanks antspants..
I'll do as you suggest and wait for a little further advice. I've a vague recollection 8 tried this a few years ago and didn't get the option. Thanks

aubergine · Sep 8, 2024

gearo said:
Will RUFUS do this and how please?

Check the "Remove requirement for 4GB RAM, Secure Boot, and TPM 2.0" option to install Windows 11 on unsupported hardware. Rufus now creates USB media to bypass Windows 11 requirements during an in-place upgrade and clean installation.

Run the setup.exe file to start Windows 11 Setup.

Make sure one of the checked items is "Keep personal files and apps" (see screenshots below).

If wanted, you can close the Windows 11 Setup window at this point to safely cancel the upgrade before it starts.

antspants · Sep 8, 2024

aubergine said:
Check the "Remove requirement for 4GB RAM, Secure Boot, and TPM 2.0" option to install Windows 11 on unsupported hardware. Rufus now creates USB media to bypass Windows 11 requirements during an in-place upgrade and clean installation.

Run the setup.exe file to start Windows 11 Setup.

Make sure one of the checked items is "Keep personal files and apps" (see screenshots below).

If wanted, you can close the Windows 11 Setup window at this point to safely cancel the upgrade before it starts.

View attachment 107806

That we already know.
The question is an “In-Place” upgrade to Eleven from Ten.

You’re showing an image from a tutorial already linked to.

antspants · Sep 8, 2024

gearo said:
Thanks antspants..
I'll do as you suggest and wait for a little further advice. I've a vague recollection 8 tried this a few years ago and didn't get the option. Thanks

Yeah sorry about that.

It’s been a while now but I actually upgraded from 10 to eleven without losing anything. I just can’t for the life of me remember how. Almost certain it was that tutorial.

My machine is also unsupported.

@Bree may remember if this is possible.

Bree · Sep 8, 2024

antspants said:
@Bree may remember if this is possible.

Yes, if you use Rufus (or other means) to bypass the W11 requirements then you can do an in-place upgrade to W11 on an unsupported machine.

Bree · Sep 8, 2024

gearo said:
I have a w10 machine that is not likely to upgrade to w11 via the microsoft direction.

Welcome to Eleven Forum.

gearo said:
I have used RUFUS to do clean installs and works great, however, on this occassion, i need to keep all my files and applications (3rd party including registered apps) when upgrading.

If your USB created by Rufus will clean install on an unsupported device, then it can also be used to do an in-place upgrade on one.

What is the model of your Lenovo laptop? Does it currently have a Legacy/MBR install or UEFI/GPT? Although W11 23H2 supports Legacy/MBR boot, Microsoft have removed that support for the upcoming W11 24H2. If you currently have a Legacy/MBR install it will need to be converted to UEFI/GPT before upgrading from W11 23H2 to W11 24H2.

There are several way to do this without loosing anything. The one I used to migrate my W10 OS from a Legacy BIOS machine to my current (supported) System One in 'My Computers' below was to Clean install W10 in UEFI mode, then restore just the C: partition from a system image backup of the old machine.

antspants · Sep 8, 2024

Thanks, Bree.

It just doesn’t say in that tutorial (that I could find, although I am blind) if an in-place was able to be done from 10 to Eleven

aubergine · Sep 8, 2024

antspants said:
You’re showing an image from a tutorial already linked to.

No, it's from the tutorial below.

Upgrade to Windows 11

This tutorial will show you step by step on how to use an ISO or USB to manually upgrade to Windows 11 from Windows 11 (older build/version), Windows 10, Windows 8.1, or Windows 7. Windows 11 has all the power and security of Windows 10 with a redesigned and refreshed look. It also comes with...

www.elevenforum.com

aubergine · Sep 8, 2024

Bree said:
Although W11 23H2 supports Legacy/MBR boot, Microsoft have removed that support for the upcoming W11 24H2. If you currently have a Legacy/MBR install it will need to be converted to UEFI/GPT before upgrading from W11 23H2 to W11 24H2.

That's wrong information. You just need to bypass the system requirements, e.g. with a Rufus USB stick.

aubergine said:
"Partition scheme" - "GPT"
- Installing Windows on a GPT disk (UEFI/GPT installation).

"Partition scheme" - "MBR"
- Installing Windows on an MBR disk (BIOS/MBR installation).

aubergine said:
I just recently installed Windows 11 24H2 on an MBR disk (VMware Workstation 17 Player). A clean installation is possible on an MBR disk if you skip the system requirements check, e.g. with a Rufus USB stick.

