Windows 11 discussion - fully supported by VirtualBox 7.0

Discussions about using Windows guests in VirtualBox.
BillG
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Re: Windows 11 compatibility is being worked on

Post by BillG »

Yes, I read that too. However I have two vms running that version on two different hosts. Quite apart from TPM 2 they deliberately do not meet the minimum RAM (3 GB not 4) and one does not even meet the CPU standard (i7-7700).

I am waiting to see what happens when the official release version comes out after 5th October - we will soon know one way or the other.
Bill
kado897
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Re: Windows 11 compatibility is being worked on

Post by kado897 »

BillG wrote:
Grinler wrote:I am the author of that article :)

This new policy change is for both the beta (Windows 11 release channel) and the dev channel, so valid for all Windows 11 releases at the time.

Can't post the link, but it's in the latest Beta build 22000.194 as well.
Are you sure? My Win 11 vm is running that version without any problems.
Win11vm.png
If you can work around the compatibility check W11 still installs & runs fine in VB but you cannot update it via Windows Update currently with either the DEV version or BETA version. To install or update it you need to do it via an ISO with Appraiserres.dll deleted from the Sources folder.
fth0
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Re: Windows 11 compatibility is being worked on

Post by fth0 »

kado897 wrote:If you can work around the compatibility check W11 still installs & runs fine in VB but you cannot update it via Windows Update currently with either the DEV version or BETA version.
Did you also try to set the LabConfig registry keys inside the installed Windows 11 registry, reboot, and then run the Windows Update?

Note that there can be 3 Windows registries involved: The one active before starting the installer, the one during an installation, and the one of the resulting installation, and the registry keys are perhaps not automatically passed on ...
birdie
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Re: Windows 11 compatibility is being worked on

Post by birdie »

New Windows 11 install script bypasses TPM, system requirements

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/m ... uirements/
chrisbig
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Re: Windows 11 compatibility is being worked on

Post by chrisbig »

I have Windows 11 version 22454.100 from the Dev Insider channel successfully installed.
However Windows Update refuses to download/install the latest version 22468.100 because there is no Secure Boot and no TPM 2.0

I suspect the same will happen when/if I can download the official Windows 11 release on October 5th.
abbleeker
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Re: Windows 11 compatibility is being worked on

Post by abbleeker »

Same here. With other VMM's you can just add a TPM. This works, I can use them to do a clean install of the latest Windows 11 build, while this is blocked under Virtualbox, because the VM doesn't meet requirements. I believe there's code that can use a TPM, but I can find no way to use it in the graphical interface. I'm running build 6.1.97 r147236 under Ubuntu 21.04.

However, I've noticed that VBoxManage now offers options

Code: Select all

--tpmtype
and

Code: Select all

--tpm-location
. So I've tried the following command:

Code: Select all

VBoxManage modifyvm 'name' --tpm-type=host --tpm-location=/dev/tpm0
This succeeds, but starting the VM throws the following error:

Code: Select all

VBoxManage: error: DrvTpmHost0: Opening TPM with id 4294967295 failed with VERR_ACCESS_DENIED (VERR_ACCESS_DENIED)
VBoxManage: error: Details: code NS_ERROR_FAILURE (0x80004005), component ConsoleWrap, interface IConsole
fth0
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Re: Windows 11 compatibility is being worked on

Post by fth0 »

For the current Windows 11 guest OS support, please see the following post by klaus: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=104042&p=506704#p506704
abbleeker
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Re: Windows 11 compatibility is being worked on

Post by abbleeker »

This is still a bypass. But if I understand correctly, Virtualbox 7 will support TPM 1.2, and 2.0, either passthrough, or emulated (swtpm). You can set this up with VBoxManage in the development snapshots. Initially I got an access error when I started Virtualbox with passthrough TPM device in /devtpm0 (my machine has an AMD CPU with fTPM), but I was able to get past that by defining a udev rule.

