Windows 11 Upgrade - MBR to GPT Issues

GCS2000 said:

So far this is working out. I have the drive as GPT now with my old W10 install running as it should be....

Click to expand...

Glad to hear that...

MBR2GPT doesn't work if there are more than 4 Partitions on the disk!
ReagentC must be enabled!

After converting from MBR to GPT this would have been the right command:


X:\WINDOWS\System32>
diskpart
sel disk 0
sel par 1
set id="c12a7328-f81f-11d2-ba4b-00a0c93ec93b"
format quick fs=fat32 label="System"
assign letter=S
exit

bcdboot c:\Windows /l en-US /s S: /f UEFI

Never delete the 1st partition!
A MSR-Partition is not necessary.

Bree said:

You might like to try the method I used to migrate a legacy/MBR install of Windows 10 from an old unsupported machine to my System One in My Computers below, a new UEFI/GPT supported one, so that it could then be upgraded to Windows 11.

First make a Macrium Reflect image of the old machine.

Next do a clean install in UEFI mode of the same version of Windows 10 on the new machine, this formats the drive as GPT and sets up all the required partitions. If it says the drive is currently MBR and it can't install, then from a command prompt use Diskpart to convert it to GPT.

Then restore JUST the C: partition from the Reflect image to replace the one created by the clean install (you can resize the partition to fit during the restore, if required).

Finally use the Reflect rescue media's 'Fix Windows boot problems' too to build the correct BCD entry. Windows should now boot.

Click to expand...

Hi,
Wow always wondered if this would work lol
Might try it in a bit and add the RE in front of C after the clean install same as I did on my laptop

Can avoid a lot of unecessary writing to disk and save time by partitioning the disk first.

Sounds like you want:

esp msr recovery ospartition

Reagentc /disable before copying the source os, then it is simple to enable again after copying to the new disk.

Then use wincopy to copy the os to the partition on the new disk. Wincopy will also create the boot critical files on the esp and set the osletter for you.

Is wincopy a freeware? can do OS clone?

USB3 driver is also an issue in my OS clone.

winntsetup thank the developer JFX it is free v533b is the latest

Winntsetup

click blue icon at top rt

select Local Windows Installations




click the os you want to copy to highlight it in blue




select "Copy Windows Installation" in the dropdown ( the highlighting goes away, you can check on the next screen )





In the BOOT DRIVE dropdown select the ESP partition on the disk you are copying TO




In the "Target" dropdown select the partition you are copying the os TO


Then click "Copy Windows Installation"





NB: if you want you can exclude your massive folder of cat pictures from being copied by adding it to the wimscript.ini

SIW2 said:

Can avoid a lot of unecessary writing to disk and save time by partitioning the disk first.

Sounds like you want:

esp msr recovery ospartition

Reagentc /disable before copying the source os, then it is simple to enable again after copying to the new disk.

Then use wincopy to copy the os to the partition on the new disk. Wincopy will also create the boot critical files on the esp and set the osletter for you.

Click to expand...

Hi,
I'm 75% with reflect replacing C
Silly installer put both efi and RE partitions at the end of C first time I tried to install os on 250gb partition lol
2nd I only left the one 2gb in front and the installer acted normal with all except RE is at the end.
crazy 23h2 installer lol

Oops 90%

Wincopy works great. Avoids the intermediate stage of making an image and then restoring. You have to partition the target disk first. Bootice is included in case you want to use that for partitioning. It also runs in winpe.

Hi,
Yeah second times the charm I hope with reflect
Didn't occur to me to drag the system image C to the clean install C but I did it this time and everything looks as I hoped so far

my try failed.

I did twice (I was silent but was busy in trying). copying was quick, from SATA to NVMe SSD. OS partition and ESP (boot sector).
However, when done, the NVMe SSD is NOT bootable (SATA disconnected). btw, I was tesing Windows 7 (adding NVMe driver), NOT 10 or 11.

am I missing anything? stuck here on wincopy v5.33.

SIW2 said:

Wincopy works great. Avoids the intermediate stage of making an image and then restoring. You have to partition the target disk first. Bootice is included in case you want to use that for partitioning. It also runs in winpe.

Click to expand...

Hi,
Well when all else fails, just drag the original C to the new installs C's location lol
@Bree did I miss that instruction tip

ThrashZone said:

Hi,
Well when all else fails, just drag the original C to the new installs C's location lol
@Bree did I miss that instruction tip

Click to expand...

Just to be sure, in Reflect I deleted the new install's C: from the destination drive before dragging C: from the image to replace it (resizing, if necessary).

Bree said:

Just to be sure, in Reflect I deleted the new install's C: from the destination drive before dragging C: from the image to replace it (resizing, if necessary).

Click to expand...

Hi,
I did resize with disk management the new installs
The original was a little smaller
I didn't delete the new one I just dragged the old one to the new one
Data space of the original was twice the size of the new data so doubt it mattered.

Nice tip on this and a darn good thing to learn lol
Worth bumping the thread
I'm going to try and drag the new installs RE partition in front of C where I left space hehe hope it works to

Yep just drag that RE to the open space before C I can easily extend the RE partition to use all the extra space bravo Bree

Didn't exactly work
Tried the refresh install after using this in diskpart
Guess this is how the refresh fixed the RE I made verses creating another one at the end of C

Bottom line I resized C to soon and that broke the RE off the end of C with a lot of unallocated space
It's all good though mbr install was old so now got a good one to screw up lol

Rufus iso it downloaded did not include the new updates so that's where I'm at atm

I got the files off my laptop that @Bree posted but didn't need them since refresh worked
But had them ready lol

Megahertz said:

Did you read my post #8?

- Use the MiniTool to convert the drive from MBR to GPT
- To make your drive 0 boot able, boot from a Win 10 or Win 11 installation drive and at the Windows Setup screen, press Shift+F10 simultaneously to open a command line prompt. Type:
Diskpart
list vol (take note of the windows partition letter)
sel select disk 0
select part 1
del part override
create part EFI size=100
format fs=FAT32 quick
assign letter=W
create part msr size=16
exit
bcdboot E:\Windows /s W: /f UEFI (replace E: with the windows partition letter)
exit
diskpart
select vol W
remove letter=W
exit
exit

Click to expand...

Wanted to say... thanks.
Yes, I know, old thread, but still a lot of W10 to W11 going on, as we attempt to migrate "working and happy OS setups" into new hardware, to be newer, faster, better - and also then upgrade them to Windows 11.

In my case - original setup was at least 10 years old, or more, running on an old Lenovo workhorse workstation, w10pro, with a lot of special apps setup just the way they like them.
Used Macrium to clone to external USB with the new m.2 SSD, because the drive was part of a mirror set in the old machine, so needed a "visible" drive in the OS. (rather than my usual boot to ghost usb stick)

Win10 - did not want to let me use the mbr2gpt that has always worked before, gave errors, "could not locate windows installation".
Tried a few things to fix that, all else seems well, carried on digging.
Used DiskGenius free version to force a switch to GPT, which worked.
(yes, had to use bcdboot several times now, to keep telling the boot system where windows was)

But w11 upgrade_v2 iso, still didn't want to run - fails during the "checking your PC" phase with a long error, that seems to be around the checking for a properly working GPT disk.

Bottom line - appreciate the steps above. Done lots of patches, fixes, etc, but your steps reminded me clearly of exactly what it needs to see in the way of EFI and MSR partitions.... now the setup runs.


(it's not DONE yet, but its begun, so I had time to say thanks)

Andrew