Windows 11 22H2 (Sun Valley 2) RTM build 22621 general availability after Sept. 5, 2022

Mark Phelps · May 22, 2022

RFS said:
You do realise that MS long ago said there would only be ONE feature per annum for W11?

Yes, I know, but they are still mentioning 22H2 in their Win11 Dev builds. So, if they were no longer using the H1 and H2 designations, I would expect them to change the designation to simply Windows 11 22.

cereberus · May 24, 2022

Mark Phelps said:
Yes, I know, but they are still mentioning 22H2 in their Win11 Dev builds. So, if they were no longer using the H1 and H2 designations, I would expect them to change the designation to simply Windows 11 22.

I also observed H1 and H2 are effectively redundant now, but, of course, there is a difference between intent and potential reality.

I assume MS wish to keep H2 as it indicates updates will normally be in 2nd half of year.

However, if they had to bring out an interim new build (e.g to fix major issue) in (next) first half of year, they still have the flexibility to do so calling it xxH1.

Re. Dev builds being 22H2, they will change it to 23H2 in due course, once 22H2 is officially released, although now Dev has diverged from Beta, it does not really seem t0 make sense to keep labelling it 22H2 but I guess MS are hedging their bets in case they decide to put some new feature from Dev into 22H2 at the last minute (hopefully the apocryphal Tabs in File Explorer).

CountMike · May 24, 2022

I don't think that H1 and H2 ever denoted exactly part of year but "Spring" and "Fall" major updates/upgrades.

jimbo45 · May 24, 2022

PurSpyk!! said:
Anyone have issues installing additional languages on this build?

Will try it in a VM later -- I'll get the base GB version of PRO and see what happens.

@RFS
it's not really possible for Ms to say there will only be "One new feature" per annum unless they can stop every hardware company from developing something new which requires an addition to Windows. Companies can make plans but have to be prepared for "Event Driven" actions, some of which are entirely unpredictable.

Cheers
jimbo

cereberus · May 24, 2022

CountMike said:
I don't think that H1 and H2 ever denoted exactly part of year but "Spring" and "Fall" major updates/upgrades.

Not really - it means just 1st half or 2nd half of year but no more granularity than that.

In fact, if rumours of 22H2 being released on May 24th are correct, how can it be called 22H2 as that is first half of year unless it is not actually issued to public until Jun 21st.

The whole H1 /H2 convention now does not really work with W11.

A much simpler convention would be to revert to Windows 8 style naming.

So next release would 22.1, and if a new build was deemed necessary in same year 22.2 etc.

It really is as simple as (Newtonian) Rocket Science!

-------------------------------------
PS - Spring/Fall - so US parochial as it only applies to 5% of worlds population in Northern Hemisphere. Remember the ridiculously named Fall Creators update. MS went away from season naming after a lot of justified public ridicule LOL.

TairikuOkami · May 24, 2022

cereberus said:
In fact, if rumours of 22H2 being released on May 24th are correct, how can it be called 22H2 as that is first half of year unless it is not actually issued to public until Jun 21st.

I was using Windows 11 RTM 6 months before GA. GA usually counts as an official release. 22H2 will be released in October, just like 21H2, though it was done in April. RTM has to be released to manufacturers sooner for driver/software preparations.

jimbo45 · May 24, 2022

cereberus said:
Not really - it means just 1st half or 2nd half of year but no more granularity than that.

In fact, if rumours of 22H2 being released on May 24th are correct, how can it be called 22H2 as that is first half of year unless it is not actually issued to public until Jun 21st.

The whole H1 /H2 convention now does not really work with W11.

A much simpler convention would be to revert to Windows 8 style naming.

So next release would 22.1, and if a new build was deemed necessary in same year 22.2 etc.

It really is as simple as (Newtonian) Rocket Science!

-------------------------------------
PS - Spring/Fall - so US parochial as it only applies to 5% of worlds population in Northern Hemisphere. Remember the ridiculously named Fall Creators update. MS went away from season naming after a lot of justified public ridicule LOL.

Hi there
Actually wasn't the simple Rocket built by Stephenson in 1829 and ran I think between Manchester and Liverpool !!!! Really simple steam Engine loco ===> true easy "Rocket Science" !!!! but your base point is valid.

