Windows 10 Feature Update version 21H1

Discussions about using Windows guests in VirtualBox.
Post Reply
Broytsch
Posts: 39
Joined: 22. May 2021, 12:19

Windows 10 Feature Update version 21H1

Post by Broytsch »

This update shows today as ready to download and install. It is described as "The next version of Windows 10".

Isn't that Windows 11? Surely the update in question does not involve a complete re-installation of the OS?

As it is a Feature update I don't think that I am obliged to install it.

If I do, are there any comments or warnings from this Forum's Moderators - particularly with respect to how well VirtualBox and its VM/s will work once this radical-sounding update is installed and configured?
multiOS
Volunteer
Posts: 800
Joined: 14. Sep 2019, 16:51
Primary OS: Mac OS X other
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: WIN11,10, 7, Linux (various)
Location: United Kingdom

Re: Windows 10 Feature Update version 21H1

Post by multiOS »

Haven't experienced any problems with Windows 10 '21H1' either as Host or Guest while using VirtualBox V.6.1.22. Can't speak from personal experience about any earlier VirtualBox versions.

Although Microsoft has announced the release of Windows 11, probably starting later this year "in the fall", it has also confirmed that Windows 10 will continue to be supported and receive updates until at least 2025, so there no need for anyone to panic. Windows 11 does have a higher minimum spec in terms of hardware/firmware than Windows 10 which presumably means that a significant number of PCs will not be upgradable if they can't meet the new minimum spec.
mpack
Site Moderator
Posts: 39156
Joined: 4. Sep 2008, 17:09
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Mostly XP

Re: Windows 10 Feature Update version 21H1

Post by mpack »

Broytsch wrote:This update shows today as ready to download and install. It is described as "The next version of Windows 10".
Every version of Windows is described as the "next version of Windows" if you read documentation dating from right before its release.

21H1 is the feature update for the first half of 2021. It's the past, not the future.

I updated my VM from 2010 to 21H1 with no problem, along with all 6 physical PCs I have around here! But if you are concerned about that then the solution is obvious: make a backup of the VM folder before updating.
llr
Posts: 15
Joined: 11. Oct 2018, 18:22

Re: Windows 10 Feature Update version 21H1

Post by llr »

21H1 runs fine in 6.1.22 with guest additions on my machine.
BillG
Volunteer
Posts: 5102
Joined: 19. Sep 2009, 04:44
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Windows 10,7 and earlier
Location: Sydney, Australia

Re: Windows 10 Feature Update version 21H1

Post by BillG »

It does indeed, and I expect 21H2 will as well when it is released later this year.

Regarding the "next version of Windows", the download of the update for the Windows 11 beta (10.0.22000.65) still has the internal name of WindowsNext, not Windows 11.
Bill
Broytsch
Posts: 39
Joined: 22. May 2021, 12:19

Re: Windows 10 Feature Update version 21H1

Post by Broytsch »

Many thanks to all of you who took the trouble to reply to my expressions of concern about the possible effects on VBox of a massive and powerful Windows update (which, I gather, this one is NOT!).

My concern arises from the following.

I have VBox on my W10 desktop PC, running, as the sole VM, a disc image copy of W XP (XP ISO).

recently installed another copy of VBox onto our other W10 computer (a laptop). I also downloaded into the Host an copy of Windows XP ISO to install as the VM.

VBox could not find the XP - although it was in the normal place in the Host (the Downloads folder).

The Forum Moderators helped me through this. The basic cause seems to have been that Virtualisation was not enabled in the CPU of the laptop, whereas it was in my desktop's CPU, where I had not encountered the same problem.

he course of trying to deal with this problem, I read quite a lot from the Moderators about changes that Microsoft have made to aspects of Win 10 which, as I understood it, obstructed virtualisation by a program such as VBox. (But, of course, the setting of my laptop's CPU was not done by Ms.)

I enabled virtualisation by the CPU through the BIOS. Whilst this did not cure the problem that I was experiencing (the disc image did not immediately and spontaneously appear in Host Drive E:\ in the VBox settings for the VM), it did appear there when I went to the Downloads folder in the Host and opened the file folder containing the disc image.

The advice and warnings that I got during this uncomfortable experience have left me feeling nervous about what Ms might be "up to" in its updates! Hence what you were all no doubt too polite to declare to be my silly question!!

But thanks again.
Post Reply