Win10 to Win11 Upgrade not possible on Guest

[DSB Cloudian]

My Windows 10 Pro (registered) guest does not currently meet the minimum system requirements to run Windows 11.
The PC Health Check app shows 3 issues (2 warnings: "Secure boot" and "TPM 2.0") and 3rd is the one I think is blocking the upgrade:
-The processor is not currently supported by Windows 11
-Processor: Intel Core i7-3740QM CPU @ 2.7GHz

The host laptop is running Win10 Pro (registered) which reports the same failure to upgrade and lists the same CPU.

Is there a workaround for the guest?
Q: Is the guest's vCPU always going to match the host's CPU?

Am I stuck on Win10 for the host and all the Win10 guests until I get a new laptop?

[FranceBB]

Well, in theory you could backup your current Windows 10 VM, then create a new entry in the virtualbox manager targeting Windows 11 by making sure it's set to UEFI and with a TPM 2.0, then attach the Windows 10 vdi disk to it and hope for the best.

The main issue I can think with this plan of action though is that you installed Windows 10 on BIOS and when you're gonna try to boot on UEFI it won't work as it won't find any boot partition, so technically you would need a way to convert your BIOS windows 10 installation to a UEFI windows 10 installation, then add the virtual TPM, then add the registry's windows 11 bypass that you can find in the guest additions so that it won't complain about the CPU and then upgrade.
Keep in mind, though, that there's a high chance that your OS will become unbootable in the process, so please copy the vdi to a safe place before you start messing around with this.

Here's the guide to convert from BIOS to UEFI from the Microsoft website https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/win ... 1405f800d7

[birdie]

• TPM 2.0 can be trivially enabled in settings
• If you're using EFI boot, enabling Secure Boot is also trivial
• As for unsupported CPU, you could try this: https://www.theverge.com/22715331/how-t ... ry-regedit

If you're not using EFI/GPT, converting from MBR to it is risky, please make a full copy of your VM and then try it:

https://www.thewindowsclub.com/convert-mbr-to-gpt-disk

[DSB Cloudian]

Follow up:
The Win10 host system's TPM "Specification Version" is 1.2 and cannot be updated (Lenovo W530 laptop).

But... The Win10 guest shows that "Standard hardware security is not supported".
TPM seems to be enabled by changing the guest's TPM setting in "System" > "Motherboard" > "TPM" = 2.0 (currently set to "none")
- Will that cause a problem with the guest on the next boot? Or will it just discover the new TPM "hardware" and be happy?

EDIT - I changed the guest's settings to TPM=2.0 and rebooted.
I checked the "Device Driver" page for the guest, and the Trusted Platform Module 2.0 is in installed, but it didn't start.
Device Status:
This device cannot start. (Code 10)
A protocol error was detected between the driver and the device.

The Windows Security setting still shows "Standard hardware security is not supported".
Uninstalling / rescanning is the same and "Update Driver" shows it has the latest driver (Microsoft, 6/21/2006, 10.0.19041.4291).

... technically you would need a way to convert your BIOS windows 10 installation to a UEFI windows 10 installation

Is it safe to assume that "Enable EFI (Special OSes Only) in the guest's Settings the same as enabling UEFI? Otherwise, I can't find a setting labeled "UEFI".
The link provided shows the way (potentially) to convert the existing "BIOS" booting to "UEFI" booting:
https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/win ... 1405f800d7
I understand this may or may not work. So, I'll make sure to make a clone the guest before I start.

EDIT - The conversion command couldn't validate the Disk, so it couldn't start the conversion.
The procedure on the link is outdated. The menus have changed, and it takes a few extra clicks to get to the CMD window (after a restart).
Then the 1st test is "mbr2gpt.exe /validate /allowfullos" and it fails with the message "Disk layout validation failed for disk 0".
Also, before you start, make sure you have the login details for the local machine's Admin account. Using a domain account isn't going to allow you to get to the point where you can run the mbr2gpt command

then add the registry's windows 11 bypass that you can find in the guest additions so that it won't complain about the CPU and then upgrade

Looking in the guest's C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox Guests Editions\ folder, there are a few .inf files, but none seem to have any obvious "windows 11 bypass" parameter.
Any clues here?

EDIT - Also, thanks for posting this link.

As for unsupported CPU, you could try this: https://www.theverge.com/22715331/how-t ... ry-regedit

"1) Download the Windows 11 ISO
You’ll need to download the ISO. In our testing, this trick doesn’t work with the Windows 11 Install Assistant, it doesn’t trigger Windows Update, and it doesn’t fool Microsoft’s PC Health Check tool."
This "solution" edits the registry to skip the CPU check when running the install / upgrade from the Windows 11 ISO image. But, the downside is that Microsoft may decide not to allow the system to download updates.

I'll start with a fresh install of Win10 and then play around with it.
My guess it this will be easier as I could set the TPM2.0 and UEFI boot before the install and then just find the registry tag that needs to be edited.

EDIT - Well, I was wrong about this approach being easier.
The Windows 10 Business Editions version 1903 ISO image I have doesn't seem to support EFI booting. I've used it dozens of times on VM and laptops, but always in BIOS boot mode. With the installation ISO file mounted, the new guest simply cycles through a couple of times and gives up with the error message that no bootable device is found.

Then I'll play with some of the suggestion and see what happens with the copied VDI.

[DSB Cloudian]

If you want to read the hairy details, look at my post above this one.

In a nutshell: I don't think this is going to work and I don't know if it's a VBox issue or just a general (typical) Windows 10 to Windows 11 in-place upgrade blocking issue.

• Adding TPM to the exiting Windows 10 VM failed (see above).

• Converting the disk from MBR to GPT failed (see above).

• Adding the registry value to skip the CPU check may or may not let me upgrade. Without TPM and UEFI enabled, I don't know if that will actually result in a successful in-place upgrade.

• Installing Windows 10 with TPM2.0, UEFI and Secure Boot failed to start the install. It could be my DVD ISO image cannot be used with EFI for booting.