Cheers
jimbo

jimbo45 · May 24, 2022

This stupid build when installing from New (i.e clean / fresh etc) even on Pro doesn't give choice of a Local account !!!! on install.
Not bothering with it -- why do I have to have an Ms account to use Windows !!!!!!

Imagine if Shell said --you can only fill up at our Gas stations if you have a Ferrari or Merc.

You can UPDATE though from a previous version of this build with only a local account -- but switch off "DEV" from the insider builds or you'll be offered the latest 25120xxx rs_preview build.

If one has to have an account to use Windows then market it as a "membership service" even if subscription cost is Zero. I suspect that the long term ambition of Ms is to make Windows a subscription service. There was a furore about this pre Covid pandemic -- died down though -- but perhaps beginning to rear its ugly head again.

If this stays a requirement then I'm sticking with W10 and Linux.

Cheers
jimbo

hsehestedt · May 24, 2022

jimbo45 said:
This stupid build when installing from New (i.e clean / fresh etc) even on Pro doesn't give choice of a Local account !!!! on install.
Not bothering with it -- why do I have to have an Ms account to use Windows !!!!!!

Imagine if Shell said --you can only fill up at our Gas stations if you have a Ferrari or Merc.

You can UPDATE though from a previous version of this build with only a local account -- but switch off "DEV" from the insider builds or you'll be offered the latest 25120xxx rs_preview build.

If one has to have an account to use Windows then market it as a "membership service" even if subscription cost is Zero. I suspect that the long term ambition of Ms is to make Windows a subscription service. There was a furore about this pre Covid pandemic -- died down though -- but perhaps beginning to rear its ugly head again.

If this stays a requirement then I'm sticking with W10 and Linux.

Cheers
jimbo

Perform an unattended install of Windows with an answer file - that will give you a local account with no Microsoft account.

dbartenstein · May 24, 2022

jimbo45 said:
Imagine if Shell said --you can only fill up at our Gas stations if you have a Ferrari or Merc.

More like, if you have a Shell credit account, but I catch your drift.

RFS · May 24, 2022

jimbo45 said:
This stupid build when installing from New (i.e clean / fresh etc) even on Pro doesn't give choice of a Local account !!!! on install.
Not bothering with it -- why do I have to have an Ms account to use Windows !!!!!!

Imagine if Shell said --you can only fill up at our Gas stations if you have a Ferrari or Merc.

You can UPDATE though from a previous version of this build with only a local account -- but switch off "DEV" from the insider builds or you'll be offered the latest 25120xxx rs_preview build.

If one has to have an account to use Windows then market it as a "membership service" even if subscription cost is Zero. I suspect that the long term ambition of Ms is to make Windows a subscription service. There was a furore about this pre Covid pandemic -- died down though -- but perhaps beginning to rear its ugly head again.

If this stays a requirement then I'm sticking with W10 and Linux.

Cheers
jimbo

As mentioned before, just give your MS account as fake@fake.com with password fake. It will respond "Oops" and ask you for a local account instead.

Why so against an MS account? You need one to be an Insider, plus install certain products such as MS Office. I build my systems with local account as above, and then add the MS account later.

hsehestedt · May 24, 2022

RFS said:
All you need to do is enter your

As mentioned before, just give your MS account as fake@fake.com with password fake. It will respond "Oops" and ask you for a local account instead.

You can no longer do that with 22H2.

Bree · May 24, 2022

jimbo45 said:
This stupid build when installing from New (i.e clean / fresh etc) even on Pro doesn't give choice of a Local account !!!! on install.
Not bothering with it -- why do I have to have an Ms account to use Windows !!!!!!

Because MS say it's good for you

Have you only just noticed? That has been a requirement for more than three month now....

Microsoft said:
Similar to Windows 11 Home edition, Windows 11 Pro edition now requires internet connectivity. If you choose to setup device for personal use, MSA will be required for setup as well. You can expect Microsoft Account to be required in subsequent WIP flights.

Windows 11 Insider Dev Build 22557.1 (ni_release) - Feb. 16

UPDATE 2/24: https://www.elevenforum.com/t/windows-11-insider-dev-build-22563-1-ni_release-feb-24.4857/ Hello Windows Insiders, today we are releasing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22557 to the Dev Channel. TL;DR Windows Insiders will notice that the name of the branch we are releasing...

www.elevenforum.com

hsehestedt · May 24, 2022

EDIT: Made one minor change to the answer files below. I had a timezone setting that I forgot to remove. This is now corrected.

