What is a Safeguard Hold?

My Win 11 Ver. 21H2 Build 22000.978 laptop will not install Ver. 22H2. Apparently it has something called a "Safeguard Hold" which stops the 22H2 update from getting installed due something called a "Safeguard Hold."

There is no specific information about what a Safeguard Hold is or how to deal with it. The Microsoft pages that talk about it just say things like "The lifespan of a hold varies. Once the originating issue is resolved, the corresponding hold is lifted."

To get 22H2 installed on my desktop system I had to do an in-place update using the 22H2 ISO file. Maybe this is the way to get around the Safeguard Hold - whatever that is.

Hello Birk,

Safeguard holds prevent a device with a known issue from being offered a new operating system version. Microsoft renews the offering once a fix is found and verified. Microsoft use holds to ensure customers have a successful experience as their device moves to a new version of Windows client.

You could use the tutorial below to disable safeguards to then be able to update, but it may be best to wait depending on what bug the safeguard is preventing you from getting with the update.

Thanks for that link Shawn - I'll do a Macrium backup and then the registry tweak. Here's hoping that will enable 22H2 to install OK. I'm not aware of any problems with the laptop.

It's usually an issue with Windows 11 for that specific laptop or component on the laptop. Once the issue has been sorted, the safeguard hold is removed to allow it to update.

Yes, I understand that. It would be much more helpful if MS gave some indication of what the issue is, or when it might be fixed.

Birk said:

Yes, I understand that. It would be much more helpful if MS gave some indication of what the issue is, or when it might be fixed.

Click to expand...

This may be useful, You can bypass it, But generally not recommend, Usually means that MS has an issue with the laptop that they're not happy with and thus deem it unsafe to provide you/the laptop with the update as a result.
Check this Update Compliance - Safeguard Holds report - Windows Deployment

Birk said:

Yes, I understand that. It would be much more helpful if MS gave some indication of what the issue is, or when it might be fixed.

Click to expand...

You can check this below which basically says to click on the "Learn More" link to see if anymore info may be given for the hold.

Short version: The registry fix did not work. So I'm stuck.

Long version: When I was about to install the registry fix I noticed there was a Defender message icon on the laptop's taskbar. So I opened that and discovered that the Device Security/Core Isolation feature had a problem. The problem was that Memory Integrity was not enabled. So I enabled it, but it wouldn't take that option.

Instead it listed 2 device drivers. I have no device problems so, after numerous attempts of locating the files, renaming, deleting, rebooting, etc. I was able to get them deleted from my system. I re-ran a Defender scan and was able to enable the Memory Integrity option. Another reboot/rescan and Defender showed no problems.

I tried to download 22H2 but got the same result as before = no updates available and the same Safeguard Hold message was there. So I ran the registry fix, rebooted, and ran Windows Update again. Same results as before. So I'm stuck.

PS: I was unable to learn anything helpful from the "Learn more" link.

I downloaded the 22H2 ISO file, but that install failed with this message:

This PC can't be upgraded to this version of Windows.
Your PC has hardware that isn't ready for this version of Windows. Windows Update will automatically offer you this version of Windows once the issue has been resolved.

I'll contact ASUS and see if they have any response. In the meantime I guess I'll just wait.