FreeBooter · Sep 8, 2024

In this video, i will upgrade Windows 10 to Windows 11 on unsupported computer hardware. Although Windows 11 has a higher system requirement, you may still be able to perform an upgrade on an unsupported computer. The Windows setup has an “appraiser” service that checks to see if your computer meets the minimum hardware requirements for that version. It’s possible to replace the appraiserres.dll file in the Windows 11 setup with one from an older build of Windows 10. In order to replace the Windows 11 DLL with one from Windows 10, you’ll actually need the setup files for Windows 10.

Bree · Sep 8, 2024

aubergine said:
That's wrong information. You just need to bypass the system requirements....

That is not what others have found.....

spapakons said:
The whole point of creating a hybrid USB is because the 24H2 bootloader is UEFI only, it doesn't boot in Legacy BIOS mode. So if you want to create a Legacy BIOS (MBR) installation you need this hybrid USB. Because Windows Setup will install the new 24H2 bootloader, you have to replace it with the 23H2 one after each restart until the installation is complete. Also have in mind that any Windows update might replace the bootloader and render the system unbootable. So you need to replace it again to boot into your Legacy BIOS installation. The same is true for upgrading from Legacy 23H2 installation to 24H2. You must replace the bootloader after each restart until the upgrade is complete. Also others might have an UEFI mode (GPT) installation but prefer the old Setup interface, especially if their unattended scripts don't work with the new Setup.

XxXxX · Sep 8, 2024

i have used and done with a Rufus USB with Win 11 on. upgrading a Win 10 install in Gnome boxes and VirtualBox.
it was the only way to have Win 11 running in Linux on a VM at the time. all went perfectly.

hope this is of help, best of luck. Steve ..

gearo · Sep 8, 2024

Thanks so much for the valuable feedback back guys!
Tis actually a bit overwhelming, but so helpful to see other questions come up that I would maybe have been wondering myself.
So I will give a go.
The Lenovo ThinkPad does handle both MBR and GPT in the bios, although interestingly, I had to load w10 with MBR on its current NVME M2 SSD.
This drive was a clone from an earlier 2.5in SSD that in turn was only MBR able laptop.
The only way I could keep my registered 3rd party accounting app was to clone to using MBR ....seemingly to suit the original laptop.
If I used GPT, I lost the licensee!. (Something I understand relates to the actual machine code and other things that seem to be varied...pending the software).
So after the advice here now, will be my next step to find how/if I can copy/find the relevant license register data from old for copy to the updated w11 system as I'm guessing the license will be lost.
Thanks again and any other ongoing suggestions greatly appreciated!

spapakons · Sep 8, 2024

You might be able to clone your MBR system and then manually create a couple of small FAT32 partitions and convert to GPT. Windows won't boot after conversion but you can use the Windows 11 USB to Repair Windows and make it boot. I haven't done it myself, but it is possible, see relevant threads or tutorials.

aubergine · Sep 8, 2024

Bree said:
That is not what others have found.....

Install Windows 11 24H2 on MBR disk (BIOS/MBR installation)

1.

Download 24H2: Windows 11 Client Insider Preview - Build 26100.1150

2.

Rufus: Check the "Remove requirement for 4GB RAM, Secure Boot, and TPM 2.0" option.

3.

VMware Workstation Player: Windows 11 BIOS/MBR installation
- "Trusted Platform Module" > "Remove"
- remove the following line from the vmx file: firmware = "efi"

gearo · Sep 8, 2024

Thanks Spapakons
I tried this idea similar to when I upgraded to the Lenovo and wanted to use GPT anyways.
I kept loosing the QuickBooks accounting license after the repair step

.
From what people here have suggested, it sounds like I'll need to keep at w11 23h.
This whole exercise is all bought about from loosing w10 security support.
Am I safe in thinking to be able to keep at 23h in w11 and ongoing security support?

Bree · Sep 8, 2024

gearo said:
This whole exercise is all bought about from loosing w10 security support.
Am I safe in thinking to be able to keep at 23h in w11 and ongoing security support?

Not much in it.
W10 reaches end of support in October 2025.
W11 23H2 reaches end of support in November 2025.

Microsoft said:
Version
Start Date
End Date
Version 23H2
Oct 31, 2023
Nov 11, 2025

Windows 11 Home and Pro - Microsoft Lifecycle

Windows 11 Home and Pro follows the Modern Lifecycle Policy.

learn.microsoft.com

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