Well, that was ugly...Windows 11

[philgrab]

So I felt challenged when Windows 10 told me I am not ready for Windows 11 because:

1. TPM wasn't available
2. Secure Boot wasn't available

No problem, Asus, my motherboard manufacturer had instructions for turning on both. Upgraded the bios, turned on both. No probem.

Except that Windows would not boot, would not repair startup, would not recover and would not reimage. Hmmm. Even after turning these settings off in the bios.

Backup in Windows only recovers personal files and documents and user settings. Not the actual OS or registry file unless you happen to have a Win10 disk which I don't have because I upgraded online. My bad.

So I had to do the unthinkable which was to reinstall Win10 from scratch and hose my current installation. Then reinstall about 100 different apps and plugins. This over a week of downloads and installing. Ok back in business.

TPM was on during the install as was secure boot but Windows 10 still tells me that I am running legacy mode verses UEFI even though the bios says otherwise. Welcome to the brave new world of Win11. Pffft. Not a problem if I want to buy my way into Win11. I just have to spend another grand on a new MB, Processor and Ram. I just bought these all new last year to run an i9 chip. Technology is your friend.

[Obsidian Dragon]

Wow. What an ordeal. To others attempting this, I strongly suggest doing it with a separate drive (SSD). Perhaps clone your drive first. The main point is to have a viable system restore process in place before proceeding. Some of us advocate that you are not backed up until you have two independent backups stored in different places. We may be paranoid, but it has saved us in the past. Things can go sideways in any major upgrade (hardware, OS, application, plugins, etc.)

[EGS]

Originally Posted by philgrab

... tells me that I am running legacy mode verses UEFI ...

Is your drive MBR or GPT?

[Philthy]

I just installed Windows 10 on a machine for the first time this year... I don't think it ever pays to be an early adopter with software.

[EGS]

Originally Posted by Obsidian Dragon

... main point is to have a viable system restore process in place ...

+1. I use Macrium Reflect Free for boot images. (By the way, I also recently changed my drive from MBR to GPT - using Macrium Reflect free. Look it up in their User Guide.)

[The Weed]

Besides needing GPT, not MBR for drives, UEFI is not just in the BIOS. Even though my BIOS has always been UEFI, Windows 10 was running as Legacy, shown inside W10.

And yes, making an image before any install is a must. I too use Macrium Reflect, but the paid version. It has Image Guardian, which protects images from Ransomware.

[philgrab]

Yeah, that bit about being GPT vs MBR would have been useful in the Windows warning about turning on Secure Boot...before I turned on secure boot. That's what caught me.

[capt kirk]

But think of all the money you saved, over MAC

[philgrab]

One more addition before I return to recording as usual. Various sites would have you spend up to $60 to download software which initially advertises it will convert MBR to GPT for free but most of them don't. You have to pony up. However, there is a utility which resides in Windows that will do it for free as well as the instructions on the Microsoft site to convert formats without overwriting the data on your disk or the OS. All done in the command line window in Windows 10. Just finished the conversion and all works as normal. (Not without backing up the drive this time for insurance).

Now I am officially Win 11 condoned.

[EGS]

Originally Posted by philgrab

... convert MBR to GPT for free but most of them don't. You have to pony up.

Glad you got it working. Macrium Reflect Free does it too: https://knowledgebase.macrium.com/di...ge+to+UEFI-GPT This worked for me. After doing the MBR to GPT conversion, must set bios to UEFI/Secure Boot.