How to upgrade Windows 11 guest?

Discussions about using Windows guests in VirtualBox.
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thomasb
Posts: 10
Joined: 20. Nov 2008, 05:33

How to upgrade Windows 11 guest?

Post by thomasb »

So I've been using Windows 11 inside VirtualBox just fine using the infamous "BypassRAMCheck", "BypassTPMCheck", and "BypassSecureBootCheck" workaround. I need to upgrade my VM to 22H2, but it seems that the installation assistant and media creation tools keep refusing and says the hardware doesn't qualify (even when I add these registry values). I also tried to upgrade it by booting the iso, creating these registry keys and tried to use the "upgrade" option in the installer, but it refused. Does anyone know of any tricks to accomplish this? I know I could probably reinstall from scratch, but getting everything reinstalled and configured again is quite a bit of work I'd like to avoid.
multiOS
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VBox Version: PUEL
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Re: How to upgrade Windows 11 guest?

Post by multiOS »

As you've already found, the published 'hardware check bypasses' only appear to work for the initial installation of Windows 11, but not with 'feature upgrades', i.e. 22H2.

A relatively 'straightforward'' way to perform a the upgrade is to download the official Windows 22H2 ISO from Microsoft's Site and then create a modified ISO that does not perform the hardware checks on non-qualifying hardware (including VMs).

Use the following procedure (which worked for me) at your own risk:

1. Create an empty text file and rename it as appraiserres.dll (Take care with the spelling!)
2. Create a copy of the Windows 22H2 installer (ISO) for modification.
3. Use whatever ISO utility you prefer which is capable of editing and rewriting ISOs to examine the copy ISO (e.g. I used Anyburn 'freeware' on Windows https://www.anyburn.com)
4. Run the ISO 'Editor' as Admin and load the Windows ISO copy: In the Sources Folder find and delete the existing appraiserres.dll file (which initiates the hardware checks); and replace it with the empty file created at Step 1.
5. Save (Write) the modified ISO to disk- you can choose to simply overwrite the exiting copy to save space.

Then:

- Make sure you have backed up your Windows 11 VM Folder in case you need to recover from any problems.
- Launch your Windows 11 VM; load the modified modified ISO and use Windows Explorer to open the CD and run the setup.exe file
- When you reach the Updates option screen, which asks about checking for updates during the upgrade make sure to choose 'Not for now' option - allowing updates during install will trigger remote hardware checks and a failed upgrade.
- Some users recommend turning off internet access during the upgrade, but I didn't find this to be essential.
- Run Windows Update after the upgrade successfully completes.
AndyCot
Posts: 296
Joined: 29. Feb 2020, 03:04

Re: How to upgrade Windows 11 guest?

Post by AndyCot »

I have upgraded from 6.1.36 to 7.0 beta 1 and then to 7.0 beta 2. On Windows 7.0 beta 1 I installed a guest W11 without any hacks as the previous Vb 3.1.36 W11 guest needed the hacks. I upgraded to 7.0 beta 2 and then upgraded W11 to 22H2.

So you may want to give 7.0 beta 2 a try, but make sure you read the info on it as it is a beta release and has a few issues (as expected) that are being ironed out by the VB devs..
multiOS
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Joined: 14. Sep 2019, 16:51
Primary OS: Mac OS X other
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Location: United Kingdom

Re: How to upgrade Windows 11 guest?

Post by multiOS »

Andy,

Unless I'm mistaken the VirtualBox 7 Beta option will only work if no bypass workarounds are required, e.g. it would not work when the Host CPU is below 'spec'.
thomasb
Posts: 10
Joined: 20. Nov 2008, 05:33

Re: How to upgrade Windows 11 guest?

Post by thomasb »

multiOS, Thank you so much! This worked like a charm :)
multiOS
Volunteer
Posts: 800
Joined: 14. Sep 2019, 16:51
Primary OS: Mac OS X other
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Re: How to upgrade Windows 11 guest?

Post by multiOS »

Great. Thanks for reporting back.
Jim Karam
Posts: 7
Joined: 18. May 2014, 01:55

Re: How to upgrade Windows 11 guest?

Post by Jim Karam »

Thanks again. This had been driving me nuts since the "bypass" trick had worked initially but not for the feature upgrade.
mpack
Site Moderator
Posts: 39156
Joined: 4. Sep 2008, 17:09
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
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Re: How to upgrade Windows 11 guest?

Post by mpack »

I'm going to lock this topic as there should not have been discussion of the beta outside the beta forum.
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