Below are two "minimalist" answer files that resolve this issue.

The first answer file does nothing EXCEPT supply a generic Windows 10 / 11 Pro key (you can change that to Home or any other edition if you want) and it creates a local account called "WinUser" with the password "Password1". Again, you can change that.

A key is mandatory, nothing I can do about that. However, with this answer file, you will still have the full "manual" installation experience with the exception that it won't ask what edition to install because I've supplied a Pro key, and it will create a local account, bypassing the need to create a Microsoft account.

The second answer file is exactly the same, but it adds a bypass for the Windows 11 requirement checks. In other words, you can use it to install with an unsupported CPU, no TPM, etc. This is transparent and the user experience during setup is still the same.

Code:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<!--
Notes about this answer file:

1) It includes a Windows 10 / 11 Pro key
2) It creates an Admin level user named "WinUser", full name "Windows User" with a
   password of "Password1".
3) This answer file can be used with both Windows 10 and 11.
-->
<unattend xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:unattend">
    <settings pass="windowsPE">
        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-Setup" processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
            <UserData>
                <ProductKey>
                    <Key>VK7JG-NPHTM-C97JM-9MPGT-3V66T</Key>
                </ProductKey>
                <AcceptEula>true</AcceptEula>
            </UserData>
        </component>
    </settings>
    <settings pass="oobeSystem">
        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup" processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
            <UserAccounts>
                <LocalAccounts>
                    <LocalAccount wcm:action="add">
                        <Password>
                            <Value>UABhAHMAcwB3AG8AcgBkADEAUABhAHMAcwB3AG8AcgBkAA==</Value>
                            <PlainText>false</PlainText>
                        </Password>
                        <DisplayName>Windows User</DisplayName>
                        <Group>Administrators</Group>
                        <Name>WinUser</Name>
                    </LocalAccount>
                </LocalAccounts>
            </UserAccounts>
            <TimeZone></TimeZone>
        </component>
    </settings>
    <cpi:offlineImage cpi:source="catalog://godzilla/data/windows/windows tools and deployment apps/assets and tools for deployment/win 11 pro 21h2 catalog file/install_windows 10 pro.clg" xmlns:cpi="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:cpi" />
</unattend>

Code:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<!--
Notes about this answer file:

1) It includes a Windows 10 / 11 Pro key
2) It creates an Admin level user named "WinUser", full name "Windows User" with a
   password of "Password1".
3) It includes settings to bypass Windows 11 system requirements.
4) This answer file can be used with both Windows 10 and 11. The settings to bypass
   Windows 11 system requirement checks will have no effect on Windows 10.
-->
<unattend xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:unattend">
    <settings pass="windowsPE">
        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-Setup" processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
            <UserData>
                <ProductKey>
                    <Key>VK7JG-NPHTM-C97JM-9MPGT-3V66T</Key>
                </ProductKey>
                <AcceptEula>true</AcceptEula>
            </UserData>
            <RunSynchronous>
                <RunSynchronousCommand wcm:action="add">
                    <Order>1</Order>
                    <Path>reg add HKLM\System\Setup\LabConfig /v BypassTPMCheck /t reg_dword /d 0x00000001 /f</Path>
                </RunSynchronousCommand>
                <RunSynchronousCommand wcm:action="add">
                    <Order>2</Order>
                    <Path>reg add HKLM\System\Setup\LabConfig /v BypassSecureBootCheck /t reg_dword /d 0x00000001 /f</Path>
                </RunSynchronousCommand>
                <RunSynchronousCommand wcm:action="add">
                    <Order>3</Order>
                    <Path>reg add HKLM\System\Setup\LabConfig /v BypassRAMCheck /t reg_dword /d 0x00000001 /f</Path>
                </RunSynchronousCommand>
                <RunSynchronousCommand wcm:action="add">
                    <Order>5</Order>
                    <Path>reg add HKLM\System\Setup\LabConfig /v BypassCPUCheck /t reg_dword /d 0x00000001 /f</Path>
                </RunSynchronousCommand>
                <RunSynchronousCommand wcm:action="add">
                    <Order>4</Order>
                    <Path>reg add HKLM\System\Setup\LabConfig /v BypassStorageCheck /t reg_dword /d 0x00000001 /f</Path>
                </RunSynchronousCommand>
            </RunSynchronous>
        </component>
    </settings>
    <settings pass="oobeSystem">
        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup" processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
            <UserAccounts>
                <LocalAccounts>
                    <LocalAccount wcm:action="add">
                        <Password>
                            <Value>UABhAHMAcwB3AG8AcgBkADEAUABhAHMAcwB3AG8AcgBkAA==</Value>
                            <PlainText>false</PlainText>
                        </Password>
                        <DisplayName>Windows User</DisplayName>
                        <Group>Administrators</Group>
                        <Name>WinUser</Name>
                    </LocalAccount>
                </LocalAccounts>
            </UserAccounts>
            <TimeZone></TimeZone>
        </component>
    </settings>
    <cpi:offlineImage cpi:source="catalog://godzilla/data/windows/windows tools and deployment apps/assets and tools for deployment/win 11 pro 21h2 catalog file/install_windows 10 pro.clg" xmlns:cpi="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:cpi" />
</unattend>

