VMware Clean Install of Windows 11 question.

Winuser · Dec 3, 2022

I have a Windows 11 21H2 Home install in VMware Player. I used W/U to do some updates and when it rebooted I kept getting a GSOD. I fixed it by doing a Windows reset. I'm downloading an ISO from MS and I'm going to try and do the update using the ISO. If this doesn't work, Is there a way to do a clean install over top of the Windows 11 VM. I'm asking because I don't want to go through any problems trying to get the new install activated with the key I'm using now.

cereberus · Dec 3, 2022

Winuser said:
I have a Windows 11 21H2 Home install in VMware Player. I used W/U to do some updates and when it rebooted I kept getting a GSOD. I fixed it by doing a Windows reset. I'm downloading an ISO from MS and I'm going to try and do the update using the ISO. If this doesn't work, Is there a way to do a clean install over top of the Windows 11 VM. I'm asking because I don't want to go through any problems trying to get the new install activated with the key I'm using now.

So long as you use the same virtual machine, you can reinstall W11 from scratch and it will activate.

Bree · Dec 3, 2022

Winuser said:
I have a Windows 11 21H2 Home install in VMware Player. I.... I'm asking because I don't want to go through any problems trying to get the new install activated with the key I'm using now.

A VM is like any other machine, the digital licence is stored on the activation servers and linked to the unique hardware ID of the machine. Apparently in VMWare this is easy to preserve and, if necessary, transfer to a new VM.

hsehestedt said:
With VMware, literally the only thing that I need to save is the UUID of the VM (just a few bytes of information). I can then create an entirely new VM with a new virtual disk. Before starting to install Windows I simply change the UUID. Then, when I install Windows from scratch it will come up activated. It makes it so much easier to save my activated VMs and restore later when needed for testing.

Winuser · Dec 3, 2022

The in-place update worked. My Windows 11 VM is now 22H2.

hsehestedt · Dec 3, 2022

Bree said:
A VM is like any other machine, the digital licence is stored on the activation servers and linked to the unique hardware ID of the machine. Apparently in VMWare this is easy to preserve and, if necessary, transfer to a new VM.

Bree is correct. Simply install the VM and activate. Open the .VMX file in notepad and find the line that looks like this:

uuid.bios = "xx xx xx xx xx xx xx xx-xx xx xx xx xx xx xx xx"

In place of the "xx" will be hex values.

Simply save that line.

If you ever want to reinstall, create the VM and install Windows. Shut down the VM. Open the VMX file, replace the line starting with "uuid.bios" with the one you saved. Start the VM. It should now be able to activate with a digital license. Note that you do need to use the same edition of Windows that was originally activated (Home, Pro, etc.).

Winuser · Dec 3, 2022

Everything was working great until I did the C/U. It's back to the GSOD again. The error said that the CPU wasn't compatible. The system is now undoing the changes.

hsehestedt said:
Bree is correct. Simply install the VM and activate. Open the .VMX file in notepad and find the line that looks like this:

uuid.bios = "xx xx xx xx xx xx xx xx-xx xx xx xx xx xx xx xx"

In place of the "xx" will be hex values.

Simply save that line.

If you ever want to reinstall, create the VM and install Windows. Shut down the VM. Open the VMX file, replace the line starting with "uuid.bios" with the one you saved. Start the VM. It should now be able to activate with a digital license. Note that you do need to use the same edition of Windows that was originally activated (Home, Pro, etc.).

There is no uuid.bios listed.

Winuser · Dec 3, 2022

Winuser · Dec 3, 2022

I found a uuid.bios. It was in a vmx.old folder.

ish4d0w · Dec 4, 2022

Winuser said:
Everything was working great until I did the C/U. It's back to the GSOD again. The error said that the CPU wasn't compatible. The system is now undoing the changes.

There is no uuid.bios listed.

What is GSOD? I know of BSOD (Blue screen of death) but never heard of this one.

Besides, are you sure you have all the Win11 requirements? Apart from a "compatible CPU" you also need TPM support, which you can enable inside VMWare but only if you encrypt the VM itself. Both options are in settings.
An upgrade could fail without this.

Bree · Dec 4, 2022

ish4d0w said:
What is GSOD? I know of BSOD (Blue screen of death) but never heard of this one.

