Server on W11

[jeremypoynton]

Am currently moving to a new PC, plan being to copy HD from one machine to the new one which supports W11, then upgrade. However. major problems with Windows Update are stopping this. It decided at the same time to stop working and that also seems o prevent upgrading to W11 on the new machine.

I may have to install from fresh.

Is it sufficient to use the export/import facility in the Server Configuration; will that set up the server as was, or is there anything else I need to know or do

Many thanks

Jeremy Poynton

[botg]

Yes, using the Export/Import functionality is the recommended procedure.

Note that any custom settings related to the installation, e.g. installation directory, or Windows account the server service runs under, are not part of the exported configuration.

[jeremypoynton]

Thanks. No special conditions so should be simple. Am coming to the conclusion (left the Insider Program and the WU problem started then) that I will have to do a complete new install of W11 on the new machine, and then port everything over. Bore, but I've tried every possible suggestion to fix the error, to no avail.

Cheers
Jeremy

[boco]

[Offtopic]
The problem is that you must never mix updates from the Canary/Dev/Beta channels with the Retail ones (the ones just labeled Preview coming over normal WU should be fine). Errors start when you or Windows performs an update cleanup thereafter, with the automatic maintenance. That removes the original (RTM) components from the component store. MS, in its infinite wisdom, decided to also not deliver these components with their updates, anymore (Forward-only PSFX). That shrinks the update packages quite a lot in newer Windows versions, but also causes issues when the components removed beforehand are required to rollback and then forward.
Staying within the same channel prevents this, as there would be no need to rollback.
[/Offtopic]

Solution: Create yourself an ISO of the same language and same or newer version and perform an inplace upgrade. All programs and (almost) settings are kept that way.

[jeremypoynton]

Have tried that solution. Won't let me "upgrade (re-install)" - only a clean install for whatever reason. Downloaded the ISO, mounted it, but NOTHING happens when I click on setup.exe

[boco]

Got the right architecture? "amd64" is correct, "arm64" isn't.

[jeremypoynton]

Yes!