Anyway, I'm going to check the new builds, they're coming thick and fast at the moment.
Last edited by abbleeker on 5. Oct 2021, 10:10, edited 1 time in total.
fth0
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Re: Windows 11 compatibility is being worked on

Post by fth0 »

abbleeker wrote:This is still a bypass.
Correct, and my post was not meant for you alone. ;)

It's also worth considering what solution will be available when: The VirtualBox 6.1.27 test builds eventually will lead to VirtualBox 6.1.28 being released around 2021-10-19. The VirtualBox 6.1.97 development snapshots will eventually lead to VirtualBox 7.0 being released at some unknown time in the coming months and years. ;)
birdie
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Re: Windows 11 compatibility is being worked on

Post by birdie »

You can merge this registry file on installation and be able to install Windows 11 on unsupported hardware

Code: Select all

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Setup\LabConfig]
"BypassTPMCheck"=dword:00000001
"BypassSecureBootCheck"=dword:00000001
"BypassRAMCheck"=dword:00000001
"BypassStorageCheck"=dword:00000001
"BypassCPUCheck"=dword:00000001
birdie
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Re: Windows 11 compatibility is being worked on

Post by birdie »

That's funny, Microsoft released their own guide how to upgrade to Windows 11 on unsupported hardware.

Registry Key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Setup\MoSetup

Name: AllowUpgradesWithUnsupportedTPMOrCPU

Type: REG_DWORD

Value: 1

Note: Serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly by using Registry Editor or by using another method. These problems might require that you reinstall the operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that these problems can be solved. Modify the registry at your own risk.
madbrain
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Re: Windows 11 compatibility is being worked on

Post by madbrain »

I can confirm that Win11 RTM ISO checks for a supported CPU and TPM 2.0 . It refuses to install in a fresh Virtualbox VM on my system with a 5th gen Intel CPU, 5820k, without any kind of TPM, hardware or firmware. When booting the ISO and trying to install it, the GUI installer reports a very vague message that the PC is not supported, without any details as to why, and the only option is to exit.
Attachments
win11vb.png
win11vb.png (59.02 KiB) Viewed 19975 times
Last edited by madbrain on 9. Oct 2021, 03:12, edited 1 time in total.
madbrain
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Re: Windows 11 compatibility is being worked on

Post by madbrain »

birdie wrote:That's funny, Microsoft released their own guide how to upgrade to Windows 11 on unsupported hardware.

Registry Key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Setup\MoSetup

Name: AllowUpgradesWithUnsupportedTPMOrCPU

Type: REG_DWORD

Value: 1

Note: Serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly by using Registry Editor or by using another method. These problems might require that you reinstall the operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that these problems can be solved. Modify the registry at your own risk.
Unfortunately, doing it this way requires an existing Windows OS to be installed first in order to run the installer. This is not usually the case in VM.
I tried downloading the 20GB Windows 10 developer evaluation VM from https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/w ... -machines/ .
After the download, ZIP decompression (another 20GB), appliance import into Virtualbox (another 20GB!), I booted it up. Shared the folder where I already had my Win11 ISO installed.
Had to copy the ISO to a folder within the VM, as Win10 wouldn't allow it to be mounted from the shared folder, unfortunately.
Once I did that, Win11 installer complained about 3 things :
- unsupported CPU (I have a 5th gen intel)
- no TPM 2.0 (indeed, I have no TPM of any kind)
- no Secureboot (I believe this requires TPM in the first place)

I then set the registry key, and ran the installer again. Despite being called AllowUpgradesWithUnsupportedTPMOrCPU, I still got an error message about :
- no TPM 2.0 (indeed, I have no TPM of any kind)
- no Secureboot (I believe this requires TPM in the first place)

So, the official way still does not work, unfortunately. It eliminated the unsupported CPU check. But not the TPM 2.0 requirement.

My next step was to try one of the github projects that included a batch file to skip the TPM check during installation. This one actually worked ! I was able to run the Win11 installer from within Win10 successfully. Unfortunately, it asked for a product key, and there was no way to skip that check. So, that failed too.
I have still not succeeded doing any kind of of Win11 RTM install in Virtualbox, whether upgrade or from scratch.

TLDR version : the official Microsoft way to bypass the CPU & TPM check doesn't work, at least not on my hardware.
madbrain
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Re: Windows 11 compatibility is being worked on

Post by madbrain »

What finally worked was to use the tool at https://winaero.com/mediacreationtool-b ... pm-checks/ to re-download the Windows 11 ISO.
At that point, both CPU and TPM checks were bypassed. Installer proceeded past the point where it was previously stuck. It's in progress right now. Haven't made it past the initial reboot yet. But I'm hopeful.
BillG
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Re: Windows 11 compatibility is being worked on

Post by BillG »

Yes, that works, but it would also work on a physical PC which did not meet the hardware specs from Windows 11, so it is not really relevant to VirtualBox. It is a workaround to run Windows 11 on non-supported hardware and is not supported by Microsoft.
Bill
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