Same as the BSOD, it's just that Insider build have a green one....

Winuser · Dec 4, 2022

ish4d0w said:
What is GSOD?

The computer version of the Green New Deal.

Winuser · Dec 4, 2022

ish4d0w said:
What is GSOD? I know of BSOD (Blue screen of death) but never heard of this one.

Besides, are you sure you have all the Win11 requirements? Apart from a "compatible CPU" you also need TPM support, which you can enable inside VMWare but only if you encrypt the VM itself. Both options are in settings.
An upgrade could fail without this.

I'm 100% compatible. All of my computers are except for one Mini PC.

ish4d0w · Dec 4, 2022

Winuser said:
I'm 100% compatible. All of my computers are except for one Mini PC.

I wasn't talking about your real hardware. I was talking about your Virtual Machines which also have to be compatible. Including TPM requirements which can be set up.

Winuser · Dec 4, 2022

ish4d0w said:
I wasn't talking about your real hardware. I was talking about your Virtual Machines which also have to be compatible. Including TPM requirements which can be set up.

Again the answer is yes. I made sure everything was set correctly so I wouldn't have any problems installing Windows 11. It just the Cumulative update that gives me the Green Screen. I might do another clean install and see what happens.

Scott · Dec 4, 2022

Winuser said:
View attachment 46812

You should get notepad++
Looks so much better

Winuser · Dec 4, 2022

Scott said:
You should get notepad++
Looks so much better

View attachment 46859

When looking at the .vmx.old folder in notepad that is exactly the way it shows. I don't know why the .vmx folder shows like it does. I'm preparing to do a clean install and use the uuid I found in the .vmx.old folder to activate it. I'll delete the old VM once I have the new VM working.

hsehestedt · Dec 4, 2022

Back when upgrade from Win 7 was free and the time period for the free upgrades was supposedly coming to an end, I quickly created a bunch of VMs and activated them in VMware and the saved all those UUIDs. I ended up with 42 activated VM UUIDs. Ironically, the free upgrades never ended but I had no way of knowing that back then and I didn't want to lose all those licenses

.

jimbo45 · Dec 4, 2022

hsehestedt said:
Back when upgrade from Win 7 was free and the time period for the free upgrades was supposedly coming to an end, I quickly created a bunch of VMs and activated them in VMware and the saved all those UUIDs. I ended up with 42 activated VM UUIDs. Ironically, the free upgrades never ended but I had no way of knowing that back then and I didn't want to lose all those licenses .

W7 upgrades still work !!!!

I've used 3 in the last few days (the W7 licenses I had were from the old Technet subscriptions -- those are valid for around 300 activations per license or probably many more -- Ms never stated what the limitation was -- and on the original subscription each license could be used at least 10 times (or probably more) so minimally 3000 activations per key possible). No wonder Ms shut it down.

If yo have the old technet keys you can still upgrade to W10 / W11 from W7 with your old technet key for W7 / W8.

Cheers

jimbo

hsehestedt · Dec 4, 2022

jimbo45 said:
W7 upgrades still work !!!!

I've used 3 in the last few days (the W7 licenses I had were from the old Technet subscriptions -- those are valid for around 300 activations per license or probably many more -- Ms never stated what the limitation was -- and on the original subscription each license could be used at least 10 times (or probably more) so minimally 3000 activations per key possible). No wonder Ms shut it down.

If yo have the old technet keys you can still upgrade to W10 / W11 from W7 with your old technet key for W7 / W8.

Cheers

jimbo

Yes, I specifically noted that the free upgrades never ended, but back when it was only a few days until the supposed end of the offer I had no way to know that.

Kim Parker · Jan 19, 2023

When making virtual machines in VmWare Workstation, I started adding a 2nd virtual hard drive, works good. If I wanted to just try out the latest and greatest Windows releases, I couldn't use the normak VM way I don't think as there is already an os on Drive 0. So I thought of using something like Power ISO to mount the ISO then tell it to install to Drive 0 as a clean install. I want to keep the 2nd hard drive, especially as it has all my little must have programs for a new install.

I know there are various other ways like Macrium, etc. But I was just wondering if an ISO software like PowerIso would work.