Simply save the text from either of the above to a text file, name it "autounattend.xml" and drop in the root of your Windows install media.

jimbo45 · May 24, 2022

Bree said:
Because MS say it's good for you

Have you only just noticed? That has been a requirement for more than three month now....

Windows 11 Insider Dev Build 22557.1 (ni_release) - Feb. 16

UPDATE 2/24: https://www.elevenforum.com/t/windows-11-insider-dev-build-22563-1-ni_release-feb-24.4857/ Hello Windows Insiders, today we are releasing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22557 to the Dev Channel. TL;DR Windows Insiders will notice that the name of the branch we are releasing...

www.elevenforum.com

But the other (Dev) build doesn't need this !!

Cheers
jimbo

RFS · May 24, 2022

hsehestedt said:
You can no longer do that with 22H2.

Yes you can! I did a clean install on the wife's PC last night (Windows 11 Home 22621 ISO) and this method worked just fine.

NavyLCDR · May 24, 2022

jimbo45 said:
This stupid build when installing from New (i.e clean / fresh etc) even on Pro doesn't give choice of a Local account !!!! on install.
Not bothering with it -- why do I have to have an Ms account to use Windows !!!!!!

Imagine if Shell said --you can only fill up at our Gas stations if you have a Ferrari or Merc.

You can UPDATE though from a previous version of this build with only a local account -- but switch off "DEV" from the insider builds or you'll be offered the latest 25120xxx rs_preview build.

If one has to have an account to use Windows then market it as a "membership service" even if subscription cost is Zero. I suspect that the long term ambition of Ms is to make Windows a subscription service. There was a furore about this pre Covid pandemic -- died down though -- but perhaps beginning to rear its ugly head again.

If this stays a requirement then I'm sticking with W10 and Linux.

Cheers
jimbo

I just did a clean install of Windows 11 Pro 2262.1 with a local account, no issues. I used the oobe\bypassnro workaround. Super simple.

Clean Install Windows 11 Tutorial

This tutorial will show you step by step on how to clean install Windows 11 at boot on your PC with or without an Internet connection and setup with a local account or Microsoft account. Windows 11 has all the power and security of Windows 10 with a redesigned and refreshed look. It also comes...

www.elevenforum.com

hsehestedt · May 24, 2022

RFS said:
Yes you can! I did a clean install on the wife's PC last night (Windows 11 Home 22621 ISO) and this method worked just fine.

Odd, thought I tried it and it didn't work for me. Thanks for the correction. I'll try it again.

Badger · May 24, 2022

hsehestedt said:
You can no longer do that with 22H2.

Just did it about and hour ago via a fresh install of 22H2 and it worked fine.

Mark Phelps · May 24, 2022

CountMike said:
I don't think that H1 and H2 ever denoted exactly part of year but "Spring" and "Fall" major updates/upgrades.

Remember, they once had yy.04 and yy.10 -- but they didn't make those dates. So, rather than be pinned down to a month, MS changed it to a half-year -- giving them until the end of June and the end of December.

And while a 22H2 build could be released as early as July 1st, the RTM for that will probably not be before mid-November or early December.

I'm still waiting to hear about an official 22H1 RTM build because I want to use that to do a clean-install of my Win11 Pro system -- that has grown from around 30GB to over 40GB nearly overnight -- despite all the cleaning routines I have run against it.