Windows 11 Pro update problem

roytom2

Sadly, the Windows Registry hack didn't help in my case as (after several re-boots) I still get the message
Your version of Windows has reached the end of service
I'm planning on working through all the links kindly provided to see if any of them work for me.
Thanks for the help on all this.

Newcad

The problem with such registry hacks is that they become widely known, M$ know them and change things to close them off so that they no longer work.

As you used Rufus before then why not use it again to create a new installer USB for the new Windows version?
Don't forget to install the latest Rufus first.

For how to install Win 11 24H2 on unsupported hardware using Rufus see:

 https://youtu.be/J5mDUU9GCNo

HillStreetBlues

roytom2 said:

Sadly, the Windows Registry hack didn't help in my case as (after several re-boots) I still get the message
Your version of Windows has reached the end of service
I'm planning on working through all the links kindly provided to see if any of them work for me.
Thanks for the help on all this.

It something else is causing it not to update nothing to do with your hardware.  I should have noticed it wasn't the issue when you posted "it'll only allow Windows 11 to be installed by obliterating everything" if it was hardware you would not be given the option to install Win11, the  hack (if needed) must already have been on your system.

Try download Win11 direct (not the tool)
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows11
One downloaded the iso.  extract it and run setup  if it doesn't update without having to delete stuff see what message you get.
It could be something simple like wrong language

Olinda99

You seem to have two queries and it is best not to conflate them

one seems to be you want to install Windows 11 on a spare old PC but it fails because of the W11 compatibility problem. The way around this is to make a bootable USB stick from the ISO using the latest Rufus where you can tick a box to bypass this test

The second problem seems to be your inability to update your current PC and the first thing to try is as posted above - extract the ISO and run setup.exe and report what happens. The most common reason for failure is lack of disk space

roytom2

Let me clarify. The core issue is that windows 11 on my OptiPlex PC is stuck at the old 22H2 version. It refuses to update at all.
Therefore, I tried to download a new version of Windows 11 using the Windows media creation tool - but in testing this version would not install on a trial laptop due to the hardware not being of a sufficient level.

Moving on I have been advised here to download the Windows 11 ISO file and to use this to create a bootable flash drive using Rufus. I’ve done all this but haven’t got round to testing it yet because I didn’t want to delete everything on my OptiPlex PC whilst doing the new installation just yet .
Before I start the process of installing the new Windows 11 version I need to make absolutely sure that I’ve got everything off the OptiPlex PC.
I will be following the YouTube video posted here about installation of Windows 11 on a non-compliant system.
Many thanks for the continued support

roytom2

After watching the YouTube Video posted on here by Newcad I've been able to upgrade Windows 11 to 24H2 without loosing my files. Brilliant. My system is now showing as up to date and seems to be running extremely well.
Thanks for all the help. It greatly appreciated.
Kind regards 

dc_scotland

Is this in any way relevant to the issue ?

https://www.forbes.com/sites/zakdoffman/2024/12/29/microsoft-warns-windows-users-do-not-update-your-pc-this-way/

https://www.express.co.uk/life-style/science-technology/1993549/microsoft-issues-warning-windows-11-users-avoid-

Eyeful

roytom2
Have you thought of moving to a Linux operating system if your problem with windows occurs again. 
Hope you can afford to buy an up to date computer as I expect that the problem will occur again in 2025!

Newcad

roytom2 said:

After watching the YouTube Video posted on here by Newcad I've been able to upgrade Windows 11 to 24H2 without loosing my files.

Glad to hear it went OK for you.

Eyeful said:

Hope you can afford to buy an up to date computer as I expect that the problem will occur again in 2025!

It will happen again when Win 11 gets updated to25H#.
As Win 10 will be reaching End-of-Life in October 2025 then I suspect that Microsoft may make it harder (or even impossible) to get around the hardware restrictions at that time.

(There will be lots of people suddenly realising that their Win 10 is EoL and wondering what they can do about it).

Of course Win 10 won't suddenly stop working and you can still use it after EoL, just like many people still use Win7 and even XP.
But it will be less secure because it will no longer get any updates.
When the NHS got crippled by the Wannacry virus in 2017 that was mainly because they were still using outdated, EoL, and so insecure, XP machines almost everywhere.
(PS. 7 years on from that Wannacry attack and I know that the NHS is still using XP computers for admin work in many offices, because of what it would cost to replace them all at once).

Olinda99

my own view is that you can continue to use W10 until your hardware expires with very little risk so long as you are sensible which sites you visit. There is a lot of unnecessary hype around.

If Windows defender is also not being updated after Oct 2025 then use another antivirus to continue getting protection